§ 80.1125   Search and rescue coordinating communications.

   (a)  The  distress  signal  consists of the word MAYDAY, pronounced in
   radiotelephony as the French expression “M'aider”. For distress traffic by
   radiotelephony, when establishing communications, calls must be prefixed by
   the distress signal MAYDAY.

   (b)  Error  correction  techniques,  in  accordance with ITU-R M.625-3
   (incorporated by reference, see § 80.7), as specified in § 80.1101, must be
   used for distress traffic by direct-printing telegraphy. All messages must
   be preceded by at least one carriage return, a line feed signal, a letter
   shift signal and the distress signal MAYDAY.

   (c) Distress communications by direct-printing telegraphy should be in the
   ARQ mode when ships are communicating directly to the Coast Guard or other
   coast  stations  on channels which they normally guard. Other distress
   communications,  including those on simplex channels provided for that
   purpose, should be in the broadcast forward error correction mode. The ARQ
   mode may subsequently be used when it is advantageous to do so.

   (d) The Rescue Coordination Center responsible for controlling a search and
   rescue operation will also coordinate the distress traffic relating to the
   incident or may appoint another station to do so.

   (e) The Rescue Coordination Center coordinating distress traffic, the unit
   coordinating search and rescue operations, or the coast station involved may
   impose  silence  on  stations  which interfere with that traffic. This
   instruction  may  be addressed to all stations or to one station only,
   according to circumstances. In either case, the following will be used:

   (1) In radiotelephony, the signal SEELONCE MAYDAY, pronounced as the French
   expression “silence, m'aider”;

   (2) In narrow-band direct-printing telegraphy normally using forward-error
   correcting mode, the signal SILENCE MAYDAY. However, the ARQ mode may be
   used when it is advantageous to do so.

   (f) Until they receive the message indicating that normal working may be
   resumed (see paragraph (h) of this section), all stations which are aware of
   the distress traffic, and which are not taking part in it, and which are not
   in distress, are forbidden to transmit on the frequencies in which the
   distress traffic is taking place.

   (g) Stations following distress traffic that are able to continue normal
   service may do so when the distress traffic is well established and on
   condition that it observes the provisions of paragraph (f) of this section
   and that it does not interfere with distress traffic.

   (h) When distress traffic has ceased on frequencies which have been used for
   distress traffic, the Rescue Coordination Center controlling a search and
   rescue  operation  must  initiate  a message for transmission on these
   frequencies indicating that distress traffic has finished.

   (i) In radiotelephony, the message referred to in paragraph (h) of this
   section consists of:

   (1) The distress signal MAYDAY;

   (2) The call “Hello all stations” or CQ (spoken as CHARLIE QUEBEC) spoken
   three times;

   (3) The words THIS IS (or DE spoken as DELTA ECHO in the case of language
   difficulties);

   (4)  The  call sign or other identification of the station sending the
   message;

   (5) The time when the distress situation has ceased;

   (6) The name and call sign of the mobile station which was in distress;

   (7)  The words SEELONCE FEENEE pronounced as the French words “silence
   fini”

   (j) In direct-printing telegraphy, the message referred to in paragraph (h)
   of this section consists of:

   (1) The distress signal MAYDAY;

   (2) The call CQ;

   (3) The word DE;

   (4)  The  call sign or other identification of the station sending the
   message;

   (5) The time when distress situation has ceased;

   (6) The name and call sign of the mobile station which was in distress; and

   (7) The words SILENCE FINI.

   [ 57 FR 9065 , Mar. 16, 1992, as amended at  68 FR 46981 , Aug. 7, 2003;  73 FR 4492 , Jan. 25, 2008;  76 FR 67618 , Nov. 2, 2011]

   return arrow Back to Top