Nautilus LifeLine nexGen available

[Dan]

Thanks for that link. Interesting. Best I can tell, those stats are for the New Zealand operations only, an do not inlcude any SAR work from Argentina, Australia, or others. Also, there is no mention of what caused the SAR operations to take place.....I was curious if PLBs had initiated any of the actions. I did look around (inspired by your link) and found this: https://documents.ats.aq/ATCM42/att/ATCM42_att095_e.pdf
which mentions that there is more and more PLB use in Antarctica, but there is a problem with many of them not being registered. Consequently, one of the Action Items from the workshop was: "Pre‐deployment check for registration of Personnel Locator Beacons (PLBs) (that you have awareness of) that are going to be used in the Antarctic Treaty area. "

I’m in Ushuaia, Argentina, now and notice that they use Australia / New Zealand plug to charge your electronic devices. That indicates that the Australian influence is strong here.

 

[RoKu]

Hi there,

I`ve purchased the NexGen and maybe you could help me on 2 question, please:

1. What is the difference between "International" and "Both DSC & AIS" mode?

2. Is there any benefit of programming the MMSI of my liveaboard into my Nautilus?
What I understood is, that this will send the distress signal only to my liveaboard during the first 30 minutes and after this to all vessels. By this I would miss the chance to be located by other vessels during this 30 minutes. Is this understanding correct?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[boqurant]

I'm no expert, but I have one myself, and as far as I'm aware:

1. No difference
2. DSC seems to be more of an active push alert on the ship radio screen, rather than simply a more passive AIS ping

Digital selective calling - Wikipedia

I'd gladly be corrected!

 

[Dan]

Hi there,

I`ve purchased the NexGen and maybe you could help me on 2 question, please:

1. What is the difference between "International" and "Both DSC & AIS" mode?

2. Is there any benefit of programming the MMSI of my liveaboard into my Nautilus?
What I understood is, that this will send the distress signal only to my liveaboard during the first 30 minutes and after this to all vessels. By this I would miss the chance to be located by other vessels during this 30 minutes. Is this understanding correct?

Thanks,
Robert

I’m not sure with the answers. So I forwarded your questions to info@nautilusgps.com.

For Q1, ChatGPT says:
“It looks like you’re referring to radio communication settings, likely on a marine VHF radio. Here’s what these modes generally mean:


• International Mode: This setting follows the standardized VHF marine channel frequencies used worldwide, excluding certain country-specific allocations. It ensures compatibility with vessels and shore stations operating under international maritime regulations.


• Both DSC & AIS Mode: This likely refers to a setting where the radio is operating with Digital Selective Calling (DSC) and Automatic Identification System (AIS) enabled.


• DSC: A digital feature that allows direct calling to other DSC-equipped radios, including distress signaling with GPS location.


• AIS: A system that transmits and receives vessel identification, position, speed, and course data to improve maritime safety and traffic management.”

As far as us, as users, I won’t worry about it. The device would transmit both signals anywhere.

For Q2, the benefit would be your boat would start searching for your signal the minute you are not accounted for when you are supposed to be back on the surface after a dive. Your signal would be within the VFH range within that half hour, especially when you are in remote area, where no other boat around in the horizon.

 

[RoKu]

I’m not sure with the answers. So I forwarded your questions to info@nautilusgps.com.

....

Thanks, Dan!
I`ve done the same before posting ;-) Let`s see.

 

[Dan]

Got the answers from Ryan Sawatsky of Nautilus Lifeline support desk:

“Hello Dan,

Thank you for your email.

1. The options "DSC Only", "AIS Only", and "Both DSC & AIS" are modifications to your selected region. So, for example, if you are set to International but only want to transmit AIS, you can do another programming run with the "AIS Only" setting. However, these settings will not override the regional restrictions.

2. That is correct in regards to the DSC portion of the distress signal. The AIS signal will be transmitted immediately. However, if you prefer to transmit DSC to All Ships immediately when activating the distress signal, I recommend to NOT program a boat/destination MMSI.

Please let me know if you need any additional assistance.
Sincerely,
Ryan Sawatsky
Nautilus LifeLine
+1 604-241-1918”

 

[boqurant]

Somehow that's even more confusing

I RTFM (Nautilus GPS Manual & Support - Nautilus LifeLine) page 7, REGION PROGRAMMING & MMSI (Android & iOS), and it seems to me that the in-app dropdown menu gives 2 different ways to access the same settings. All we're doing is controlling AIS and DSC, but you can control that either via a default per country (Canada / Europe / USA / International), or directly (AIS, DSC, AIS & DSC). Confusingly, these 7 options are all in the same list at the same level of hierarchy, so they look like alternatives, but logically there's actually 2 sub-lists that have been smashed together. It might be more clear if it was (pseudocode):

if International == True:
choose {AIS, DSC, AIS & DSC}
else:
choose {Canada, Europe, USA}

Regarding the AIS and DSC signals, this is sadly still really confusing and the manual doesn't help. Why is this not more clear? Maybe these devices are in a gray zone legally and it's best not to divulge too much?

Can someone (or perhaps @Dan can you continue your lead with Ryan?) confirm exactly what messages are sent, and when, and how, based on the AIS & DSC logic selections?

I'd love to see it simply spelled out as e.g (the details are purely my speculation):

Settings: AIS & DSC, and MMSI is programmed to liveaboard boat
1. Nautilus red button activated, it get GPS lock
2. Transmit DSC distress alert over VHF channel 70 (freq 156.525 MHz)
2.a This message contains the code 110 "Man overboard" and the GPS location
2.b This message is sent every 5 minutes
2.c For the first 30 minutes, this message is encrypted (or merely addressed to?) a specific ship radio (my liveaboard boat), so only they are alerted
2.d After 30 minutes, this message is sent unencrypted (?) and can be read by all nearby boats
3. Transmit something also over AIS VHF channels 87B and 88B (161.975 and 162.025 MHz) ??