Maritime Communications

Shore side Communications technology has improved dramatically in the last 20 years but maritime Communications has always struggled to keep up with the changes at the same pace.  This is due to a number of factors, from cost of the systems to amount of work required to refit a ship with a new communications system.  Work that can only been completed when a ship is available to go into an extended period alongside, ie drydock.

Though Communications at sea has evolved (albeit a few years behind land based systems) it still catches people out when they first go to sea, that they cannot just take out their mobile phone & ring their contacts for a chat in the middle of the Atlantic..

I do remember an incident at sea in 2004, when a Cadet, sitting in the Mess complained to the Radio Officer because the quality of his phone call to his mum made from his cabin left a lot to be desired…

The Radio Officer with over 15 years of seagoing experience at that time, slowly folded up his 2 week old newspaper & “gently” put him in the picture as to how Radio Communications were when he first went to sea & that he should be amazed that he could just pick up his own phone in his cabin & directly dial his parents home in England….sighting CW telegrams & very crackly Rad-Telephone calls via Portishead with your parents having to say “over” before you could speak….The young cadet went away with a lesson well learnt.

Which brings me on to the serious bit of the article, whilst Telecommunications at sea have been improving quickly, it must be realized that most crew members do not have access to the same telecommunications infrastructure as people ashore, although it really is obvious that the most pressing community who require great communications would be the Seafarers who spent 80 percent of the year away from their families & loved ones.  Seafarers also need to have access to more Marine specific Communications, such as :-

·         Being able to send & receive Distress Alerts or safety information.

·         Being able to communicate with other ships.

·         Being able to communicate with shore side Maritime agencies.

Due to the International nature of shipping, these Communications systems must be internationally interoperable & this is where the delay in having upto date Communications systems on ships stems from.  As the new systems must be interoperable, affordable & acceptable to the majority of Maritime Nations.

All Maritime Agencies do not advocate Mobile Phones as a substitute for Maritime Radio Distress & Safety Systems.  Although Mobile Phones do have their place onboard as an added measure of safety & with the advent of mobile Satellite Phones there is even more Communications available to the Master in the event of an emergency at sea.

Mobile phones generally cannot provide ship to ship safety communications or communications nor provide the ability to make a distress call on a Mobile phone, as only the one party you call will be able to hear you.   Most Mobile phones are designed for a land-based service. Their coverage offshore is limited, and may change without notice.  Locating a Mobile caller, if calling from sea, is almost impossible.  Even with the global phenomenon of Mobile Phones, the humble Radio Transmission still plays a vital part in Maritime Safety.  It is a vital message to pass along to others who think that the Satellite Telephone is a suitable / viable alternative.

Two United Nations-chartered organizations, the International Maritime Organization and the International Telecommunications Union, are responsible for defining and regulating maritime telecommunications systems. The most current system adopted by these two organizations is the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, or GMDSS.  Morse wireless telegraphy, used by ships for distress and safety communications since the beginning of the century ceased worldwide on February 1, 1999. 
This Radio Operator still remembers making his last CW (Morse) Transmission to a Coastal Radio Station in the afternoon 31^st of January 1999, logging it into the CW transmission log.  Ceasing watch on the circuit.  Closing the logbook & sending off to be archived for records.  A sad day.