www.iFourWinns.com

I just got a Standard Horizon Handheld VHF HX850S with GPS and DSC (Digital Selective Calling) For the boating I will mostly do this should be sufficient. I went to the BoatUs site to register my MMSI# and I read something that says DSC is really only effective in areas that Rescue 21 is active. For me that means Great Lakes in 2011 or the Ohio River in 2012.

So If I need a Mayday will I have to use it the old fashioned way by hailing on 16? Or will the Coast Guard still be able to respond to my coordinates if I use the DSC distress call, assuming they are in radio range?

Has any body here picked up a distress call on their DSC capable radio.

_________________
2008 Horizon 260 VP 8.1 Gi

Bump. Anybody have any experience with DSC?

_________________
2008 Horizon 260 VP 8.1 Gi

Only in Australia. VHF and DSC is monitored on all coastal waters. Inland waters tend to be more 27Mhz still.

I have an ICOM M-304 and how it works is:

Press the DSC button for 5 seconds
Continues to send message every 4 minutes until answered
When answered (by either coast guard or another nearby boat), it automatically flips you to Ch 16 where you can use the mic

If DSC is not monitored (I think everyone monitoring VHF now has DSC capability), yep, just use Ch16 as usual. Big advantage of DSC is that it sends the co-ordinates off your GPS and leaves you hands free to handle the situation while continuing to call.

_________________


Alec

2006 Horizon 190
VP 4.3GL/SX, Sunsport

Here in the Pacific NW we have been using DSC for many years. Our rescue 21 system just went live this year. DSC has many more uses than just sending a distress signal to the Coast Guard. If you have buddies with class D DCS you can exchange MMSI numbers with each other and use it to "ping" them. If you have both in and out on your VHF and a good chart plotter you will see where are on the chart. You can also send out a generic distress signal to everyone that has their DSC working. It will then alert them of where you are and that there is a problem, it also switches everyone over to a common VHF channel, 70, so you can communicate. There is no way I would boat offshore with our a working VHF with DSC even if rescue 21 isn't active.

_________________
2000 268 Vista "Reely Nauti"
http://www.facebook.com/#!/rivercruiser

+1 on the DSC capabilities just for the MMSI capabilities. We haven't had to use the magic distress button - but I hailed a buddy of mine with the MMSI feature a few weeks back and it was cool how it all just worked.

It's great for coastal waters for the easy distress call (Hey admiral, go hit the orange 'oh sh*t' button).

Inland waters, probably not as broad of coverage. If Coast Guard patrols your waters, you probably have DSC support I think.

_________________

2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA