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The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System came into force
in 1999 and is part of the International Convention concerning
the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).
Its main objective is to prevent accidents by providing Marine
Safety Information and at least minimize consequences of marine
accidents by means of effective communication.
GMDSS will enable a vessel to communicate with coastal
stations and other vessels at any time and under any
circumstances.
Sea Area 2
An area, excluding Sea Area Al, within
radiotelephone-coverage of at least one MF-coast
station, in which continuous DSC-alerting (2187.5
kHz) and radiotelephony services are available.
GMDSS-vessels travelling this area must carry a
DSC-equipped MF radiotelephone in addition to
equipment required for Sea Area A1. This area
extends 200 miles off shore.
Sea Area 3
An area, excluding sea areas Al and A2, within
coverage of an Inmarsat geostationary satellite, in
which continuous alerting is available. This area
extends between 70 degrees latitude North and 70
degrees latitude South.
Ships travelling this area must either carry an Inmarsat
A, B or C ship/earth station or a DSC-equipped HF
radiotelephone/telex in addition to equipment required
for an A1 and A2 Area.
Sea Area A4
The areas outside A1, A2 and A3 are A4-Sea Areas.
Ships travelling these Polar Regions must carry a
DSC-equipped HF radiotelephone/telex, in addition to
equipment required for areas A1 and A2. This area
does not have Inmarsat-, but COSPAS-SARSAT
coverage.
RADIOTELEPHONY
A VHF-transceiver (transmitter + receiver) transmits
and receives radio signals. The VHF is used to bridge
short distances, is easy to operate and is allowed to
be used both in territorial waters and inland
waterways.
DSC-priorities are:
- DISTRESS
URGENCY
SAFETY
ROUTINE
In the voice-transmission that may follow after the DSCannouncement and acknowledgement, the vessel or station may be
identified by the MMSI-code, which should then be pronounced in
groups of three digits.
Like so:, this is two two foursix eight fivezero zero zero".
Note that in spoken communication the use of the vessel's MMSI is
only applied in Distress -, Urgency - and Safety messages.
INMARSAT
Satellite systems operated by the International Mobile Satellite
Organisation (Inmarsat) are very important elements of the
GMDSS. Inmarsat-satellites are geostationary, which means that
their positions in space with respect to the earth remain the
same. Communication by means of Inmarsat-satellites extends in
an area between 70 degrees latitude North and 70 degrees
latitude South and has been divided into 4 Inmarsat-regions:
Atlantic Ocean Region West (AOR-W)
Atlantic Ocean Region East (AOR-E)
Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
Pacific Ocean Region (POR).
NAVTEX
NAVTEX is a component of the World Wide Navigational
Warning Service (WWNWS) and must be installed on
GMDSS-vessels in order to be able to receive Maritime
Safety Information-messages. It is a telex-receiver that
can print MSI-messages. These navigational messages
are addressed "to all vessels" and contain information
concerning meteorological warnings, SAR-operations and
other important and urgent data.
EPIRB
An Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon is a small
radio-transmitter able to transmit VHF-distress signals.
These signals are received by satellites and relayed to
Rescue-Co-ordination Centres. An EPIRB will be released
from the vessel-in-distress by hand, or automatically by a
hydrostatic release mechanism once the beacon has been
submerged for a few metres in case of shipwreck. It will be
activated automatically and will start to transmit a distress
alert to Rescue-Co-ordination Centres via satellite, giving
position and identification of the vessel.
COSPAS-SARSAT
COSPAS-SARSAT is an international satellite-based search and
rescue system, established by Canada, France, the U.S.A. and
Russia. Unlike the Inmarsat-satellites, these satellites are not
geostationary, but orbit the earth on a North/South- and
South/North path, passing closely over both poles. It is the only
system that offers a means to contact distant stations. The
system offers a satellite Emergency Position-Indicating Radio
Beacon (EPIRB).
COMPREHENSION
I. Answer the following questions:
a) What is GMDSS?
b) What is the aim of GMDSS?
c) What is the difference between Simplex- and
Duplex VHF?
d) What is the main difference between INMARSAT
satellites and COSPAS/SARSAT satellites?
e) What does a Navtex message generally contain?