Practise the distress alert before you need it.
A fire, an order from the master and a DSC alert to send. Then the follow-up MAYDAY, a false alert to stop and cancel, a distress you receive that the coast station does not answer, and NAVTEX.
Why it matters in the oral
Distress procedure is one of the parts of the oral where the order matters as much as the content. Examiners listen for the right sequence, the right channel and the right words.
Here you work the DSC and the VHF yourself, in the order the procedure asks, while the scenario carries on around you.
The lessons
4 lessons on the bridge.
Each has its own page: what you do, how the lesson runs and its oral questions.
Phase 1: The bridge, one piece of equipment at a time
NAVTEX, EGC and maritime safety information
Set up the NAVTEX, read and plot a navigational warning, wait out a garbled gale warning, read EGC, and test the EPIRB.
Phase 1: The bridge, one piece of equipment at a time
Distress: DSC alert and MAYDAY
A designated DSC distress alert with a good position, the MAYDAY on channel 16, the acknowledgement read and the log.
Phase 1: The bridge, one piece of equipment at a time
False distress alert: stop it and cancel it
Reset a mistaken DSC alert before it repeats, cancel it by voice on channel 16, close the cover and log it.
Phase 6: Emergencies and ship handling
Distress alert received: the coast station does not answer
Read the alert, listen on 16, hold off the DSC, acknowledge by voice, tell the coast station, and find the liferaft.
Oral questions
GMDSS and distress questions, and what a good answer covers.
Six of the most-asked. In the course, each one follows the lesson where you have just done it.
How does NAVTEX work, and how do you set the receiver up?Often asked
A good answer covers:
- An automatic broadcast of maritime safety information on 518 kHz in English, with 490 kHz and 4209.5 kHz for national and tropical services
- Each message carries B1, the station letter; B2, the subject; and B3 B4, the serial number
- Select the stations that cover the area, or use automatic selection by position, and change them as the passage goes on
- Subjects A (navigational warnings), B (meteorological warnings), D (search and rescue and piracy) and L cannot be rejected
- A message already received is not printed again, except serial 00, which always prints
- Range is about 200 to 400 miles, so it is a coastal service; beyond it, use the satellite EGC service
Practised in the lesson NAVTEX, EGC and maritime safety information.
Show me on the bridgeOpen the NAVTEX and read the stations and subjects selected.
A navigational warning comes in for a position near your track. What do you do?Often asked
A good answer covers:
- Read it at once and work out where it applies against the planned track
- Plot it on the ECDIS as a note or mariner object, or on the paper chart
- Amend the passage plan if needed, and give the hazard the berth the warning asks for
- Tell the master if it affects the plan, and brief the next watch
- Keep it until it is cancelled or the passage is past it
Practised in the lesson NAVTEX, EGC and maritime safety information.
What routine tests and checks does the GMDSS equipment need, and where are they recorded?Often asked
A good answer covers:
- Weekly: a DSC test call with a coast station, when within range of one
- Monthly: the EPIRB self-test, its battery and hydrostatic release expiry dates; the SART and handheld VHF radios checked as the maker's instructions say
- Everything goes in the GMDSS radio log, with any faults and what was done about them
- Never send a real distress alert as a test; use the test functions only
Practised in the lesson NAVTEX, EGC and maritime safety information.
Give me a MAYDAY call and message for this yacht on fire.Often asked
A good answer covers:
- MAYDAY three times, THIS IS, the name three times, the call sign and the MMSI
- MAYDAY, the name, call sign and MMSI once more
- The position, as latitude and longitude or a bearing and distance from a known point
- The nature of the distress: fire
- The assistance wanted
- The number of persons on board, and anything else that helps the rescue
- OVER
Practised in the lesson Distress: DSC alert and MAYDAY.
Show me on the bridgeThe GMDSS station: the VHF DSC, the handset and the radio log.
What does a DSC distress alert carry, and on which VHF channel does it go?Often asked
A good answer covers:
- Channel 70 on VHF
- Own MMSI, the position and the time of that position
- The nature of distress, if designated; undesignated if there is no time
- The channel for the follow-on voice traffic, channel 16 on VHF
- It repeats automatically every few minutes until it is acknowledged or reset
Practised in the lesson Distress: DSC alert and MAYDAY.
You have sent a VHF DSC distress alert by mistake. What do you do?Often asked
A good answer covers:
- Reset the equipment at once, so it does not repeat
- Cancel by voice on channel 16 to all stations
- ALL STATIONS three times, THIS IS the name three times, call sign and MMSI
- The position, then: please cancel my distress alert of, the date and time in UTC
- Close the distress cover, and write the false alert and its cancellation in the radio log
- Tell the master, and listen for any station that answers
Practised in the lesson False distress alert: stop it and cancel it.
Show me on the bridgeThe VHF DSC at the GMDSS station. Find the reset and the cover.
All 15 GMDSS and distress questions
Preparing for the OOW 3000 oral? See the whole syllabus, topic by topic. Other topics: Radar and ARPA, ECDIS and electronic aids, Position fixing, Passage planning, COLREGs, Watchkeeping, Pilotage, Emergencies, Ship handling, Weather.