Training Day: VHF and Digital Selective Calling

It was a sunny day today but this weekend's boating activities were restricted the classroom.

Most boats over 20ft or so have a VHF radio.  For coastal cruising in the age of cell phones it's tempting to think of the radio as unnecessary but it is actually an important safety tool and as such, worth knowing how to use properly.  VHF radio is also the basis for more advanced and very useful technologies such as Digital Selective Calling (DSC) and Automatic Information System (AIS).  Not everybody cares about such things but in the end, you need to have a radio on a boat our size and you need to have a permit to operate it so hence David and I we found ourselves in the classroom today.

We learned that there is a hierarchy to for the types of calls one can make/receive on a VHF radio.  In order of priority they are:

1) Distress - Boater is in immediate danger.  Radio hail: Mayday, Mayday Mayday
2) Urgent - Boater is in difficulty but not immediate danger.  Radio hail: Pan, Pan, Pan
3) Safety - Weather or navigational hazard.  Radio hail:  Securite, Securite, Securite
4) Everything else

We have been hearing all of these words and terms on the radio while sailing but it's nice to know now what it all means.  More importantly, we know how to use the radio properly in case of an emergency.  Beyond that, the really cool part is the spinoff technologies such as AIS that are becoming commonplace.  Vessels equipped with AIS use the VHF radio to continuously transmit information about their location and heading, along with general info such as vessel size and MMSI number.  This new tool has made it possible for boaters to see all commercial boating activity around them in order to avoid close calls or even collisions.

A vessel the size of Ge'Mara doesn't need an AIS transmitter but we can still benefit from seeing what everyone else is doing.  For this we don't even need a special piece of equipment - there are I-Phone apps that display AIS data from ships in the area superimposed on a map.  So for example, when we leave Coal Harbour for a sail we can check our "Shipfinder" AIS app and see what tugs, freighters or tankers are heading under the Lions Gate Bridge and make plans to avoid them.

All in all it was day well spent.  I was happy enough with the 83% mark I received on the test but mildly perturbed that David beat me by a point.