“Process of communication with

other ships coast station and vts

center”

Reporters:
Paolo Atajar
Lemuel Derramas
Allen Faigmani
Harold Florendo
Francis Gianan
Kyle Vincent Labenia
Joelo Medinaceli
Denmark Sinay
John Michael Tabora
VIDEO PRESENTATION
 “Process of communication with other ships coast
station and vts center”

Introduction:

• Marine communication involves ship-to-ship and ship-

to-shore communication. Over the years, the ways in
which seamen communicate has changed drastically.
• Back in the day, semaphores and flags were a
primary form of communication for ships out at sea.
Radio brought about drastic changes in marine
communication, and greatly improved the safety of
everyone involved.

Paolo Atajar
 Process of communication with other ships coast
station and vts center”

• In the early half of the last century, ships began outfitting

vessels with radios that could communicate distress
signals between other ships, as well as to those on shore.
In the early half of the twentieth century, Morse code was
utilized for marine communication.
• By the time the seventies rolled around, a greater deal of
research and thought had gone into it. After assessing the
International Telecommunication Union studies, IMO
developed ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communication.
At this point, a radio officer was no longer necessary to
keep watch at all hours of the day and night.

Paolo Atajar
 There is a variety of radio communications systems that
must be carried on board ships, the exact requirements
vary based upon the area a ship is navigating.
• A1: This represents ships that are around 20 to 30 nautical miles
from the coast and are therefore covered by at least one VHF coast
radio station, thus allowing for constant DSC alerting. The
equipment used in this area includes VHF and a DSC along with a
NAVTEX receiver.
• A2: This represents any area that is over 400 nautical miles away
from the shore. In practice, it also reaches 100 nautical miles off
shore but does not include A1 areas. The equipment used in this
area includes a DSC, along with a radio telephone (MF radio range),
as well as the equipment needed for A1 areas.
• A3: This area excludes A1 and A2 areas, but is within INMARSAT
geostationary range, and falls within 70 degrees north and 70
degrees south latitude, this area allows for continuous alerting. The
equipment used in this area includes a high frequency radio and/or
INMARSAT, along with all equipment required for A1 and A2 areas.
Paolo Atajar
 There is a variety of radio communications systems that
must be carried on board ships, the exact requirements
vary based upon the area a ship is navigating.
• A4: This accounts for all areas located outside of A1-A3. Generally
speaking, this includes the Polar Region North and South of 70
degree of latitude. The equipment used in this area includes all of
the previously mentioned equipment along with HF radio service.
• All of our world’s oceans are covered by HF marine communication
services. It is required by the IMO that there are two coast stations
per ocean region. Most ships are equipped with satellite terminal for
Ship Security Alerts System (SSAS), as well as for tracking and
long-range identification.
• The marine navigation tools mentioned above are there to assist
with Search and Rescue operations from Maritime Rescue Co-
ordination centers. The goal is always to keep those out at sea as
safe as possible.

Paolo Atajar
 Marine Communication Equipment

• For standard marine radio communication principally

three kinds of equipment are used:
• VHF transceivers for short-range (up to 50 Km)
communications
• HF-SSB transceivers for long-range (up to 5000 Km)
communications
• Satellite transceivers for world-wide communications

Lemuel Derramas
 Marine Communication Equipment

A transceiver is a combined transmitter-receiver communication unit, in which some

of the hardware (e.g. the user controls) is combined to reduce cost and complexity.
VHF equipment is relative cheap and most user friendly. HF-SSB equipment is more
expensive and technically more difficult to manage.

The distance over which communication can be conducted, strongly depends on the
radiation performance of the antenna used. This includes high-quality matched
cabling between transmitter and antenna as well as a careful grounding installation.

Additionally to the HF-SSB bands that are reserved for marine communication there
are also the HF-SSB bands that are used by radio amateurs (HAM radio). If a valid
HAM license and associated call sign are available, also these HF-bands can be
used to establish radio connections with other HAM stations on ships or on land.
This offers an additional communication channel to obtain weather forecasts or
technical (marine) information.

Lemuel Derramas
 Marine Communication Equipment

VHF Transceiver
• Today's marine radio sets for use on VHF are very user
friendly with only three basic controls:
• a control to select the frequency for transmitting and
receiving, using simple channel numbers (Ch.),
• a control to set the audio volume level for the received
signal (VOL),
• And a third control to set the squelch level (SQL), which
silences the normal background noise when no signal is
being received.

Lemuel Derramas
 Marine Communication Equipment

• Other controls that may be found on the VHF set allow to quickly shift to the
distress and calling channel (16) or to scan a variety of channels.
• The IMO regulations require that every VHF set be capable of operating on
Channels 16 and a working channel, but today, all sets, even the small
hand-held, can tune to all marine channels (about 58 channels in the range
of 156.0 MHz to 164.0 MHz). Many channels are appointed to specific types
of communication such as ship-to-ship communication or distress
communication. Here is a list of the VHF channels and the different types of
communication allocated to them. Notice, that there is no strict international
agreement on the usage of these channels and that especially in the USA
there are some exceptions to this scheme. See the VHF marine radio
channels recommendations issued by the USCG for details.

Allen Faigmani
 Marine Communication Equipment

• Maritime VHF communication with Digital Selective Calling (DSC) is an

integrated part of the Global Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)
introduced by the IMO in 1991 in order to improve the safety of live at sea
(primary for commercial shipping). In order to participate in the GMDSS a
VHF transceiver will have to be equipped with a DSC controller enabling
Digital Selective Calling.

This is important also for pleasure yachts, since after the introduction of
GMDSS, the IMO has discontinued the permanent watch obligation on the
distress channels (for both commercial shipping and the coast stations).
Today (2007), almost all newly build maritime VHF sets have DSC
capability. But in order to use the DSC feature, the equipment must be
registered with the national telecommunications authorities. Through
registration, the DSC radio station will obtain a unique calling number and
call sign. In most countries also an operator's certificate is required to use
DSC featured VHF radio transceivers.

Allen Faigmani
 Marine Communication Equipment

• Other restrictions concerning on-board VHF radio equipment include the following:
• Mounted VHF sets may have the maximum allowable HF power output of 25 W, with
a required low-power mode of 1 W. Hand-held VHF radios may have up to 5 W
transmission power and also a required low-power mode of 1 W.
• National regulations usually prohibit the use of hand-held on shore or the use of
regular marine channels for on-board communications.
• All radio equipment that can transmit a radio signal must be "Type Approved" by
national telecommunications authorities. This should be no problem when purchasing
new sets because "Type Approval" is required before equipment may be offered for
sale (e.g. in Europe this is documented through the "EC sign" on the outside of the
transceiver). However, when crossing national borders with the equipment or when
"Type Approved" equipment is imported, a supplementary inspection by the local
telecommunications authorities may be required.
• The "Type Approval" of a radio set is certified in a document that will be delivered with
the equipment at purchase and must be kept on board.

Allen Faigmani
 Marine Communication Equipment

Allen Faigmani
 Marine Communication Equipment

• HF - SSB Transceiver
• Transceivers for AM-SSB communications are larger and more complicated
to handle than those for VHF. SSB equipment is mainly used for long-range
communication. The maximum RF power is usually 150W. As on VHF
transceivers all AM-SSB transceivers have an instant 2182 kHz selection
capability. This is the distress and calling frequency in the MF radio band.
The range of SSB communications is dependent on sky waves, so it is
extremely sensitive to atmospheric and ionospheric interference.
Transmission conditions can vary strongly on a seasonally, daily and even
hourly basis.
• With additional hardware including a radio modem, a text decoder and a
printer, SSB equipment can also be used to pull down weather faxes
around the world and gain an up-to-date and accurate picture of the
weather systems and forecast for the region.

Harold Florendo
 Marine Communication Equipment

• Some SSB coast stations with internet connections also offer a simple data
communication service for mariners enabling the on-board transmission and
reception of E-mail. This requires a radio modem and a PC-based software
coder-decoder. Due to the limited audio bandwidth, the data rate (characters
per second) is limited to about 1200 baud allowing for only text-based E-
mail without binary attachments.

• For operating an AM-SSB radio station, a stations license and an operating

permit are required. Also regard that in some countries (e.g. USA) it is not
allowed to use SSB transceivers for short-range communication

Harold Florendo
 Marine Communication Equipment

• In the specification of radio equipment for AM there is a system of abbreviations to

specify the type of communication. The abbreviation consists of a 3-character code,
which is a result of the World Administrative Radio Conference held in 1979 (WARC-
79). Here are some examples of this code:
• The first character specifies the type of modulation of the main carrier:
N - Unmodulated carrier
A - Double side band
H - Single side band - full carrier
R - Single side band - reduced carrier
J - Single side band - suppressed carrier
B - Independent side bands
F - Frequency modulation
G - Phase modulation
P - Sequence of unmodulated Pulses
K - Amplitude modulated pulses
L - Width modulated pulses
M - Phase modulated pulses
Q - Sequences of pulses modulated during the period of the pulse

Harold Florendo
 Marine Communication Equipment

• The second character specifies the nature of signal modulation of the main carrier:
0 - no modulation
1 - a single channel containing digital information without the use of a modulating sub-carrier
2 - a single channel containing digital information with the use of a modulating sub-carrier
3 - a single channel containing analogue information
7 - two or more channels containing digital information
8 - two or more channels containing analogue information

• The third character specifies the type of information to be transmitted:

N - no information transmitted
A - telegraphy for aural reception
B - telegraphy for automatic reception
C - facsimile
D - Data transmission
E - Telephony
F - Television (video)
W - Combination of the above

Francis Gianan
 Marine Communication Equipment

Francis Gianan
 Satellite Transceiver

• The four geo-stationary INMARSAT satellites form the

space segment of the GMDSS system. In this scope, two
different standards can be used for maritime
communication:
• INMARSAT-B for direct-calling telephone, data and telex
communication, and
• INMARSAT-C for telex communication.

Francis Gianan
 Satellite Transceiver

• Since the INMARSAT-B standard requires a large directional

satellite antenna, which must be continuously kept, aligned to the
communication satellite, this communication standard is not feasible
on small pleasure yachts. The communication standard INMARSAT-
C is based on narrow-band telex communication and requires only a
simple omni-directional antenna. This communication type will allow
world-wide telex communication but no voice communication.

The required equipment for INMARSAT-C telex communication

consists of a small satellite transceiver and a PC-based telex station
using the PC-screen and keyboard for printing and writing text-
based telex messages. Since recently, also Email service has
become feasible with this equipment.

Francis Gianan
 Vessel traffic services (VTS)

• are shore-side systems which range from the provision of simple information
messages to ships, such as position of other traffic or meteorological hazard
warnings, to extensive management of traffic within a port or waterway.

• Generally, ships entering a VTS area report to the authorities, usually by radio, and
may be tracked by the VTS control center. 

• Ships must keep watch on a specific frequency for navigational or other warnings,
while they may be contacted directly by the VTS operator if there is risk of an
incident or, in areas where traffic flow is regulated, to be given advice on when to
proceed. 

• SOLAS regulation V/12 - Vessel traffic services states that Governments

may establish VTS where, in their opinion, the volume of traffic or the degree
of risk justifies such services.
 

Kyle Vincent Labenia

 Vessel traffic services (VTS)

Revisions of VTS Guidelines:

• Revised Guidelines for vessel traffic services, including

Guidelines on Recruitment, Qualifications and Training of VTS
Operators, were adopted as Assembly resolution A.857(20) in
November 1997. NCSR 7 finalized the revision of
the Guidelines for Vessel Traffic Services to update the version
adopted in 1997 (resolution A.857(20)) and referred it to the
MSC for approval and subsequent adoption by the Assembly.
 

Kyle Vincent Labenia

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• GMDSS - Radio Station
• The Radio Station RC-1800F2 contains all the necessary radio equipment
for ships operating in the GMDSS sea area A1-2-3. The GMDSS console
consists of the Inmarsat-C Mobile Earth Station, MF/HF Radio Telephone,
NBDP Terminal and printers for Inmarsat-C and NBDP Terminal.

• This GMDSS package delivers the operation scheme that is straight

forward in addition to streamlined installation on new build as well as
retrofitting and is type approved to the latest IMO, ITU, IEC and ETS
standards.

Kyle Vincent Labenia

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

Kyle Vincent Labenia

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• GMDSS - A1-2-3 Radio Console

• The Radio Console RC-1800T contains all the necessary radio

equipment for ships operating in the GMDSS sea area A1-2-3. The
GMDSS console consists of the Inmarsat-C Mobile Earth Station, MF/HF
Radio Telephone, NBDP Terminal and printers for Inmarsat-C and NBDP
Terminal.

• The GMDSS console provides an easy-to-operate configuration with

minimal installation time for retrofitting an existing ship or new builds.
Each unit is prewired in the rack to help reduce installation time. All
radios incorporated comply with relevant IMO/SOLAS and ITU
regulations, ETS and IEC standards.
Joelo Medinaceli
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

Joelo Medinaceli
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• Marine VHF Radio Telephone

• The FM-4800 can exchange all available data such as

position and AIS targets via NMEA-0183 and NMEA-
2000 networks. The very solid construction is water-
resistant according to IP-67. Optionally, an additional
handset and speaker are available for operation from
a second position, for example the steering position
in the cockpit. ATIS and MMSI number are easy to
program yourself.
Joelo Medinaceli
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

Joelo Medinaceli
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• Marine VHF Radio Telephone (Black Box
Type)

• The FM-4850 can exchange all available data such as

position and AIS targets via NMEA-0183 and NMEA-2000
networks. The very solid construction is water-resistant
according to IP-67. Optionally, an additional handset and
speaker are available for operation from a second
position, for example the steering position in the cockpit.
ATIS and MMSI number are easy to program yourself.

Joelo Medinaceli
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

Joelo Medinaceli
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• Marine VHF Radio Telephone

• Full GMDSS-compliant Semi-duplex 25-Watt

VHF Radio Telephone with Class-A DSC facility
and CH70 watch receiver that meet the new
ITU recommendation on digital selective
calling system for use in the Maritime Mobile
Service.

Denmark Sinay
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

Denmark Sinay
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• MF/HF Radio Telephone

• Reliable MF/HF Radio Telephone with high-

contrast 4.3” bright colour LCD capable of
distress, safety and routine communications
with integrated DSC/DSC Watch Receiver that
fully meets the new ITU recommendation on
digital select2ive calling system for use in the
Maritime Mobile Service
Denmark Sinay
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

Denmark Sinay
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• Dual-Channel Navtex Receiver with Printer

• FURUNO NX-700 is a dual-channel NAVTEX receiver with

printer for SOLAS ship complying with the new NAVTEX
performance standard MSC. 148(77). The NX-700 can receive
two channels simultaneously: international messages at 518
kHz and local messages from 490 or 4209.5 kHz. These
messages include a variety of safety information such as
Navigational Warnings, Meteorological Warnings, Search and
Rescue (SAR) information and other information for ship
sailing within the reach of each service station's coverage.

Denmark Sinay
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

Denmark Sinay
 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• Dual-Channel Navtex Receiver

• FURUNO NX-700 is a dual-channel NAVTEX receiver without

printer for SOLAS ship complying with the new NAVTEX
performance standard MSC. 148(77). The NX-700 can receive
two channels simultaneously: international messages at 518
kHz and local messages from 490 or 4209.5 kHz. These
messages include a variety of safety information such as
Navigational Warnings, Meteorological Warnings, Search and
Rescue (SAR) information and other information for ship
sailing within the reach of each service station's coverage.

John Michael Tabora

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

John Michael Tabora

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• FELCOM-251 / 501

• FELCOM251 and FELCOM501 are FURUNO’s latest Inmarsat FleetBroadband

terminals, which deliver ship-to-shore/ ship-to-ship broadband communication
of up to 432 kbps, anywhere at sea, by utilizing the INMARSAT Fleet Xpress
system coverage. (coverage map below.)

• In addition to data communication services (Standard IP of up to 432 kbps).

FleetBroadBand allows the users to make use of ISDN data service* as well as
FAX communication.

• FELCOM251 and FELCOM501 will bring cost-effective broadband communication

onboard the vessels for a variety of needs, for both operational and social
purposes, including calling their friends and family back home while at sea.

John Michael Tabora

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

John Michael Tabora

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships
• Inmarsat C

• Fully incorporated Inmarsat-C Ship Earth

Station terminal for GMDSS along with
optional printer and AC/DC power supply. It
has SSAS and LRIT capabilities and covers the
communication schemes such as telex, fax, e-
mailing, EGC, Data reporting/polling.

John Michael Tabora

 List the equipment used in
communication with other ships

John Michael Tabora