GMDSS IMPLEMENTATION RECREATIONAL VESSEL TASK GROUP

Summary Record of 20 July 1998 Meeting

1.	The meeting was convened at BOAT U.S. at 9:30 a.m. by 
Chairman Kristen Chambers. The following documents were 
distributed for information and are available on request:

	Summary Record of 21 April 1998 Recreational Vessel 
Group meeting
	Coverage diagrams of MariTEL's planned VHF coastal 
network

2.	The Agenda was adopted and the Summary Record of the 
21 April meeting was noted. Jack Fuechsel summarized the 
last Task Force meeting and noted that the previously 
authorized letter to the U.S. Power Squadrons inviting 
development of a Sea Area A1 GMDSS training course had been 
sent. Positive responses from both the Coast Guard 
Auxiliary and the Power Squadrons have since been received 
and additional representatives accredited to both the 
Recreational Vessel and GMDSS Training Task Groups.
	
3.	George Dillon and Richard Swanson provided an update 
on GMDSS implementation activities from an FCC perspective. 
There is a current effort by the fishing industry in Alaska 
to seek relief from GMDSS outfitting requirements through 
Congressional intervention. There was no further guidance 
on the FCC invitation to the Task Force to recommend 
changes to the FCC Rules to facilitate introduction of the 
GMDSS. There is an ad hoc group headed by Jack Fuechsel 
collecting recommended changes and members of the 
Recreational Vessel Group are invited to submit suggestions 
for consideration.

4.	Marshall Ross provided an update on GMDSS 
implementation from a Coast Guard perspective. Of 
particular interest was an effort seeking a solution to the 
problem of assigning MMSI numbers for identification of 
vessels using Digital Selective Calling (DSC). Vessels 
which are required to be outfitted with radio must apply to 
the FCC for a station license and the MMSI number will be 
assigned as the license is processed. Vessels which use 
only VHF, Radar, and EPIRBs and do not go on international 
voyages are not required to have station licenses and the 
government is seeking an alternative procedure for 
assigning MMSI numbers to those vessels. The Coast Guard 
intends to maintain the national database of assigned 
numbers and is working with the FCC to develop an 
alternative assignment procedure such as allocating blocks 
of numbers to manufacturers and following a registration 
procedure similar to that for EPIRBs.

5.	George Bruhl reported on the Coast Guard's 
acquisition process for the coastal VHF-DSC network which 
will be part of the shore facilities for GMDSS and enable 
creation of GMDSS Sea Area A1. Completion is still several 
years away and priorities are being kept under review.

6.	Jack McCarty of MariTEL reported on their extensive 
plans for a network of coastal and inland VHF Public Coast 
Stations. MariTEL has been buying up existing Coast Station 
licenses and has plans to fill in coverage gaps. They 
currently plan to upgrade their network with DSC and could 
make arrangements with the Coast Guard to maintain the 
watch for safety and distress traffic for relay to the 
Coast Guard and thus qualify the coastal areas for Sea Area 
A1 status as their upgrades are completed. The MariTEL 
program could enable creation of Sea Area A1 several years 
earlier than the planned Coast Guard upgrade. The upgraded 
network is termed MariNET and would feature automatic PSTN 
interconnection with full duplex Fax and Data capability. 
In response to a question about shore-to-ship public 
correspondence traffic, Jack indicated that the DSC 
capability would enable the MariTEL operator to poll from 
their various Coast Station sites to locate a vessel being 
called.

7.	The scheduled briefings on the Coast Guard Boating 
Safety Program and the National Weather Service automatic 
alerting capability for the NOAA VHF broadcast systems were 
not available and will be rescheduled for the next meeting.

8.	The reports from the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the
Power Squadrons indicated that both organizations were 
preparing to offer the abbreviated GMDSS training 
recommended by the Task Force and were awaiting the 
completion of the Model Course being developed by the 
Training Task Group for that purpose.

9.	Chairman Kristen Chambers agreed to look into the 
possible benefits of encouraging marine underwriters to 
offer discounts to voluntary vessels which equip with 
appropriate GMDSS sub systems and receive GMDSS operator 
training.

10.	The group agreed to meet again on Tuesday 27 October 
1998 at Boat U.S.

file: rvsr-7.wpd/txt