By Marine Patrol Segeant Bobby Randazzo

Digital Selective Calling, “DSC,” or Rescue 21, as it is referred to by the United States Coast Guard, is the cutting edge of technology for boaters in distress. DSC technology can be incorporated into almost any marine VHF radio and GPS Chart Plotter. Our police vessel is already connected and in operation.

What does that mean? Well, in a nutshell, if you were in distress and pressed your DSC button on your VHF radio, your radio would switch automatically to channel 70 and a waypoint would be sent directly to the U.S.C.G. search and rescue center on Miami Beach. Not only do you send out the distress signal to the Coast Guard, but you also send that signal to any other vessel that has DSC on their vessel, like our Sunny Isles Beach Police vessel. Your distress signal will show up on my VHF radio and more importantly on my GPS chart plotter as a waypoint. All I need to do is set my GPS to navigate to that waypoint and I will be headed in your direction and we have never said a word over the radio. All your radio transmissions will be with the Coast Guard. Your GPS coordinates are updated every three to four minutes automatically once you are in a distress situation. How great is that?

To incorporate and get this system up and running is simple and relatively inexpensive. The first thing you need to do is verify that your VHF radio and your GPS chart plotter are DSC compatible. The two components will need to be hard wired together, so they can send and receive information from each other. Those four wires allow the two components to talk to each other. Once that is done, you will need to apply for a free MMSI number, (Maritime Mobile Service Identity).

The MMSI number is nine digits long and is your VHF radio’s unique phone number, just like a cell phone. Once your MMSI number is entered into your VHF radio, you should be in operation. Your unique MMSI number can be obtained from a number of different websites such as Boat US, the US Power Squadron, and Seatow. The best part is that it is a free service. All you have to do is go to their respective websites, register and they send you the number instantaneously.

Some of the information you will need to obtain your MMSI number are; 2 emergency contact names with home and work phone numbers, a cellular  telephone number, your vessel documentation or State registration number and if you have an EPIRB, the identification number. All the registry information is forwarded to the United States Coast Guard and stored in their SAR database.

If you are an avid boater, I am sure you are aware how busy Channel 16 is on your VHF radio. Who is calling for a radio check? Who is calling a friend or who wants a bridge opening? First and foremost, let me say that Channel 16 is only a hailing channel not a talk channel. Once your hail your party, you both should switch to a non-emergency channel to chit chat. Channel 9 is where all the bridges are located and the United States Coast Guard is on Channels 21 & 22-A.

Getting past all that; let’s say you are out for a fun day of boating and your three miles out to sea. You notice your vessel is taking on water and have to put out a distress signal. All you have to do is hit the DSC, red distress button and hold it for 5 seconds. At that point, your VHF radio will switch to Channel 70 and your radio will act exactly like a cellular phone and you should be able to talk directly to the Coast Guard. At the same time, your GPS coordinates will be transmitted to the Coast Guard and any other vessel in the area that has DSC capabilities, like the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department vessel. Your GPS coordinates will show up on my GPS as a distress waypoint and I will be on my way to you and we never spoke a word to each other.

One of the luxuries of the system is the ability to call another vessel by using your DSC MMSI phone number. If I have your MMSI number, I just plug it in and I can call your vessel’s VHF radio. I also pick the channel we are going to talk on. Once I call you, your radio changes frequency, automatically, to the channel I selected, it sounds a beep tone and we can start talking. How great is that?

The US Coast Guard and the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department urge you to take the time to interconnect your GPS and VHF radio with the DSC equipment. Doing so may save your life in an emergency situation.

If you want to learn more about Rescue 21, there is a great tutorial called “Can you hear me?” on the attached website: http://www.boatus.com/foundation/dsc/player.html