geoff-halo 19 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Maybe a long shot but does anybody have any idea what the little icon on the LCD of my Uniden UM380 VHF Radio means? It comes on after 15 mins or so after powering on, together with a momentary beeping alarm. Thanks in anticipation, Geoff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,211 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Yep, it means it has acquired a GPS fix, so either a built in GPS or it's connected to an NMEA GPS source. It is really for the DSC alarm to be able to provide a position if the distress button is pressed (under the red missile type flap) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 i'm guessing that's a satellite with 3 receive bars that blinks when you turn on and after 15min? of blinking, sounds an alarm to let you know that it hasn't received an nmea lat/long input from your gps so in an emergency can't transmit your position at least that's what it would be on my JRC vhf i was able to take nmea lat/long info off the nmea leads on the power cable of my old garmin and feed it into the vhf nmea input leads on the vhf cable then the the gps sat. icon stopped flashing and the 3 bars started scrolling and the lat/long info scrolled across the bottom of the vhf screen ............. BUT i wouldn't worry too much about it afaik NZ coastguard are not equipped to receive DSC emergency signals with lat/long data they have apparently decided to skip this safety initiative and encourage us to all fit AIS transponders Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,211 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 NZ authorities don't use DSC that's true. However, many (most?) international shipping and many international yachts do. If your radio(s) have it, IMO it is worth connection. Both VHF and HF (SSB) radios can have DSC, but it depends on the specific model. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 i still think we should organize a test day with coastguard and hit our DISTRESS buttons to see what happens... in theory all the DSC vhf in range will log the distress calls and positions and alert the user that distress calls have been logged the problem would be that people who have no idea of our "test" would have flashing icons on their radios until they reset them ie probably never! what a waste of technology 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,211 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 OK, I just read the manual for that model. Erice is right, the "Input Position" is the giveaway - It has NOT found a GPS, that is the error, and the reason for the beep. DSC wont work without a fix. If you have NMEA 0183 GPS sentences you can connect that to this model and the error will disappear and a position will be displayed, then DSC would work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geoff-halo 19 Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Hey you guys are amazing! It all makes sense now. Thank you so much. I wonder if there is some way of disabling the GPS function on the Uniden VHF seeing as I don't have a GPS receiver connected to it and it doesn't seem to be of much use in NZ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,211 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Personally, I'd connect a GPS. But if you don't want to, it looks like you can turn it off - but the manual is a bit unclear. Try press and hold call, then from the menu that appears, select setup, then GPS. Should come up with a menu here, probably select none or off. Otherwise you can select position, and enter one manually. That should stop the alarm. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geoff-halo 19 Posted September 17, 2017 Author Share Posted September 17, 2017 Have now connected the NMEA 0183 to the Uniden from my GPS. VHF now shows position and no more annoying alarms. All good! Thanks for the advice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
idlerboat 116 Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 hey good for you Geoff.. as much as DSC with GPS may not seem to be local....it will be. and it may well save your life. It really is less about shore based "rescue assets" than normal shipping. International shipping all now must run full dsc gps connected radios (VHF)... ...and if you are any distance off shore they are the ones who will be coming to help you in an emergency. They often (in my experience) no longer maintain a reasonable radio listening watch (due to the change in legal requirements with dsc radio) ...but if their alarm goes off ...all hell breaks lose......and yours , now that it is connected will give them your exact location if you hit that button. So just a bit more back ground...the introduction of dsc allowed most commercial vessels to remove the previous three "radio operators" ..(enough for a 24 hour watch cycle) ..most on bridge personnel now dont speak English as a first language or at all ( they dont pay enough)....saving the english speaker for port communication duties. As much as I dont like it, from a commercial point of view it makes sense. BUT...if you want help...you need to match it with the big boys..a Vox (voice) mayday over vhf may go unheard !! In theory a dsc mayday should set off a bridge siren... The lon n lat is universal and so is the message. I am involved with marine rescue...and was discussing this issue only a few hours ago. just recently two situation occurred where the distressed vessels where known to be in distress...but not where they were...It would seem so obvious...you just jump on the radio and in your clearest radio voice read off the gps lon n lat on your chart plotter.. ....Which because the skipper has had a heart attack , is read off by the reluctant and scared first mate as.....the chart plotter cursor position not vessel position!!. So now we have to do a lesson in how to drive a chart plotter ?..or push the button. In one case the vessel was finally instructed to set of their epirb...even though they were not "yet" in grave and immanent danger... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,211 Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 Agreed IB, and I simply don't understand why the NZ authorities don't officially support DSC. It's not expensive.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geoff-halo 19 Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 Yes times have changed (for the better) since I was a R/O on P&O in the 70's. SOS over Morse Code was all we had! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rigger 47 Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 There is thought that AIS may make vhf dsc outdated. Satellites pick up the AIS transmissions. Pretty much world wide coverage. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,211 Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 Ais doesn't do the calling features of DSC - direct communication on private channels for ship to ship, or broadcast (ship to every DSC equipped vessel in range). DSC and AIS are different, like AIS and radar are different, but complementary. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rigger 47 Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 You would have enjoyed a discussion with some folks from the industries talking about the need to update Gmdss. IT I know AIS and vhf DSC are different, totally. The thing is one is used all the time and has wide acceptance by users and potential world wide coverage, the other is poorly understood but mandatory carriage under GMDSS. The only time I've used Dsc vhf is when testing the equipment or seeing what has caused it to alarm. With AIS you can send messages to individual vessels, or broadcast to all, AIS will sound an alert when a message is received. It is not a distress system yet, though you can get AIS MOB and SARTS. IT when you say private channels what do you mean? VHF DSC uses ch70 and will trigger a channel change on receiving units. AIS uses a few ch but as not interfaced with a voice radio so no automated change of course. Recently did a GMDSS course. With my current job to keep ticket valid I do one every 5 years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlastairW 15 Posted September 25, 2017 Share Posted September 25, 2017 Yes times have changed (for the better) since I was a R/O on P&O in the 70's. SOS over Morse Code was all we had! Ah, an Oceanspan and a couple of Atalantas........ Only had one Atalanta on my first boat. Did have a similar haircut though! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 a little more AIs sat track in today's herald Rocket Lab will carry four satellites during its second test launch, some time after the next vehicle is taken to Mahia Peninsula next month. The company says its Electron orbital launch vehicle will carry two Earth-imaging Dove satellites for Planet and two Lemur-2 satellites from Spire for weather mapping and ship traffic tracking. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11926609 Lemur-2 is the initial constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites built by Spire. These satellites carry two payloads for meteorology and ship traffic tracking. The SENSE payload enables tracking ships worldwide by receiving their AIS signals The total number of Lemur satellites will be around 100 a second generation series to be launched from 2018 onwards, which will also feature ADS-B payloads to track airplanes. http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/lemur-2.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.