Operation Manual

Chapter 5: Digital Selective Calling (DSC) 77
Receiving a Distress Call
The Ray218E/Ray55E receives distress messages sent by another vessel and/or
acknowledgments (ACK) sent by a coast station to another vessel in distress. The
radio also receives distress relays.
Note: Class “D” DSC radios such as the Ray218E/Ray55E are forbidden by law from auto-
matically acknowledging or relaying DSC distress calls. Upon receiving a distress call, you
may hail the vessel in distress on channel 16 and standby to lend assistance if requested.
When a Distress Call is received, the Ray218E/Ray55E automatically tunes to
channel 16 and sounds the Distress Alarm Tone. (If you have disabled automatic
channel changing, as described on page 98, you are first prompted whether to
accept the call.)
Two alternating screens appear in the display. When position data and time is
included within the signal, it is displayed on the first screen in the text area of the
LCD. The second screen shows the nature of the distress and time it was sent.
The 2 alternating pages of data are recorded in the Distress Log. The envelope
icon (
) blinks until you accept the call, reject the call, or open the resulting
unread message stored in the Log. See page “Received Calls (Logs)“ on page 94.
Your radio has the capability of forwarding position data from a Distress Call to
your display unit (C Series, E Series, etc.) over the NMEA port so that it can be
displayed on the screen. You can specify which stations will have their position
data information sent to the display unit using the option NMEA Output, which is
described on page 61.
To mute the alert tone:
Press CLEAR.
To ignore the Distress Call:
Press CLEAR a second time or press the CANCEL soft key. The envelope icon
disappears, the call is interrupted and the normal screen appears on the LCD.
To accept a Distress Call when Auto Channel Change is OFF
1. Press the OK soft key or the CH/OK knob. The alert tone is muted, the enve-
lope icon disappears and the radio switches to channel 16.
2. Press OK again to confirm the channel change. The radio returns to standby
mode. Press PTT to communicate on channel 16.
To accept a Distress Call when Auto Channel Change is ON
Press the OK soft key or the CH/OK knob. The alert tone is muted, the envelope
icon disappears and the radio automatically switches to channel 16. Press PTT to
communicate.