DSC Marine VHF

[Firefly]

I was wondering how many of the members here routinely make DSC calls when at sea and how many continue to use conventional transmissions.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Firefly

I was wondering how many of the members here routinely make DSC calls when at sea and how many continue to use conventional transmissions.

Very few to none is the answer. My local CG station told me that they almost NEVER get a non emergency DSC call, other than in a test situation.

[Firefly]

That's been my experience too. All a bit of a damp squib really. I suppose it's useful for calling individuals and of course the emergency facility is great but it is so much easier to use the conventional VHF for the day to day stuff.

[jyasaki]

My buddy used to do this all the time. DSC phone calls (I think they call it.) He also used to poll for position if he didn't get a response (keeping tabs on who's diving where.)

In my case, I've never figured out how to do it well enough to remember when I wanted it.


jky

[Trimix]

Using it in an emergency seems easy and foolproof. But the instructions for using it otherwise confused me.

Even on my VHF course we all found it difficult and only did it to pass the course.

The instruction manual for my Horizon is like a bloody book - I initially thought it was that big because it was written in several languages, but no - its all English and two inches thick

Compared to say Garmin products which are so easy to use you almost dont need the manual, my radio could be easier to use.

[Boatnomad]

Originally Posted by Trimix

Compared to say Garmin products which are so easy to use you almost dont need the manual, my radio could be easier to use.

+1 Yep, always found Garmin ahead of the game here

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by Trimix

Using it in an emergency seems easy and foolproof.

Yeah, the red emergency button, sure.

But the instructions for using it otherwise confused me.

This was what I was referring to. You can call a selected MMSI, a selected group of MMSI's, poll for position (again, single or group), and a lot of other stuff that is really complicated to set up and even worse to remember the procedure for using.

Which, I think, is why I use it as an old non-DSC VHF, with the red button just in case.

jky