The Merchant Shipping (Radio Installations) Regulations 1992

Additional radio equipment to be provided for area A1/A2/A3 ships

11.—(1) In addition to meeting the requirements of regulation 8, every area A1/A2/A3 ship shall be provided with either the following equipment—ALTERNATIVE A

(a) an INMARSAT ship earth station capable of—

(i) transmitting and receiving distress and safety communications using direct-printing telegraphy;

(ii) initiating and receiving distress priority calls;

(iii) maintaining watch for shore-to-ship distress alerts, including those directed to specifically defined geographical areas;

(iv) transmitting and receiving general radiocommunications, using either radiotelephony or direct-printing telegraphy; and

(b) an MF radio installation capable of transmitting and receiving, for distress and safety purposes, on the frequencies—

(i) 2,187.5 kHz using DSC; and

(ii) 2,182 kHz using radiotelephony; and

(c) a radio installation capable of maintaining a continuous DSC watch on the frequency 2,187.5 kHz which may be separate from or combined with that required by paragraph (b)(i) of this regulation; and

(d) means of initiating the transmission of ship-to-shore distress alerts by a radio service operating either—

(i) through the polar orbiting satellite service on 406 MHz; this requirement may be fulfilled by the satellite EPIRB, required by regulation 8(1)(f) if it is installed close to, or capable of remote activation from, the position from which the ship is normally navigated; or

(ii) on HF using DSC; or

(iii) through the INMARSAT geostationary satellite service, either by an additional ship earth station or by the satellite EPIRB required by regulation 8(1)(f) if it is installed close to, or capable of remote activation from the position from which the ship is normally navigated;ALTERNATIVE B

(a) an MF/HF radio installation capable of transmitting and receiving, for distress and safety purposes, on all distress and safety frequencies in the bands between 1,605 kHz and 4,000 kHz and between 4,000 kHz and 27,500 kHz—

(i) using DSC;

(ii) using radiotelephony; and

(iii) using direct-printing telegraphy; and

(b) equipment capable of maintaining DSC watch on 2,187.5 kHz, 8,414.5 kHz and on at least one of the distress and safety DSC frequencies 4,207.5 kHz, 6312 kHz, 12,577 kHz or 16,804.5 kHz; the equipment shall be such that it shall be possible at any time to select any of these DSC distress and safety frequencies; this equipment may be separate from, or combined with, the equipment required by paragraph (a) above; and

(c) means of initiating the transmission of ship-to-shore distress alerts by a radiocommunication service other than HF operating either—

(i) through the polar orbiting satellite service on 406 MHz; this requirement may be fulfilled by the satellite EPIRB, required by regulation 8(1)(f) if it is installed close to, or capable of remote activation from, the position from which the ship is normally navigated; or

(ii) through the INMARSAT geostationary satellite service; this requirement may be fulfilled by—

(A) an INMARSAT ship earth station; or

(B) the satellite EPIRB, required by regulation 8(1)(f) if it is installed close to, or capable of remote activation from, the position from which the ship is normally navigated; and

(d) in addition, means of transmitting and receiving general radiocommunications using radiotelephony or direct-printing telegraphy shall be provided by anMF/HF radio installation operating on working frequencies in the bands between 1,605 kHz and 4,000 kHz and between 4,000 kHz and 27,500 kHz; this requirement may be fulfilled by the addition of this capability in the equipment required by paragraph (a) above.

(2) Means shall be provided to initiate transmission of distress alerts from the position from which the ship is normally navigated by the radio installations specified in paragraphs (a), (b) and (d) of ALTERNATIVE Aand (a) and (c) of ALTERNATIVE B of this regulation.