GMDSS The Idiots Guide

Er, what is it?

Global Maritime Distress and Safety System a
system of terrestrial and satellite communications to
enable fast response to Distress situations at sea from
shore-based resources.

Why? And what is its history?

Radio was first installed on ships around the turn of the
20th century. At the time, radio (or "wireless", as it was
known) was used primarily for transmission and reception
of passenger telegrams. Radio watch keeping hours were
not standardised, and there was no regulatory
requirement for carriage of radio by ships. Indeed, there
was a general lack of any sort of regulation of the radio
spectrum. Amateur/experimental stations often interfered
with commercial stations and vice-versa. But all that
changed one cold clear night in April 1912...

The most modern passenger liner of the time, the RMS
Titanic, sank on her maiden voyage after a collision with
an iceberg. Some 1,500 people were killed in the disaster.
Fortunately, 700 odd people were saved, thanks mainly to
the efforts of the Titanic's two Radio Officers, who
managed to summon help from nearby vessels.

However, the vessel closest to the disaster (the Leyland
liner Californian) could not be summoned, as her Radio
Officer had just gone off watch after 12 hours on duty.
The Californian managed to establish communications
with other searching vessels after the Titanic had sunk. By
then, it was too late 1,500 people, including the cream
of American and European society, had frozen to death in
the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

The Titanic disaster brought about a number of
fundamental changes to Marine Radio:
* carriage requirements and radio watchkeeping hours
were standardised;
* message priorities were standardised - ie: distress
and safety traffic always has priority over commercial
traffic;
* distress frequencies were standardised; and
* radio silence periods were introduced.

The Titanic disaster also served as the catalyst for the
introduction of the International Convention for the Safety
of Life At Sea (the SOLAS Convention). The introduction of
the first SOLAS Convention was delayed by WW1 - it came
into force in the 1920's.

Fast forward to the 1970s: after some 80-odd years of
development, marine distress alerting still relied on a
human being sitting in front of a receiver. Ship's Radio
Officers sent distress messages using Morse Code (or
radiotelephone) in the hope that another ship or shore
station would hear the call and respond.

The stage was set for some significant change....

Pre-GMDSS Marine Radio equipment was required to
provide operation over a minimum specified range of 150
nautical miles. This was based on the (not unreasonable)
assumption that ships usually travelled well-used routes
and that there were sufficient ships at sea and shore
stations dispersed about the world to receive distress calls.

Without radio, there can be no SAR (Search and Rescue)...

However, if a ship was outside the normal shipping lanes,
or was rapidly overwhelmed by the forces of nature, her
distress alert might go unheard... many ships have gone
to the bottom without any distress signal being sent - they
have, to use the common parlance, "sunk without trace".

The pre-GMDSS systems were, in reality, based on pre-
WWII technology. So the 1979 IMO Assembly decided that
a new global distress and safety system should be
established in conjunction with a coordinated SAR
infrastructure to improve safety of life at sea.

The system would take advantage of the latest
technological developments. And so was born the Global
Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).

The GMDSS is specifically designed to automate a ship's
radio distress alerting function, and, as a consequence,
removes the requirement for manual (ie: human) watch
keeping on distress channels.

What does it do?

The basic concept of the new system is that Search and
Rescue (SAR) authorities ashore, as well as shipping in
the immediate vicinity of the ship or persons in distress
will be rapidly alerted so that they can assist in a
coordinated SAR operation with the minimum of delay.

The new system moves the emphasis from ship-ship
alerting to ship-shore alerting. GMDSS has introduced
technology which has completely transformed maritime
communications.

The system also provides for urgency and safety alerting,
and also for the broadcast of Maritime Safety Information
(MSI - weather reports and navigation warnings).

A fundamental of the GMDSS is to take the Search out
of Search and Rescue

To whom does it apply, and when does it come into
force?

THE GMDSS APPLIES TO ALL CARGO SHIPS OF 300
GROSS TONS AND ABOVE AND TO ALL PASSENGER
VESSELS (REGARDLESS OF SIZE) ON INTERNATIONAL
VOYAGES. It became mandatory in 1999.
My yacht does not weigh over 300 tonnes and does
not carry passengers why should I care?

Fact: every rescue performed at sea for HK based yachts
in recent years has been a co-ordinated response from the
HK Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre and has been
carried out by commercial ships.

You need to be able to talk to the commercial ships.

You need to be able to talk to the MRCC, AND THEY NO
LONGER KEEP A LISTENING WATCH ON RADIOS!

There is no 2182 kHz listening watch you can shout
Mayday all day long and no one will care or hear. For
they, read the MRCCs, Coast Radio Stations and all
commercial ships.

If you call the MRCC on a satellite phone to their published
telephone number they do not know before they answer
the phone if it is a distress call coming in it could be the
pizza man! You MUST use the GMDSS methods of
contacting the MRCCs to get fast efficient help!

OK OK OK! I am listening what, as far as a yacht is
concerned, does it consist of?

Seminar_01
Rescue
co-ordination
centre
Coast
earth
station
Local user
terminal/mission
control centre
Rescue
co-ordination
centre
Coast
station
HF, MF, VHF
Coast
station
HF, MF, VHF
National/international
networks
INMARSAT
COSPAS
SARSAT
FIGURE 1
General concept of the GMDSS
National/international
networks
General radiocommunications
e.g. medical advice, VTS,
ship reporting etc.
Navigational
warnings
Meteorological
warnings
SAR
information
Maritime safety information (MSI)


In the GMDSS, watch on the Distress frequencies is kept
by means of automatic DSC (Digital Selective Calling)
equipment. Using digital techniques, attention can be
attracted automatically without the need for aural watch,
and over an increased range. DSC equipment is Selective
because the attention can be attracted of All Ships,
Individual Ship, Group of Ships or ships within a defined
geographical area. If a DSC Distress Alert is sent, it rings
an alarm at the receiving end and gets them to switch on
their voice equipment so you can communicate.

Equipment we need to be concerned about therefore is:

VHF Radio with Class D DSC. All ships need to have at
least one permanently installed VHF radio with full DSC
support. In addition, they will be required to carry at least
one handheld VHF radio. Although commercial vessels are
still required to keep an aural watch on VHF Channel 16
you need to be aware that for many ships this is no longer
done. VHF DSC IS A PRIMARY ALERTING AND
COMMUNICATION DEVICE.

MF/HF Radio with Class E DSC. All ships which operate
more than 150 miles from land (though properly this
should be described in GMDSS sea area A3, which in some
countries is right inshore) are required to carry two
separate methods of communicating to shore or have one
method and the ability to fix the communications device
while under way. No one does that, so almost all
commercial ships have an Inmarsat C system AND an HF
DSC radio to fulfill this requirement. Therefore, if you
have the same, you can alert them to your distress
situation and they will get in contact. THIS IS A PRIMARY
ALERTING AND COMMUNICATION DEVICE.

Most yachtsmen call an HF radio an SSB radio, though
that refers to the method of transmitting voice, as
opposed to the frequency at which it transmits.

NAVTEX/SAFETYNET. NAVTEX transmissions are made
by multiple countries and ports round the world. They
consist of regular weather reports and navigational
warnings as well as meteorological warnings as and when
required. NAVTEX is primarily a coastal weather warning
system (up to 150 miles offshore).

SAFETYNET information is broadcast via EGC on
Inmarsat C and carries similar information, though
primarily for the high seas.

INMARSAT the satellite system designated by the IMO
to carry this distress and safety information. Distress and
safety communications are centred on Inmarsat C, a text
messaging service capable of broadcast text messaging
via satellite. Inmarsat C and Mini-C terminals have a
distress button which will generate a message to be sent
to the MRCC automatically. THIS IS A PRIMARY ALERTING
AND COMMUNICATION DEVICE.

Note that this is NOT a voice telephone system. It may be
a good idea to have such a system as well. Commercial
systems which include voice and support Inmarsat C are
readily available but are, of course, relatively expensive.

Other GMDSS-supported Inmarsat systems are Fleet 77
and Inmarsat B. Both of these are likely to be both too
bulky and too expensive for the individual yachtsman.

AIS Automatic ship Identification System. All
commercial vessels transmit a signal at frequent intervals
which can be picked up by an AIS receiver and displayed
on a screen such that the course and speed of all vessels
within range can be easily seen. Yachts can optionally
carry a transmitter which will send the same information
out to anyone listening. Also broadcast is the Ships
Maritime Mobile Service Identity. This looks just like a
phone number, and once you know a ships MMSI you can
call it up on your DSC radio by punching in its number.
How do you know a ships MMSI? Either they have told
you already, or you read it on the screen from its AIS
transmissions. AIS is not properly part of the GMDSS and
is more of a collision avoidance system, but is nonetheless
a low-cost system of very high importance to leisure
marine users.

EPIRB Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
Once activated it transmits a signal to a satellite, while
floating in the water, giving its position and thereby
indicating that a vessel is in distress. This also uses the
MMSI number as a unique way of identifying the ship. GPS
enabled versions of EPIRBs (commonly called G-PIRBs)
communicate with geostationary satellites, meaning that
your signal gets down to land much faster typically 10
minutes rather than 90 minutes. NOTE: the EPIRB is
considered a SECONDARY alerting device. It normally
indicates to the SAR authorities that you have abandoned
ship and can therefore no longer be communicated with
except at close range using a handheld VHF radio.

PLB Personal Locator Beacon. The same technology as
an EPIRB except that they are required to be able to
transmit for 24 hours rather than 48 hours duration (ie
smaller batteries) and they are not designed to transmit
from a floating position, but instead are meant to be hand
held. So, the same electronics, but shorter battery life,
and therefore small enough to put in a pocket. In most
large countries there is a central register as of course
these are best registered to an individual. In Hong Kong,
there is also now a register for serialized HK encoded PLBs
(note that means you cannot buy them from overseas as
it must have a HK serial no). Please remember though
that a PLB is NOT an EPIRB it will not transmit
automatically when immersed in sea water, and cannot be
registered as the primary EPIRB for your boat.

SART Search and Rescue Transponder designed,
when activated, to provide a track back to the unit on a
searching vessels radar screen. All commercial ships are
required to have two or more on board. Prime usage is in
a liferaft. It will tell the people in the raft when a radar is
detected so that they know when it might be appropriate
to fire flares. It makes X-band ship radars (mandatory on
ships) to radio direction finding devices so they see your
position

All that? How do I get to know about this and
understand how to use it correctly?

The RHKYC now runs regular non-SOLAS vessel GMDSS
courses commonly called the Long Range Certificate or
LRC course. Please contact Richard Knight on
richard.knight@rhkyc.org.hk , or call him on 2239 0363.
Courses to are run several times a year. The RHKYC is an
approved Radio Training School recognized by the Office
of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), the
regulatory body in Hong Kong.