Some usual questions to pass GMDSS test successfully

1. What is the major conception of GMDSS?

- In the shortest time inform RCC and ships in the area, of distress to provide search and rescue operation with the minimum waste of time.

2. What is the major idea of GMDSS?

- Safety of navigation and safety of life at sea.

3. What is the secondary idea of GMDSS?

- Providing of MSI for ship and commercial connection.

4. Systems including in the GMDSS?

- Traditional systems VHF, HF, MF with DSC added. Inmarsat-C system, NAVTEX, EGC, (All sea areas except A4) MSI on HF in the area A4 and other ones, COSPAS-SARSAT system, Inmarsat-E system, SART (Search and rescue radar transponder).

5. What is sea area Al?

- Sea area covered by at least one coast VHF st'n with DSC added.

6. What is sea area A2?

- Sea area covered by at least one coast MF st'n with DSC added.

7. What is sea area A3?

- Sea area covered by Inmarsat system form 70N to 70S.

8. What is sea area A4?

- Sea area out of the Inmarsat zone.

9. What emergency equipment do you know?

- EPIRB COSPAS-SARSAT, EPIRB Inmarsat-E, EPIRB VHF, portable VHF transceiver, SART.

10. What information includes short D. A. call?

- MMSI of the ship in distress, Ps'n (last known), time (at Ps'n).

11. What information includes full D.A. call?

- MMSI of the vs'l in distress, Ps'n (last known), nature of distress, type of distress connection e.g. R/TLF Al - VHF Simplex, A2 - 2182 Voice, A3 and A4 SSB Voice.

12. After sending of DSC alert in what of a type of condition DSC controller is?

- In an auto repeat condition.

13. Till when autorepeat condition lasts?

- DSC controller receives DSC acknowledgement or operator stops the call.

14. What is MMSI?

- Maritime Mobile Selective-call Identity code.

15. What is MID?

- Maritime Identification Digits.

16. What DSC system produced for?

- For establishing connection and exchanges of distress and commercial messages by use of digital codes.

17. What is MSI?

- Maritime Safety Information.

18. What MSI includes on?

- Search and rescue to RCC, meteo to met area, navigational to NAVAREA (16 areas), MSI in GMDSS: NAVTEXAl, A2, EGC A3, MSI on HF A4 (For frequencies see list of radio Determination and special service st'n Annex 1).

19. What is EGC-Safety net?

- Enhanced Group Calling Safety net.

20. Where and how EGC safety net works?

- It works in the INMARSAT zone, net coordination st'n, to Land Earth St'n to SAT., to Ship Earth St'n.

21. What is FEC?

- Forward Error Correcting.

22. On which frequency NAVTEX works?

- 518 kHz (490 kHz called national one), 4209, 5 kHz additional.

23. What class of emission use NAVTEX?

- F1B.

24. What kind of a FEC regime use NAVTEX?

- FEC-C.

25. What dose it mean FEC-C?

- Forward Error Correcting - Circulating, that means that each message will be sent twice in case of:

NNN - more than 4% of mistakes to 100% information and then message will be sent again if failed again NAVTEX prints asterisk.

NNNN - less than 4% mistakes to 100% of information - good.

26. What dose it mean in NAVTEX message ZCZC B1B2B3B4?

- ZCZC - is service mark. B 1- is the name of the st'n. B2 - is the type of the message. B3 and B4 - are the number of message. If the number of message starts like 00 that means that is the distress message.

27. If you receive MSI by NAVTEX what is the normal range between your st'n and coastal st'n?

- Up to 200-250 nm.

28. What type of the message you will choose in the program menu whether you like it or not?

- A - Navigational Warnings. B - Meteorological Warnings. D - Search and Rescue information. E - Meteorological Forecasts. L - Navigational Warnings - additional to letter A.

29. How many working SATS use Inmarsat system?

- AOR-E-SAT 15, 5 W. AOR-W-SAT 54 W. IOR-SAT 64 E. POR-SAT 178 E also there are 7 additional ones for emergency purposes.

30. What is the role of the SAT's in the Inmarsat system?

- As retranslator which is on 365000 km above the earth equator.

31. What dose it mean beostationary SAT?

- It means that SAT and earth move in the same direction with the same speed.

32. What for you do log-in and log-out procedure in Inmarsat?

- Log-in is the enter to the system, register for SAT.

- Log-out is the exit from the system.

33. You've sent D.A. by Inmarsat system and you have not received the acknowledgement from RCC, after which period of time you will repeat the procedure?

- After 5 minutes.

34. You've sent false D.A. by Inmarsat system how you gonna cancel

it?

- We have to communicate with appropreate RCC and cancel it with distress priority, we can also use the telephony, well the quickest way is preferable.

35. What word do we use when we communicate in Distress?

- MAYDAY.

36. What word do we use when we communicate in Urgency?

- PAN PAN.

37. What word do we use when we communicate in Safety?

- SECUR1TE.

38. What dose it mean ARQ?

- Automatic Repetition reQuest (mode of TLX operation for point to point working between two stations).

39. What is the difference between FEC and ARQ mode?

- In FEC mode message will be sent twice and if deliveries' are not succesfull - channel breaks.

- In ARQ mode message will be sent 32 times and if deliveries are not succesfull - channel breaks.

40. What is the AAIC?

- Authority Account Identity Code.

41. What is the difference between Inmarsat standards C and A?

- Standard A: Antenna directional, direct TLX, direct Tl'f numbers start from 1 of 7 digits.

Standard C: Antenna omnidirectional, TLX store and forward E-mail, numbers start from 4 of 9 digits.

42. What frequency use COSPAS-SARSAT emergency radio beacon?

- 406 MHz Ships, 121, 5 MHz Aircrafts.

43. On which frequency works Inmarsat-E emergency radio beacon?

- 1, 6 GHz.

44. What is the guaranteed time of location of COSPAS-SARSAT emergency radio beacon in the equatorial area?

- 1, 5-2 hours.

45. What is the guaranteed time of locating of COSPAS-SARSAT emergency radio beacon?

- 30 minutes.

46. What is period of rotating of COSPAS-SARSAT SATS?

- 100 minutes.

47. In which area Inmarsat -E radio beacons are used?

- A1, A2, and A3 areas (not global).

48. What is the GMDSS requirements for SART?

- Radar 3 cm. Frequency 9 GHz.

49. What is the min distance of locating the SART with ship's radar antenna height of 15 m?

- 5 nm.

50. You are sailing from Rotterdam to Oslo. What GMDSS equipment you must have on board?

- For area A2: Portable VHFs, SARTs, EPIRB, NAVTEX (EGC Rx or HF NBDP in areas without NAVTEX), VHF (with Ch.: 06, 13, 16), VHF DSC, MF DSC transceiver.

51. You are sailing from Antwerp to Ijmuiden. What GNDSS equipment must you have on board?

- For area Al: Portable VHFs, SARTs, EPIRB, NAVTEX (EGC Rx or HF NBDP in areas without NAVTEX), VHF (with Ch: 06, 13, 16), VHF DSC.

52. What GMDSS equipment must be installed on board of the ship in area A4?

- Portable VHFs, SARTs, EPIRB COSPAS-SARSAT, NAVTEX, VHF DSC, MF/HF DSC transceiver with telex

53. What difference between EPIRB Inmarsat-E and EPIRB COSPAS- SARSAT?

- Inmarsat-E: Position manually, frequency 1.6 hHz. COSPAS- SARSAT: Position determined by satellite (doppler freq.) frequency: 406 mHz - ships; 121, 5 mHz - aircrafts.

54. What kind of message must you send when man overboad?

- Distress message.

55. What means abbreviation " LUT"?

- Local User Terminal (receive D.A. from EPIRB via satellite).

56. What picture will you see on the radar screen when SART is in working condition?

- More then 1 mile between SART and ship: 12 dots started from SART. Less then 1 mile 12 dots will change to wide arcs. Close of SART wide arcs will change into complete circles.

57. MMSI 002731323, 025345020, 306236701?

- 002731323 started from 00 belongs to COAST station.

- 025345020 started from 0 belongs to group of ships.

- 306236701 belongs to ship (306 is Ned. Antills digits of country).

58. In what areas is it necessary to have on board?

- VHF DSC, SART, NAVTEX, EPIRB, Portable VHF - for all sea areas, A1, A2, A3, A4. MF DSC: A2.A3. WR-2182 kHz, EGC Rx: A2. A3, A4. MF/HFDSC: A3, A4. Inmarsat-A(C): A3.

59. For how long must SART be able to be on stand by?

- 96 hours.

60. When using telephone, which channel/frequency must be used for Distress communication?

- VHF - 16Ch. MF - 2182 kHz.

61. What specific purposes do the following DSC frequency have?

- VHF Ch70 Alerting call. 2187, 5 kHz Distress calling frequency MF 2177 kHz Ship-to-ship call (usual) MF. 2189, 5 kHz Ship-to-shore call (usual) MF.

62. What service dose SES Inmarsat-A provide?

- Telephone, Telex, FAX.

63. How many hours of work, can accumulators provide?

- 6 hours without EDG; 1 hour with EDG.

64. Define the following types of emission?

- J3E - single sideband, suppressed carrier, telephone HF.

- R3E - single sideband, reduced carrier, telephone.

- H3E - single sideband, fall carrier, telephone MF (using 2182 kHz).

PROCEDURES