A. GMDSS utilizes automated systems and satellite technology to improve emergency communications for the world’s shipping industry.
B. It is intended to automate and improve existing digital selective calling procedures and techniques.
C. It is intended to provide more effective but lower cost commercial communications.
D. It is intended to provide compulsory vessels with a collision avoidance system when they are operating in waters that are also occupied by non-compulsory vessels.
Which of the following is a functional or carriage requirement for compulsory vessels?
A. A compulsory vessel must carry at least two (2) FCC licensed GMDSS Radio Operators in all sea areas as well as a GMDSS Maintainer in sea areas A3 & A4.
B. A compulsory vessel must satisfy certain equipment carriage requirements based on the intended sea area of operation.
C. A compulsory vessel must be able to transmit and respond to Distress alerts and carry only one (1) FCC licensed GMDSS Radio Operator in sea areas A1 & A2.
Which statement is true regarding a vessel equipped with GMDSS equipment that will remain in Sea Area A1 at all times?
A. The vessel must be provided with a radio installation capable of initiating the transmission of ship-to-shore Distress alerting from the position from which the ship is normally navigated.
B. VHF DSC alerting may be the sole means of Distress alerting.
C. HF or MF DSC may satisfy the equipment requirement.
D. HF SSB with 2182 kHz automatic alarm generator may satisfy the equipment requirement.
Which of the following statements concerning maintenance requirements is false?
A. Compulsory vessels sailing in Sea Areas A1 and A2 must provide any one of the three maintenance options which are duplication of equipment, shore-based, or at-sea maintenance capability.
B. Compulsory vessels sailing in Sea Areas A3 and A4 must provide any two of the three maintenance options which are duplication of equipment, shore-based, or at-sea maintenance capability.
C. Equipment warranties do not satisfy GMDSS maintenance requirements.
D. If shore-based maintenance is used, maintenance services do not have to be completed or performance verified unless the vessel will be sailing to a non-US port.
Which of the following statements concerning GMDSS maintenance requirements is true?
A. The options are duplication of equipment, at-sea maintenance, and shore-based maintenance.
B. Compulsory vessels between 300-500 gross tons are required only to provide one maintenance option, while compulsory vessels larger than 500 gross tons and all passenger vessels are required to provide any two of the three maintenance options.
C. The "at-sea" maintenance may be waived if the compulsory vessel carries at least three licensed GMDSS Radio Operators.
D. Compulsory vessels operating in Sea Area A4 are required to carry at least one licensed GMDSS Radio Maintainer.
Which statement is false regarding the GMDSS requirement for ship sources of energy?
A. The reserve sources of energy need to supply independent MF and HF radio installations at the same time.
B. At all times while the vessel is at sea, a sufficient supply of electrical energy to operate the radio installations and charge any batteries which may be part of the reserve source of energy is required.
C. An uninterruptible power supply or other means of ensuring a continuous supply of electrical power to all GMDSS equipment that could be affected by normal variations and interruptions of ship's power is required.
D. If a vessel’s position is constantly required for the proper performance of a GMDSS station, provisions must be made to ensure position information is uninterrupted if the ship’s source of main or emergency energy fails.
Which of the following statements concerning DSC equipment is true?
A. The GMDSS Radio Operator is not responsible for properly selecting HF DSC guard channels because they are done automatically by the watch receiver.
B. All equipment must be type accepted by Inmarsat.
C. The vessel's navigational position must be updated, either automatically or manually, no less often than every four (4) hours.
D. The GMDSS Radio Operator is responsible for properly selecting VHF & MF DSC guard channels but the HF frequencies are done automatically by the watch receiver.
Which statement is true regarding the receipt and acknowledgement of actual Distress follow-on communications by GMDSS ship stations?
A. Ship stations in receipt of Distress alert should not defer acknowledgement for a short interval, so that receipt may be acknowledged by the coast station.
B. A Coast station has the sole obligation to respond. A ship station should wait for the Coast station MMSI DSC Acknowledgment before taking action. If a Coast station has no response in 15 minutes the ship should DSC acknowledge and inform the RCC.
C. A ship station that receives a Distress call from another vessel must, as soon as possible, inform the Master or person responsible for the ship of the contents of the Distress communications received.
D. Alerts concerning navigational hazards are second only to Safety traffic.
What actions should the GMDSS radio operator take prior to any potential Distress situation?
A. Create a table or chart of all the DSC coast stations that might be used during the vessel’s itinerary.
B. All of these answers are good operational practice and should be consistently done.
C. Prepare a detailed Distress message file on both satellite & MF-HF SITOR (NBDP) equipment containing all information needed in a Distress so it will be available for last-minute editing.
D. Ensure all LES choices are correct and then updated properly as the vessel transits different SAR jurisdictions.
How is mutual interference on 518 kHz among NAVTEX stations avoided?
A. All stations transmit at the same time but stations are limited to daytime operation only to reduce the radius of propagation.
B. Transmitter power is limited, station assignment codes are not shared by other NAVAREAS and stations alternate between daytime and nighttime operations.
C. Transmissions scheduled on a time-sharing basis, power limited and station assignment codes are geographically separated.
D. Station codes are not shared by other NAVAREAS, transmissions scheduled on a time-sharing basis and power is limited.
What action should a GMDSS Radio Operator take when SafetyNETTM Distress or Urgency messages are received by the vessel's EGC receiver?
A. Aural and/or visual alarms are activated and require manual deactivation.
B. No immediate action is required, as an audible tone will be generated at the beginning and end of the transmission and a paper printout of the message will be generated.
C. No immediate action is required by the operator, since the transmission will be automatically acknowledged by the receiving vessel.
D. A periodic alarm tone will be heard until the radio operator prints the message from the unit's memory.
Which of the following actions should be taken once the vessel is berthed and will not leave port again for several weeks?
A. The GMDSS Radio Operator must notify the NCS that the vessel will be off-line, and wait for the NCS to acknowledge with a confirmation number that must be logged.
B. The Inmarsat-C system can be powered down without taking additional steps once the GMDSS Radio Operator has ensured that all incoming SafetyNETTM messages have been received and stored.
C. The GMDSS Radio Operator may log out of the Inmarsat-C system and turn the power off (unless the vessel decides to leave the unit on during the port stay.)
D. The GMDSS Radio Operator must transmit an all-ships alert, to notify vessels within the satellite's footprint that the vessel will be off-line.
A. To provide direct communications between the Inmarsat station placing a call and the station receiving the call.
B. To provide multi-mode communications between the Inmarsat station placing a call and the coast radio station that will deliver it.
C. To determine which satellite is best suited to provide communications between the Inmarsat station placing a call and the station receiving the call.
D. To monitor and control communications through the Inmarsat satellite for which it is responsible.
How is a signal radiated from an Inmarsat-B or F77 system's antenna?
A. It is usually radiated in an omni-directional pattern, but an optional feature allows it to be directional for use when the vessel is on the fringe of the satellite's footprint.
B. It is a highly focused directional signal that must be beamed at the desired satellite.
C. It is radiated in an omni-directional pattern.
D. It is radiated in an omni-directional pattern that can be reversed by the Operator to attain directional beaming to an alternate satellite.
Which Inmarsat Earth stations would be available for Inmarsat-C traffic if the vessel is off the Pacific Coast of the United States but logged-in to the AOR-W satellite?
A. EIK (Norway), Tangua (Brazil), Thermopylae (Greece)
B. Southbury (USA), Burum (Netherlands), or EIK (Norway).
C. Santa Paula (USA), Psary (Poland), Yamaguchi (Japan).
From an Inmarsat-C terminal, which of the following are correctly formatted address for sending TELEX messages to two vessels in the AOR-W? First to an Inmarsat-B and second to an Inmarsat-C.
Which of the following are correctly formatted Inmarsat-C address book entries for sending communications to two fax machines on vessels in the AOR-W? First is an F77 terminal and second an Inmarsat-B terminal.
What action would be the swiftest and most certain way to notify a RCC of a Distress situation aboard your vessel?
A. Compose a detailed Distress message and send it to the closest LES to optimize the SAR response.
B. Confirm the information in the Distress Alert Message setup menu is correct and use the “hot-key” or Distress Message Generator function on your satellite terminal.
C. Press all of the “hot keys” available in the GMDSS console to ensure the RCC is notified.
D. Send a multi-frequency DSC alert to ensure the RCC is notified regardless of Ionospheric propagation conditions.
Upon receipt of SafetyNETTM messages of the Distress or Urgency category on the ship's EGC receiver, what action is required by the GMDSS Radio Operator?
A. Manually reset the alarm.
B. No immediate action is required as an audible tone will be generated at the beginning and end of the transmission and a paper printout of the message will be generated.
C. No immediate action is required by the operator since the transmission will be automatically acknowledged by the receiving vessel.
D. A periodic alarm tone will be heard until the radio operator prints the message from the unit's memory.
What is meant by describing a Coast Station with the acronym ATOR?
A. The station’s BFEC operations are computerized and a rigid operating sequence must be followed correctly.
B. The station will control all of the ARQ operations and it will generate the proper service request codes at the correct time in the sequence.
C. The station’s ARQ operations are computerized and a rigid operating sequence must be followed correctly.
D. The station will control all of the ARQ operations and it will provide prompts for the operator to request time & charges at the correct time in the sequence.
Which of the following conditions would be a symptom of malfunction in a 2182 kHz radiotelephone system which must be reported to the Master?
A. Much lower noise level observed during daytime operation.
B. No indication of power output when speaking into the microphone.
C. When testing a radiotelephone alarm on 2182 kHz into an artificial antenna, the Distress frequency watch receiver becomes unmuted, an improper testing procedure.
D. Failure to contact a shore station 600 nautical miles distant during daytime operation.