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It’s the classic scenario from the Academy… You are the stand on vessel with no room to maneuver and a zero CPA contact is bearing down on you. You try the radio but no answer… what do you do next?

This post doesn’t answer the question but gives you other options not available when you were at the academy.

Use your AIS & VHF DSC:

1. Head to the AIS and get the contact’s MMSI number & name
2. Enter the number into your VHF DSC controller
3. Select a working frequency.
   
4. Hit send then start hailing on the working channel

What happens next is the GMDSS alarm will go off and his VHF will change to a working frequency. If he was away from the bridge he’ll have to return to silence the alarm at which point he hears your hail.

What if the alarm doesn’t wake him or he has it disabled?

CALL HIS BOSS

1. Get his name from the AIS.
2. Look him up in your ITU pub.
3. Find his INMARSAT-B number and call him.

Why does this work? As it was explained to me “Most captains have an INMARSAT-B extension in their office, most captains spend most of their time in their office. Most of the time the captain will answer the phone and rectify the problem post-haste.” …smile

*This post comes from our extensive gCaptain Archives. To find more interesting articles from the past use the search bar or click on one of the “Tags” found in our sidebar —>

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