DSC Practical use --- How do you use it?

I wish the busy marinas in Erie's western basin had land-station MMSI's. It would encourage compliance for all boaters and reduce a lot of annoying chatter.
 
We are going on a week long, 400 mile round trip, around the Chesapeake Bay with about 8-10 boats next month. We are going to have a planning meeting soon, and I am going to find out how many of us have DSC capability, which means they have a MMSI. Additionally, newer radios have a function called Group Calling. Some of you may remember a few weeks ago on a different thread, I was trying to figure out how to accomplish this. What I found is that the group basically creates its own MMSI which begins with a leading zero (0), followed by the 3 digit MID, which for US recreational boats is 3-3-8. The final five digits are essentially random, meaning your choice. Everyone in the group uses this same group MMSI. Ex: 0-3-3-8-1-2-3-4-5. I envision using the group DSC function to reach out to the entire flotilla over VHF. Since we have multiple boats, varying sizes, different cruise speeds, vast open spaces in very rural areas sometimes with no cell phone coverage, I think it will come in handy.

Jaybeaux
 
Jaybeaux said:
We are going on a week long, 400 mile round trip, around the Chesapeake Bay with about 8-10 boats next month. ....

Group Calling. ....

Jaybeaux
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Do you have a thread for your trip? I'm in Annapolis if you head this way... If you pos. req. the group, do they all show up on the plotter? If you wouldn't mind sharing the mmsi, I'd like to test it....Still playing around with how it operates and potential use.
 
Boat Guy said:
If you pos. req. the group, do they all show up on the plotter?
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That would be really cool. I'd like to see how various equipment handles it. I'm not crazy how how my Garmin does it. It places an icon on the screen, but shows no name or detail until it's selected. If you make another request for the same vessel, the previous one remains on the screen.

I wish I could assign an icon to each MMSI and old PosReqs deleted automatically. Maybe they do now? There have been a lot of software updates in the past year.
 
Boat Guy said:
Do you have a thread for your trip? I'm in Annapolis if you head this way... If you pos. req. the group, do they all show up on the plotter? If you wouldn't mind sharing the mmsi, I'd like to test it....Still playing around with how it operates and potential use.
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Boat Guy....I'd be happy to share the group MMSI with you. I don't have my fancy MFD yet, so I can't answer your question about position request. I'll ask someone with a newer MFD. Our trip is Potomac River to Southern Bay. Furthest south is Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth, VA.

Jaybeaux
 
RollerCoastr said:
I just didn't want you to expect to see yourself on marinetraffic if you don't have an AIS transponder.
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Yep, and it has to be an AIS transceiver (send and receive), not an AIS receiver (receive only). There can be some confusion about that as well.
 
Right now I'm debating if I'm going to include AIS capability to a new electronics refit. Yes, it would be cool to have it. But for my local waters it's probably overkill. And its about a $1000 add on.
 
b_arrington said:
Right now I'm debating if I'm going to include AIS capability to a new electronics refit. Yes, it would be cool to have it. But for my local waters it's probably overkill. And its about a $1000 add on.
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If you're inland, it's likely overkill and will add a lot of clutter to your chart....If you are offshore, I think it's a pretty cheap investment.
 
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