Uniden UM455 User manual

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

Making a distress call
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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