Making A Voice Distress Call - West Marine VHF490 Owner's Manual

MAKING A DISTRESS CALL
Lift the red cover. Press and hold the DISTRESS button for three seconds. Your radio transmits your boat' s location every few minutes
until you receive a response.
NOTE: If the radio displays Enter User MMSI, cancel the automatic distress call and make a normal voice distress call.

Making a Voice Distress Call

Speak Slowly — Clearly — Calmly.
For future reference, write your boat' s name & call sign here:
1. Make sure your radio is on.
2. On the microphone, press the 16/9-TRI button to switch to Channel 16 (156.8 MHz). (If the corner of the display does not show
16, press the 16/9-TRI button again until it does.)
3. Press the PUSH TO TALK button on the microphone and say: MAYDAY – MAYDAY – MAYDAY."
4. Say "THIS IS {name or call sign of your boat}."
5. Say "MAYDAY {name or call sign of your boat}."
6. Tell where you are: (what navigational aids or landmarks are near, or read the latitude and longitude from your GPS).
7. State the nature of your distress, e.g. are you sinking, medical emergency, man overboard, on fire, adrift, etc.
8. Give number of persons aboard and conditions of any injured persons.
9. Estimate present seaworthiness of your ship (e.g. how immediate is the danger due to flooding or fire or proximity to shore).
10. Briefly describe your ship (length, type, color, hull).
11. Say: "I WILL BE LISTENING ON CHANNEL 16."
12. End message by saying "THIS IS {name or call sign of your boat}, OVER."
13. Release the PUSH TO TALK button and listen.
If you do not get an answer after 30 seconds, repeat your call, beginning at step 3, above.
Lift the red cover
and press the
button.
DISTRESS