Uniden UM455 User manual

UM455 VHF DSC
Marine Radio
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Australia: www.uniden.com.au

Making a distress call
2
Lift the red cover. Press and hold the DISTRESS button for
three seconds. The UM455 transmits your boat’s location
every few minutes until you receive a response.
NOTE: If the radio displays ENTER USER MMSI, cancel
the automatic distress call and make a normal voice
distress call.
Making a voice distress call
Speak slowly -- clearly -- calmly.
1. Make sure your radio is on.
2. On the microphone, press the 16/67-TRI button to switch to Channel 16 (156.8
MHz). (If the corner of the display does not show 16, press the 16/67-TRI
button again until it does.)
3. Press the PUSH TO TALK button on the microphone and say:
"MAYDAY --MAYDAY-- MAYDAY."
4. Say "THIS IS {name or call sign of your boat}."
5. Say "MAYDAY {name or call sign of your boat}."
6. Tell where you are: (what navigational aids or landmarks are near, or read the
latitude and longitude from your GPS).
7. State the nature of your distress, e.g. are you sinking, medical emergency,
man overboard, on fire, adrift, etc.
8. Give number of persons aboard and conditions of any injured persons.
9. Estimate present seaworthiness of your ship, e.g. how immediate is the
danger due to flooding or fire or proximity to shore.
10. Briefly describe your ship (length, type, color, hull).
11. Say: "I WILL BE LISTENING ON CHANNEL 16."
12. End message by saying "THIS IS {name or call sign of your boat}, OVER."
13. Release the PUSH TO TALK button and listen.
If you do not get an answer after 30 seconds, repeat your call,
beginning at step 3, above.
Making a DSC DISTRESS Call
For future reference, write your boat’s name & call sign here:
NOTE: There is no official VHF DSC shore infrastructure in Australia. Vessels
fitting VHF DSC equipment should realise that this equipment can only be used
for vessel - to - vessel alerting in the Australian region. There is no official
shore-based infrastructure but there are a number of volunteer marine rescue
(VMR) stations that have installed VHF DSC and a check with your local VMR
should be made.
Lift the red cover
and press the
DISTRESS button.

Making a distress call
3

4
Table of Contents
Making a DSC DISTRESS Call................................................................................................. 2
Making a voice distress call................................................................................................... 2
Table of Contents .................................................................................................4 (this page)
Introduction............................................................................................................................... 6
Features................................................................................................................................. 6
Manual overview.................................................................................................................... 6
Conventions........................................................................................................................ 6
Terms used in this manual.................................................................................................. 7
Getting Started.......................................................................................................................... 8
What's included......................................................................................................................... ......... 8
Parts of the radio....................................................................................................................... ......... 9
Turning on the radio .................................................................................................................. ....... 12
Setting the UIC channel mode (USA/CAN/INT)...................................................................... ....... 12
How It Works........................................................................................................................... 12
Normal mode operation ....................................................................................................... 13
Using the radio in normal mode........................................................................................ 14
Normal mode with Triple and Dual Watch ........................................................................ 15
Scan mode........................................................................................................................... 16
Using the radio in scan mode ........................................................................................... 16
Scan mode with Triple and Dual Watch............................................................................ 17
Using Your Radio.................................................................................................................... 18
Making a voice MAYDAY call............................................................................................... 19
Setting the volume............................................................................................................... 19
Setting the squelch level...................................................................................................... 19
Changing the channel.......................................................................................................... 20
Making a transmission......................................................................................................... 20
Boosting the transmission power...................................................................................... 20
Choosing Triple Watch or Dual Watch.............................................................................. 21
Changing display and sound options................................................................................... 22
Contrast ............................................................................................................................ 22
Lamp adjust ...................................................................................................................... 22
Turning the key beep on and off....................................................................................... 22
Setting the GPS position manually ...................................................................................... 22
Using Digital Selective Calling (DSC) Features................................................................... 24
What is DSC? ...................................................................................................................... 24
Advanced DSC features ...................................................................................................... 24
Getting an MMSI number..................................................................................................... 25
Entering MMSI numbers...................................................................................................... 25
Individual or user MMSI number....................................................................................... 25
Group MMSI number ........................................................................................................ 26
Using the directory............................................................................................................... 27
Making DSC calls ................................................................................................................ 29
Calling a single station (Individual Call)............................................................................ 30
Calling a particular group of stations (Group Call)............................................................ 31
Calling all stations (All-Ships Call) ...........................................................................................31
Making an automatic distress call...........................................................................................32
Canceling an automatic distress call ................................................................................ 32
Receiving a DSC call........................................................................................................... 33
Receive log.......................................................................................................................... 33
Returning a call................................................................................................................. 34
Making a Test Call (Test) ..................................................................................................... 35
Receiving a test call.......................................................................................................... 36
Table of Contents

5
Table of Contents (Cont'd)
Table 1 - Terms used in this manual .................................................................................. ....... 7
Table 2 - Rear panel connector functions .......................................................................... ....... 9
Table 3 - Front panel button functions................................................................................ ..... 10
Table 4 - Microphone button functions............................................................................... ..... 11
Table 5 - Normal mode status messages........................................................................... ..... 14
Table 6 - Character and text entry order ............................................................................ ..... 28
Table 7 - Receive log ......................................................................................................... ..... 34
Table 8 - Radio specifications ............................................................................................ ..... 54
Table 9 - International Channel Frequencies and Channel Tag ......................................... ..... 57
Table 10 - USA Channel Frequencies and Channel Tag.................................................... ..... 59
Table 11 - Canadian Channel Frequencies and Channel Tag............................................ ..... 61
Table 12 - NMEA Input Parameters ................................................................................... ..... 63
Enabling automatic test call reply .....................................................................................36
Position request and reply ................................................................................................36
Requesting another station's position (POS Request) .....................................................36
Receiving a position request (Position Reply) .....................................................................37
Enabling automatic position reply.....................................................................................37
Sending your own position (Position Send) ..........................................................................38
Putting the radio into standby................................................................................................38
Disabling automatic channel switching .................................................................................39
Renaming Channels...............................................................................................................40
Installing the Hardware..........................................................................................................41
Mounting the radio...............................................................................................................41
Installing flush mount bracket...............................................................................................43
Connecting the radio............................................................................................................44
Connecting accessories.......................................................................................................46
Connecting to a GPS receiver ..........................................................................................46
Configuring the GPS.........................................................................................................47
Connecting to a chartplotter .............................................................................................48
Connecting to an external speaker...................................................................................48
Connecting to an external PA speaker .............................................................................49
Using the PA feature.........................................................................................................50
Maintenance and Troubleshooting .......................................................................................51
Common questions................................................................................................................... ...... 51
Engine Noise Suppression....................................................................................................... ...... 53
Specifications .........................................................................................................................54
Channel and frequencies............................................................................................................... ...... 57
NMEA Operation....................................................................................................................... ...... 63
NMEA Input............................................................................................................................ ...... 63
NMEA Output......................................................................................................................... ...... 63
Regulations and Safety Warnings............................................................................................. ...... 64
Basic radio guidelines..........................................................................................................64
DSC: Frequently Asked Questions ......................................................................................64
Antenna Selection and Installation ......................................................................................65
Two Year Limited Warranty....................................................................................................66
Mounting Bracket Template...................................................................................................67
List of Tables

6
Introduction
Features
• Submersible Design:
Complies with JIS8 water-resistant standards, which means the radio can be
submerged in 1.5 meter of water for 30 minutes without damage.
• Rugged Waterproof Speaker Microphone:
With Channel Select, One-Touch 16/67 and Triple Watch Select Keys. Meets the
worldwide JIS7 waterproof specifications; submersible at 1.0 metre depth for 30
minutes.
• Large, dot matrix display
• Advanced DSC Class D functions, including Test Calling
• Built-in PA output
• Channel select buttons on the microphone
• Memory scan mode
Lets you save channels to memory and monitor them in quick succession.
• Transmitter Power Level Select
Lets you boost the transmitter power from 1 watt to 25 watts for added transmission
distance.
• Battery level display and tone
Sounds an alert tone if the battery voltage goes too high or too low.
• Triple Watch Operation
Checks the emergency channel 16 and channel 67 in the background.
• All marine VHF channels for the International, U.S. and Canadian waters
Manual overview
Conventions
This manual uses several different type styles to help you distinguish between
different parts of the radio:
• BOLD SMALL CAPITALS indicates an actual button or knob on the radio or
microphone.
Introduction
• Upper and Lower case bold indicates a connector or label on the radio.
• Italicsindicatetextonthedisplay,suchasmenuoptions,prompts,andconrmationmes-
sages.

7
Introduction
Term Meaning
DSC Digital Selective Calling. A VHF radio standard for communicating
among boats and sending automated distress calls.
WX Weather Radio
GPS Global Positioning System
NMEA
National Marine Electronics Association. The organization that governs
standards for electronic equipment used on boats. NMEA 0183 is the
standard for serial data communication used by GPS.
MMSI
Maritime Mobile Service Identity number. A unique, nine-digit number
that identifies you and your boat when making DSC calls. It is also
used by the Coast Guard if you send an automated distress call.
Station Any DSC radio, whether it’s operated on a boat, at a marina, or by a
shore station.
Table 1 - Terms used in the manual

Getting Started
8
What's included
What's included
UM455 Radio
DC Power Cable Accessory Cable
Mounting Bracket and
knobs Mounting Hardware
Microphone Hanger and
Mounting Hardware Flush Mount Bracket
Getting Started

9
Getting Started
Parts of the radio
13.8V DC
ANTENNA
Antenna
connector
(SO238)
Heat sink
Power
connector
Accessory
connector
Table 2 - Rear panel connector functions
Connector Connects to For details, see
Antenna connector External VHF antenna with
a male PL259 (SO238)
connectorand50Ω
impedance.
Minimum 1.2m, 3dB rated
antenna for sailboats, 2.4m, 6
dB rated for power boats.
Connecting the radio,
page 44.
Power connector Nominal 13.8 VDC power
supply with negative ground
(10.8 VDC to 15.6 VDC)
(Red wire +, black wire -).
Connecting the radio,
page 44.
Accessory connector GPS receiver, GPS
chartplotter, external speaker,
external PA speaker.
Connecting accessories,
page 44.

Getting Started
10
Table 3 - Front panel button functions
Button Press to... Press and hold to...
ENT-1W/25W
Choose an option on a menu
or to display the GPS data.
Change the transmit power (see
page 20).
CHANNEL UP
Move up one channel at a
time. Move quickly up the channels.
CHANNEL DOWN
Move down one channet at a
time. Move quickly down the channels.
16/67-TRI
1st press: Go to Channel 16.
2nd press: Go to Channel 67.
3rd press: Go back to the
original channel.
Go into Triple Watch or Dual
Watch mode (see page 21).
CLR-SCAN
Go to previous menu or
cursor position in menu mode.
Start scanning the channels
saved in memory.
WX-MEM
Listen to the current weather
conditions in your area.
Save a channel into memory or
remove a channel from memory.
CALL-MENU
Display the call menu. Display the normal menu.
DISTRESS
Select the nature of your
distress for a distress call. Transmit a distress call.
LCD display
ENT- 1W/25W
button
VOLUME-PWR
(power) knob
(turn clockwise
to increase
volume)
CHANNEL UP &
CHANNEL
DOWN button
SQUELCH knob
(turn clockwise to
decrease channel
noise)
16/67-TRI
(triple/dual-
watch) button
CLR-SCAN
(channel
scan) button
WX-MEM
button
CALL-MENU
button
DISTRESS
button
Microphone
cord