Ian Waugh - A Mariner\'s Guide to Marine Communications

A (VHF DSC) URGENCY Call received onboard other vessels

would resemble:

Urgency

Station to: All Ships

From Station: 232456789

Subsequent Communications: Channel 16

Received on: Ch70 at (date/time of receipt)

A DSC Urgency Call:

• Does not normally include a position.
  Addresses 'All Ships/All Stations' - or could be addressed to an
  individual station (in which case it would be ignored by the DSC
  Controller on vessels not addressed).

Does state a specific channel/frequency for 'subsequent

communications' (for 'All Ship's' Urgency, Channel 1612182kHz would

be normal. for an individual Urgency call, which might be sent to an

individual MRCC, some other working channel may be indicated).

• Does not have a 'DSC Acknowledge' facility when 'All Stations' are
  addressed (but does if an individual station is addressed).

Action Onboard Other Vessels in the Vicinity of an Urgency

Situation
Vessels receiving DSC 'All Stations' Urgency Calls should set watch
on the voice (or telex) frequency indicated in the DSC alert. In most
cases, this will be voice communications on Ch16 (VHF) or 2182kHz
(MF).
In the case of alerts from Coast Stations directed at vessels in an
A3 Area, the subsequent frequency will normally be the HF Voice
'Distress & Safety' frequency paired with the HF DSC Alerting frequency
being used.

Examples of Urgency Communications - Radio and Satellite

Some examples of Urgency ('Pan Pan') communications follow,

for both radio and satellite communications. The examples are not

exhaustive but, between them, they provide guidance to cover most types

of urgency communication.

MARINE COMMUNICATIONS 111