Is Commercial traffic Monitoring Channel 16

[Rob Johnstone]

I had understood that it was a legal requirement for Commercial traffic to monitor channel 16 and, if you were concerned about the likely hood of an imminent collision you could "always" call up the supertanker concerned and draw the attention of the bridge watch to the minnow close by.

I gather this is no longer the case. I was at a talk on the benefits of CHIRP (Confidential Hazardous Incident Reporting Programme  ( https://www.chirp.co.uk/what-we-do/maritime-programme ) when the chap giving the talk told us that, under certain conditions, this was no longer the case. This applied in particular if the vessel was within an area controlled by a port authority which requires vessels within the area to monitor another particular frequency.

Did anyone else know this - or am I the only one in the new dark ages?

[Andy Dingle]

Rob. Interesting point.

As you know I too also sail in a very busy shipping area. As I understand it all port area, estuaries and commercial sea area's are covered by their respective VTS - Vessel Traffic Services. VTS Humber in my case, VTS S'ton/Thames/Tyne etc elsewhere.

I would imagine the procedures are the same everywhere where it is a legal requirement (bye law) to monitor the respective channel in the area you are sailing, we use Chans 12, 13, 14, and 15 when in my VTS sea area.
Indeed in my experience you would be very foolish not to do this. There is always plenty of information published from VTS's (Reeds, internet etc) on what channels to monitor at what point and what your responsibilities are.

Ships bridge crews also call us direct and speak to us if they are at all concerned of our intentions, on the respective VTS channel NOT Ch16.

The Coastguard monitor Ch16 in their respective area's, including their VTS area's, but I understand it is not a legal requirement for you to monitor Ch16, (and I am open to correction on this), as opposed to VTS' channels where it IS a legal requirement.

I think it would be fool hardy in my opinion not to monitor Ch16 out of VTS area's, eg Last year I was anchored over night in a perfectly safe anchorage on a beautiful calm night, when the inshore life boat appeared checking on my welfare (!) as they'd had a report of a vessel in distress! Our VHF set had been switched off by a crew member keen to save on the battery supply, the CG were calling, got no response so they activated the RNLI!

If you have an AIS Transponder then you will appear on VTS and CG screens and they will be aware of you and any potential issues that you may get yourself into with commercial traffic. In my area they definitely will call you up to request your intentions in respect to the 50,000 ton tanker bearing down on you at 20 kn!
To be honest we have found it sometimes beneficial to go into 'stealth' mode so they don't keep hassling you. Having said that they also monitor radar and I now understand, high powered CCTV as well.
But at night or in low visibility, VTS is your best friend ever .. They are always helpful and really not that often sarcastic - and not just to yachties!

Hope that helps with your query - respective VTS websites will tell you what chans you are required to monitor. But outside of the VTS area's, monitor Ch16 for calling direct and request a chan change to 6 or other inter ship chans to talk direct or of course - and preferably, use DSC direct if you have a DSC set.

Andy and Equinox

[Rob Johnstone]

Thanks Andy for the knowledgeable reply. I think the point that the speaker was making that commercial traffic no longer has a legal requirement to monitor channel 16, whether they are in a VTS area or not if the vessel is fitted with the latest marine safety stuff, which of course includes AIS. It means at the very least that we need to fit AIS receivers and DSC radios if we want to communicate with these beast as we'll need the AIS to get their MMSI and the DSC to call it up.

There's a lot to be said for keeping off the beaten track!

[Andy Dingle]

Indeed Rob, it would seem that we all will have to get and use the GMDSS equipment .. and of course hold the correct licenses (DSC/SRC)..

I have mentioned one incident where I got caught out by not monitoring ch16 - and some sailors I know well fell foul of the CG (not their fault, wrongly 'assumed' to be overdue) in an incident this year which resulted in three life boats and a helicopter searching all night for two boats that were safely on their moorings (the one place they didn't think to look!).
It occurred to me that sooner or later there will be a requirement to book on (and off) with the CG whenever we go to sea - won't be long before the nanny state want to take away one of the few freedoms we have left!
But I will certainly be getting an AIS transponder in due course.

The RNLI clearly state that Ch16 will not be monitored on their website..  I copied and pasted the following:

Quote.
A VHF radio will enable you to summon help by calling the Coastguard and alerting other vessels. Up until recently this was done with a mayday call on Ch16. However, the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) has changed. There is no longer a legal requirement for any ship or coast station to maintain a manual watch on Ch16. The UK Coastguard and Irish Coast Guard have ceased a dedicated Ch16 headset watch and now monitor this via a wall-mounted loudspeaker. Please check with other countries if going abroad.

Instead, commercial ships and the Coastguard now monitor a special digital channel with DSC radios. To transmit a distress message on this channel you will need a DSC radio.
Unquote.

This may be a good time and place to mention the RYA Safe Trx app which I am sure we are all aware of?
This has taken the place of the old CG66 form. It seems a good idea, providing there is mobile phone coverage! But then we are advised that mobile phones do not form part of the GMDSS system..?
RYA SafeTrx is a free app, a google search will tell you all about it - though note for the tracking bit you will need a gps receiver built into the phone - not the internet approximation a lot of phones use.

I think it's not going to get any easier!

Andy and Equinox

[Rob Johnstone]

Next silly question:
 
If you have a DSC radio and press that protect RED distress button - does that mean you are transmitting on the special DSC channel?

I vaguely remember something about this in the DSC course I went on (well, it was after lunch when we got to that bit...) and also having to send codes saying what condition you were in all that sort of stuff....

(I really must get out more and go on a DSC refresher course - all this looking old books to research the exports of glass in the 18th century is obviously blurring my brain...)

[Peter Taylor]

(1) it is true that it is no longer a requirement for ships, and indeed anyone at sea with a marine VHF transceiver, to monitor channel 16. That happened when DSC came in.

(2) outside a VTS area ships will have their VHF switched to ch.16 since that is the calling channel. However that does not mean anyone is listening to it!  Inside a VTS area, ships, and most other vessels will monitor the local VTS channel. For Southampton and the central Solent that is channel 12. On Seatern I am almost always switched to channel 12.

(4) the Coastguard (and all National Coastwatch stations - NCI) still continually monitor channel 16 because that is the distress channel. It remains the case that most Mayday and pan-pan calls we hear at Calshot NCI are initiated on ch.16 and not via DSC. In the Solent (uniquely) the Coastguard also monitor ch.67 for non-urgent communications. You can call them direct on ch.67. Elsewhere you must call the CG on ch.16 and they may direct you to ch.67.

(5) the "special DSC channel" (ch.70) is simply used by DSC sets for dialling and supplementary digital information. No voice communication occurs on ch.70.

(6) on a DSC set the distress sequence is:
    (a) press the red button
    (b) a menu allows you to choose your distress (sinking/collision/fire/etc.) if you have time to select!
    (c) press the red button again for 5 seconds or until it says message sent. The automatic DSC distress message contains your MMSI, position (from GPS), time sent, nature of distress (if selected)
    (d) your radio will now have switched automatically to ch.16 where you must now send out the voice distress message...  Mayday Mayday Mayday etc. ( which must include your position, vessel name, call sign, and nature of distress ...and should include your MMSI and number of persons on board )

(7) the effect of the DSC distress message on all nearby DSC radios is to make them sound an alarm (which gets increasingly louder until cancelled) and to switch them to channel 16 ready to receive your voice Mayday. The radio display will show your MMSI number and your position.

(8 ) to send a DSC Pan-Pan you don't use the red button. You would select "all ships urgency call" from the radio's menu system and press the enter button and then a confirmation button (what buttons depend on your radio type).  Your set will switch to ch.16 (if not there already). Receiving sets will switch to ch.16 , sound an alarm, and display your MMSI but not your position (so you MUST include that in your voice pan-pan message).

(9) a DSC safety message (securite) and other "all ships messages", usually sent out by a shore station, will sound an alarm on a receiving DSC radio but will not switch it to ch.16.

(10) if someone calls you on DSC using your MMSI number your radio will sound an alarm and switch to the radio channel which they have selected for conducting the call - normally 6, 8, 72 or 77 are suitable channels however there may be local restrictions (in Southampton ch.8 is used by tugs)

(11) all National Coastwatch Stations monitor ch.65, call them direct on 65 not on 16. At Calshot we also monitor 12 (Southampton VTS), 16 (distress), 67 (CG safety), and 00 (private CG channel) with the emphasis being to listen on 65 for any calls to the station and on 16 for Mayday and Pan-pan calls. Except in exceptional circumstance we cannot transmit on these other channels - we can only transmit on ch.65.

(12) I don't know why I numbered these paragraphs!

Peter

[Andy Dingle]

Thanks for the concise explanation Peter - put far better than I could..

In my experience it remains that although DSC radio's are quite common now, I think people - at our amateur level - still use them as a basic vhf set and rarely use them to their full capacity.

I wonder what your thoughts on the RYA Safetrx app for phones are... Both personal and in your capacity as a National Coastwatch Officer?
I have it, but my phone is fairly basic and doesn't have a built in GPS... maybe I could bluetooth a gps receiver to it or something like that..?

https://international-maritime-rescue.org/safetrx-is-a-vessel-tracking-smartphone-application-that-fills-a-critical-gap-in-maritime-sar

Andy and Equinox

[Rob Johnstone]

Peter, I knew you'd have the precise details on the matter and thanks for the detailed and concise answer. All I have to do now is work out how I can print your instructions so that I can keep them to hand on Riff Raff.

Happy Christmas and super New Year sailing to you all.

[Peter Taylor]

I wonder what your thoughts on the RYA Safetrx app for phones are... Both personal and in your capacity as a National Coastwatch Officer?

Hi Andy,

In National Coastwatch we don't have any access to the Safetrx information, nor did we have access to the cg66 data. However I would say that it is well worth registering on Safetrx (even if you don't have a mobile phone!)  because it will provide details of your yacht to the Coastguard in the way that cg66 used to do. That includes a description of your yacht, a photo if you have uploaded one, and what radios and safety gear you have. Should you be involved in an incident then telling the CG your call sign and that you are "safetrx registered" should cut down the long sequence of questions* that they will ask you while your craft gently sinks beneath you!

From the personal point of view I have joined safetrx but don't use it in the "voyage tracking" sense mainly because I fear it will use up my data quota while running down my phones battery. I think (hope) it's more likely that my phone will loose data connection for some reason than that I'll get into trouble on the water. I don't know the extent to which these assumptions are true.

Also I prefer not to commit myself to arriving back to a certain place by a certain time. Again that is probably misguided, but my hope is that I'll generally manage to get myself and Seatern back to somewhere by sometime even if it's not where I'd originally planned to be! If I really do get into trouble I've got a phone, VHF and a PLB and am thinking of getting an AIS-MOB type device for next season. However if you do have someone at home who wants to know where you are, then my understanding is that using safetrx would give them access to that information.

Peter

* should anyone get in trouble and have to make a mayday call to the coastguard be assured that, while one coastguard is asking you a whole string of questions - how many people on board, any children, are you wearing lifejackets, what's your grandmother's maiden name, etc. - a different coastguard will already be busy tasking a lifeboat should one be needed!