Caribbean Search & Rescue Community
Our Mission:
"To reduce maritime risk within the Caribbean Community."
Our Methodology:
Bring together the appropriate government agencies
and the currently twenty-six volunteer Search and Rescue
organizations within the Caribbean Community
to establish vigorous programs directed to the:
PREVENTION of maritime accidents and terrorist events
and to the RESPONSE to maritime emergencies resulting
from maritime accidents, terrorist events, or natural disasters.
DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH DSC RADIOS
DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH AUTOMATIC CHANNEL SWITCHING ON DIGITAL SELECTIVE CALLING (DSC) EQUIPPED VHF MARINE RADIOS
It has come to the Coast Guard's attention that an automatic channel switching feature found on certain models of
Digital Selective Calling (DSC) equipped VHF marine radios may create an unintended hazard by automatically switching
from a working channel that might be in use at the time to Channel 16 when the VHF marine radio receives a DSC distress
alert, distress alert acknowledgment or other DSC call where a VHF channel number has been designated. This could
happen without a vessel/radio operator's immediate knowledge and could initiate an unsafe condition by which the
vessel/radio operators would believe they were communicating on a working channel such as Channel 13 when, in fact, they
were actually on Channel 16. Imagine a towboat operator on the lower Mississippi River making passing agreements on VHF
channel 67 and then suddenly, without warning, not being able to quickly reestablish communications with those vessels
because his/her radio automatically switched to Channel 16 instead.
Since this unsafe condition can happen at any time, the Coast Guard strongly recommends disabling the automatic channel
switching feature when maintaining a listening watch or communicating on the designated bridge-to-bridge radiotelephone,
or while monitoring the vessel traffic services (VTS) channel. Radios that lack the disabling feature should not be
used for bridgeto-bridge or VTS communications.
The International Telecommunications Union Sector for Radiocommunications, Recommendation M.493-11 published in 2004 and
later versions require DSC-equipped radios to provide for disabling of this channel auto-switch feature. In the United
States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires all DSC-equipped radios certified after March 25, 2009 to
meet this requirement. Manufacturers that do not provide a disable function are encouraged to do so and to inform their
customers if means for correction exist. Updated information including a listing of manufacturers of radios believed to
be affected by this Safety Alert will be posted as available at
www.navcen.uscg.gov.
The Coast Guard strongly reminds radio operators and other users to always ensure they are on the proper operating
channel when communicating or maintaining watch, particularly with DSCequipped radios capable of channel auto-switching.
This safety alert is provided for informational purposes only and does not relieve any domestic or international safety,
operational or material requirement. Developed by the Spectrum Management and Telecommunications Policy Division
(CG-652), United States Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC. Questions should be directed to Mr. Russell Levin at
(202) 475 3555 or
Russell.S.Levin@uscg.mil.
Notice:
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This space will be used for breaking news items related to our Search and Rescue missions, as was the case with the
January 2010 Haitian Earthquake, for a quick view of the current NOAA communications and radar coverage on Tropical
Storm activity during the Hurricane Season, and for other news of special interest to the Caribbean SAR community.
HURRICANE SEASON 1 Jun 10 - 30 Nov 10
This is an RSS Feed from the National Hurricane Center.
It will remain active during the entire 2010 Hurricane Season.
For more information, click on the graphic map below to access the National Weather Service's
National Hurricane Center web site. Cliq aquí por Español.
Photogallery
