Dsc Overview; What Is Dsc; Dsc Message - Furuno FS-5070 Operator's Manual

3.

DSC OVERVIEW

3.1

What is DSC?

DSC is an acronym meaning Digital Selective Calling. It is a digital distress and general
calling system in the MF and HF bands used by ships for transmitting distress alerts and
general calls and by coast stations for transmitting the associated acknowledgements.
For DSC distress and safety calling in the MF and HF bands, the frequencies are 2187.5,
4207.5, 6312.0, 8414.5, 12577.0, and 16804.5 kHz.
The DSC station sends and receives DSC general and distress calls via the radiotelephone.
Routine DSC Call
3.2

DSC Message

DSC calls are roughly divided in two groups: distress, urgency and safety messages, and
routine messages. Below are the types of DSC messages.
Call
Distress Alerts
Distress relay area
Distress relay coast
Medical Transport
Neutral Craft
Individual
PSTN message
Test message
Group message
Area message
Position
Polling message
*Special Message: When sending these messages, set the acknowledgement. See section
6.15.
TRANSCEIVER
Option
UNIT
Your ship sends distress message
Your ship relays distress call to all ships in a specific geographical area
Your ship relays distress call to a coast station
Inform areas that your ship is carrying medical supplies*
Inform areas that your ship is not a participant in armed conflict*
Call to a specific address
Call over Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
Send test signal to a station to test your station's functionality
Call to a specific group
Call to all ships in a specific geographical area
Your ship requests position of other ships
Confirm if own ship is within communicating range with other ships.
(Receive and answer only)
Routine DSC Calls
CONTROL UNIT
Description
3-1