scope:

The present document states the minimum requirements for equipment to be used for generation, transmission and reception of Class A or B Digital Selective Calling (DSC) for use on board ships.

DSC is intended to be used in the Medium Frequency (MF), High Frequency (HF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) bands of the Maritime Mobile Service (MMS), for both distress, safety and general communications.

The present document is part 2 of a multi-part deliverable that covers the requirements to be fulfilled by equipment that is either integrated with a transmitter and/or a receiver or equipment that is a stand-alone DSC terminal and has the following class of DSC:

• Class A: includes all the facilities defined in annex 1 of Recommendation ITU-R M.493-14 [3] and complies with the IMO Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) carriage requirements for MF/HF installations and/or VHF installations;

• Class B: provides minimum facilities for equipment on ships not required to use class A equipment and complies with the minimum IMO GMDSS carriage requirements for MF and/or VHF installations. This equipment should provide for:

- alerting, acknowledgement and relay facilities for distress purposes;

- calling and acknowledgement for general communication purposes; and

- calling in connection with semi-automatic/automatic services, as defined in Recommendation ITU-R M.493-14 [3], annex 2, clause 3.

These requirements include the relevant provisions of the ITU Radio Regulations [2] and Recommendations ITU-R, the International Convention for the Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS), and the relevant resolutions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).