[CA] [CA11] Ray 70 and Individual Distress Relay call

[Palio]

Hello:

The Ocean Signal MOB1 operates via AIS to locate a man overboard to his/her vessel as well as other vessels equipped with AIS w/in a 5 mile radius. The unit can also be programmed with the vessel's MMSI number so that it can send a DSC alert to the MOB vessel using an "Individual Distress Relay call", thereby alarming and notifying other crew as to the MOB event. Does the Ray 70 permit such a DSC Individual Distress Relay call? The Ocean Signal website (http://oceansignal.com/products/mob1/) states:

"Compatibility: Most modern AIS plotters and DSC VHF comply with the standards required to receive MOB transmissions. It is however, especially if you are using older equipment, recommended that you check compatibility with the equipment manufacturer."

For further clarification, the vessel in question also utilizes a Raymarine AIS700, and thus, receives its AIS signals through it, and not the Ray70 - however, the Ray 70 should handle the MMSI DSC traffic.

Thanks in advance for your response!

Lloyd Bray

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum Lloyd,

In fact, the AIS700 simply passes received AIS information to a chartplotting system / MFD within the system, which is in turn responsible for monitoring and displaying AIS data. At the time of this response, Raymarine's MFDs running the latest available LightHouse 3 software will plot such AIS SARTs (Search And Rescue Targets), but will not trigger a MOB within the system in response to having received reports from such targets from an interfaced AIS receiver / transceiver.

[Palio]

Thanks for your answer. The MFD in question is a C series MFD running Lighhouse 2 software. I'm guessing from your answer that it will not operate as expected - either AIS plotting, or DSC Individual Distress Call. Is that correct?

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Lloyd,

Correct. Such AIS transmissions would not be treated as a MOB or DSC position report by a C-Series Classic MFD. C-Classic MFD software was neither designed to trigger a MOB event nor differentiate between types of AIS targets and would likely plot the SART target as using the same triangular AIS symbol as would be used for a vessel.