Maritime Electronics and

Communications

Safety at Sea
Why Do We Want to
Communicate?
What Types of
Communications?

• Emergency
• Personal
• Business
 Required Equipment
VHF radio

VHF hand held

SSB transceiver or satellite phone

Suggestions Before You Depart

Locate communications equipment

Find out how to activate

Determine if there is a communications

protocol

Be prepared for an emergency

 If You Have Iridium Satellite
Phone
Iridium does not have Operator Assistance.

Before departing, program into your Iridium critical

telephone numbers: Coast Guard station at point of
departure; Coast Guard in any intermediate points;
Coast Guard at destination point; medical assistance
numbers if you have assistance contracts; other
medical emergency numbers you might require.
A Few Other Words Before We
Start
On February 1, 1999 all merchant vessels worldwide
were required to have GMDSS (Global Marine
Distress Safety System) installed aboard. This system
Automatically monitors VHF DSC (Digital Selective
Calling) channel 70 plus high frequency DSC channels.

Many private vessels also have installed at least VHF

DSC equipped radios. This is important in case of
emergency
 GMDSS Continued:
• You must register your vessel and receive a
free MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identifier)
number.
These Vessels can be Your
Friends in Case of Emergency
Let’s Talk Emergencies
MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY…
Life, limb or ship in imminent danger.

PAN PAN PAN…

Houston, I’ve got a problem.

SECURITE SECURITE SECURITE…

Anyone around me, I’m going to do something.
Communications Options
VHF….. Close by

SSB….. World wide (maybe)

SATELLITE….. World wide, instant

Ship Emergency – Imminent
Disaster

• If you think there is help nearby, initiate VHF

DSC call (press the red button). It should wake
up the watch at the other end. Standby on
Channel 16.

• If no reply, pick up microphone and call

Mayday on Channel 16.

• If still no reply, use Iridium or use EPIRB.

Satellite GMDSS Procedure
• If you have not received an answer on your
VHF calls:

• If you are equipped with a satellite GMDSS

certified system (Inmarsat C), activate the red
button.

• Stand by for answer.

If No GMDSS Response
• GMDSS satellite system is worldwide but it
could be possible that you do not receive a
response because your own equipment is
inoperative.
• If you have an Iridium telephone, call
preprogrammed emergency numbers (USCG,
etc)
• Activate your 406 Mhz EPIRB, hopefully
equipped with GPS.
• Wait patiently.
Enough Emergencies
Already…

On to Part Two:
Routine Personal
Communications
• We’ve been out for a week and I want to let my
family know our location and condition.

• I want to check in with the daily ham radio

network and give location, weather and
condition.

• I just want to yack with other sailors.

• I want to check in to a ship-to-ship network.

Business Communications
• We need some replacement parts when we
get ashore.

• Something has broken down and I have to

speak with a shore side technician.

• Be aware of restrictions on business

communications.
So, How Do We Do This?
What Kind of
Communications?
• Voice
• Data (e-mail)
• Fax
• Internet Access
• Emergency
Portable or Fixed Mounted?
• Portables:
Independent from ship’s systems
Convenient

• Fixed mounted units:

May have better antenna installations
Higher power
Now Let’s Communicate
• VHF
• Single Side Band (a misnomer)
• Ham Radio
• Email (commercial – ham)
• Portable Satellite (Iridium)
• Fixed Satellite (Inmarsat C - M)
• EPIRB
Handheld
VHF Radios
Handheld VHF
Range: 3 miles (another boat) to 20 miles
(CG tower)
Cost: $100 to $300

Limitations: Some uses are illegal but handy,

short range, few channels
Fixed Mount
VHF Radios
Fixed Mount VHF
Range: 20-60 miles
Cost: $100 to $500
Best Uses: General boat to boat
communications
Coast Guard; most cost-effective
safety item on board if within range
Probably Digital Selective Calling
Limitations: Marine only, line of sight range
VHF Antenna Considerations

• Antenna height largely controls transmit range

• Higher gain antennas can focus signal to

increase punch or power

• Boats which roll require a wider transmission

angle to avoid “clipping”

 VHF Antenna Considerations

Stable boats may be Boats which heel or roll

able to use a narrow- may be better off with a
beam high-gain antenna wide-beam low-gain
antenna
A Word About Digital Selective
Calling

• New safety requirement

• Free registration
• Unique vessel identifier
• Part of GMDSS (Global Marine Distress Safety
System)
• Currently supplied on fixed VHF and some
other communications equipment
• Not yet monitored by Coast Guard
Iridium 9555
Iridium
Range: Worldwide
Cost: $1500-$2500 plus $1.49 per minute
plus $20 per month Also rental
Best Uses: Portable voice communications
where there is no cellular, or where
phone calls are expensive
Limitations: Hard to know if they can afford to
replace LEO satellites
2400 baud for data,
9600 with compression
Icom 710 SSB Transceiver
Inmarsat C
Standard C/Inmarsat C
Range: Worldwide
Cost: $2,500 plus $0.25 for 32 characters
Best Uses: Reliable messages worldwide
Emergency position reporting
Free text weather 4X per day for
free
Small antenna, relatively simple
installation
Limitations: Expensive if brevity is not your forte
Inmarsat Mini-M
Inmarsat Mini-M
Range: Nearly worldwide
Cost: $3,000 (non-stabilized to $6,000
stabilized)
$2.50 per minute
Best Usages: Reliable voice, fax and data
Foolproof
Limitations: Expensive
EPIRBs
• 406 MHz Beacons
Category 1 (hydrostatic release)
Category 2 (manual release)
• Unique encoding for each unit
• World wide coverage
• Available with GPS signal transmission
potential
• Waterproof, reliable, buoyant

West Marine
Automatic Identification System (AIS)

 Why?
 What is it?
 Who has to have it?
 How does it work and used?
 What is AIS?
• Automatic Identification System
(AIS)
• Vessel Identification and
Tracking System – Based on GPS
and VHF Broadcasting
• Required on all Vessels over
150GRT
• (1) Provides Situational
Awareness in Real Time
(collision avoidance etc.)
•
NAIS Overview
 Shipboard AIS

 
                                             
Shipboard AIS

                                              
AIS

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is

designed for improving safety and efficiency of
navigation in the open sea and coastal waters
through the automatic exchange of
navigational, statistic and voyage information
between the ships and coastal stations.

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 Functions of AIS
AIS

Functional MSG Safety MSG

Static DATA Voyage Related

DATA

Dynamic DATA
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How AIS Work?
 A Broadcast system that acts like a
transponder, operating in the VHF
maritime band, that is capable of handling
well over 4,500 reports per minute and
updates as often as every two seconds.  It
uses Self-Organizing Time Division
Multiple Access (SOTDMA) technology to
meet this high broadcast rate and ensure
reliable ship-to-ship cooperation.

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Components of AIS?
AIS consists of :
 VHF Transceiver
 Display and Sensor System
 GPS/DGPS
 Interface with VTS (vessel traffic
service)

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Communication links
 To establish link between different VTS
stations.
 Required for transfer of VTS related data
from Remote Sensor site to Master control
station and vice versa.
 Can be Microwave Or Optical fiber link
 For communicating with a vessel entering
VTS area a separate VHF channel is
used.
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