FCC 80.1125 Revised as of October 1, 2006
Goto Year:2005 |
2007
Sec. 80.1125 Search and rescue coordinating communications.
(a) The distress signal consists of the word MAYDAY, pronounced in
radiotelephony as the French expression “M'aider”. For distress traffic by
radiotelephony, when establishing communications, calls must be prefixed by
the distress signal MAYDAY.
(b) Error correction techniques, in accordance with ITU-R Recommendation
M.625–3, “Direct-printing Telegraph Equipment Employing Automatic
Identification in the Maritime Mobile Service,” with Annex, 1995, as
specified in Sec. 80.1101, must be used for distress traffic by direct-printing
telegraphy. All messages must be preceded by at least one carriage return, a
line feed signal, a letter shift signal and the distress signal MAYDAY.
ITU-R Recommendation M.625–3 with Annex is incorporated by reference. The
Director of the Federal Register approves this incorporation by reference in
accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR Part 51. Copies of this standard
can be inspected at the Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street,
SW., Washington, DC (Reference Information Center) or at the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the
availability of this material at NARA, call 202–741–6030, or go to:
http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/code_of_federal_regulations/ibr_loc
ations.html. The ITU-R Recommendation can be purchased from the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Place des Nations, CH–1211
Geneva 20, Switzerland.
(c) Distress communications by direct-printing telegraphy should be in the
ARQ mode when ships are communicating directly to the Coast Guard or other
coast stations on channels which they normally guard. Other distress
communications, including those on simplex channels provided for that
purpose, should be in the broadcast forward error correction mode. The ARQ
mode may subsequently be used when it is advantageous to do so.
(d) The Rescue Coordination Center responsible for controlling a search and
rescue operation will also coordinate the distress traffic relating to the
incident or may appoint another station to do so.
(e) The Rescue Coordination Center coordinating distress traffic, the unit
coordinating search and rescue operations, or the coast station involved may
impose silence on stations which interfere with that traffic. This
instruction may be addressed to all stations or to one station only,
according to circumstances. In either case, the following will be used:
(1) In radiotelephony, the signal SEELONCE MAYDAY, pronounced as the French
expression “silence, m'aider”;
(2) In narrow-band direct-printing telegraphy normally using forward-error
correcting mode, the signal SILENCE MAYDAY. However, the ARQ mode may be
used when it is advantageous to do so.
(f) Until they receive the message indicating that normal working may be
resumed (see paragraph (h) of this section), all stations which are aware of
the distress traffic, and which are not taking part in it, and which are not
in distress, are forbidden to transmit on the frequencies in which the
distress traffic is taking place.
(g) Stations following distress traffic that are able to continue normal
service may do so when the distress traffic is well established and on
condition that it observes the provisions of paragraph (f) of this section
and that it does not interfere with distress traffic.
(h) When distress traffic has ceased on frequencies which have been used for
distress traffic, the Rescue Coordination Center controlling a search and
rescue operation must initiate a message for transmission on these
frequencies indicating that distress traffic has finished.
(i) In radiotelephony, the message referred to in paragraph (h) of this
section consists of:
(1) The distress signal MAYDAY;
(2) The call “Hello all stations” or CQ (spoken as CHARLIE QUEBEC) spoken
three times;
(3) The words THIS IS (or DE spoken as DELTA ECHO in the case of language
difficulties);
(4) The call sign or other identification of the station sending the
message;
(5) The time when the distress situation has ceased;
(6) The name and call sign of the mobile station which was in distress;
(7) The words SEELONCE FEENEE pronounced as the French words “silence
fini”
(j) In direct-printing telegraphy, the message referred to in paragraph (h)
of this section consists of:
(1) The distress signal MAYDAY;
(2) The call CQ;
(3) The word DE;
(4) The call sign or other identification of the station sending the
message;
(5) The time when distress situation has ceased;
(6) The name and call sign of the mobil station which was in distress; and
(7) The words SILENCE FINI.
[ 51 FR 31213 , Sept. 2, 1986, as amended at 68 FR 46981 , Aug. 7, 2003]
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