GMDSS 4 day Long Range Certificate Course (text only page)
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The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) Long Range Certificate is a higher level certificate to the Short Range Certificate and allows you to operate on any marine MF/HF/VHF frequency/channel and Inmarsat satellite from on-board your yacht. We keep the technical stuff to a minimum and concentrate on the practical use of equipment. Knowledge of Morse code is not required.

The GMDSS Long Range Certificate is an ideal course for the off-shore and ocean sailor or blue water and commercial yachtsmen who are looking for long range communications.

Topics covered: -

• SSB communications
  • Frequencies and radio propagation
  • SSB installation
  • Controls of an SSB set
  • Practical use of equipment
    • Email & WeatherFAX
    • RadioTelephone, Intership & link calls
• VHF communications
  • Controls and channels
• Digital Selective Calling (DSC)
  • MF/HF/VHF DSC
  • Distress, Safety and Routine Calling
• Ships licence and radio regulations
• Voice procedures
  • Maydays, Pan-Pans, Intership calls etc.
• NAVTEX
  • Martine Safety Information (MSI) broadcasts
  • Coverage, stations and categories
• Emergence Positioning Indication Radio Beacons (EPIRB)
• Search & Rescue radar Transponders (SART)
• Satellite Communication
  • Satellite phone overview
    • Service providers
  • Inmarsat-C (International Marine Satellite)
    • NavAreas
    • Distress, safety & routine messaging
    • EGC SafetyNet

To cover all the above and give students time to revise for the exam, we have found that it is prudent to run this course over 3 days with the exam on the 4th day.

The agenda for each day is as follows
Day 1 - Radio propagation, frequencies, SSB and VHF operation, GMDSS, Navtex, EPIRB, SART
Day 2 - Digital Selective Calling, regulations, radio procedures.
Day 3 - Inmarsat Satellite & EGC SafetyNET, pre-exam exercises.
Day 4 - Revision, course conclusion and exam.

Pre-course study
Pre-course study recommended and good reading on the subject can be found in publication GMDSS A User's Handbook Third Edition - ISBN 0-7136-7856-9.
To help you study, YachtCom has produced a PC software pre-course learning study package.

The Instructor
The instructor's name is Bob Smith, who is a keen sailor with his own 32 feet sailing yacht. Bob as logged 1000s of sea miles in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and North European waters. Bob has a technical background in radio communications and has a full UK radio amateur radio licence.

Student Numbers
Student numbers are kept to a maximum of 6 students per course, so early booking is advised.

Course enrolment
To enrol please phone 01489 565100.
Payment can be made over the phone by all major debit and credit cards.

Training by yachtsmen for yachtsmen