Page 39: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2001)

Maritime Commuications press time, this service area includes 15 deployed tower sites of region's sched- uled total of 35. The total number of sites to be deployed by the end of July and August are 20 and 24, respectively.

Tindall claims that mariners no longer have to be near shore or in port to reli- ably make a telephone call. If a vessel is overdue, if a change of routing needs to made or if a crew member's family needs to contact a loved one in an emer- gency the call can be made now. The company also offers Crew Calling

Cards with separate billing as a way of improving employee relations.

MariTEL's Vessel Location service provides another valuable tool in marine resource management, either by way of an on demand "polling" procedure or by automatic reporting pre-programmed into the radiotelephone. Commercial operators will no longer be required to manually update fleet or barge loca- tions, turning a time consuming chore into an easy, automatic operation. The location information can be automati- cally sent to a customer or viewed on a secure website. This feature also pro- vides an excellent system for owners of red flag cargos, which need frequent monitoring.

MariTEL's pricing plans include free long distance to anywhere within the

U.S., Canada and parts of the

Caribbean. The company does not charge any roaming or connection fees.

The only requirement to utilize these new features is the need for a "MariTEL

READY" DSC VHF radiotelephone.

Commercial operator pricing starts at $10 per month, per vessel, with per minute rates at $.99 per minute. Tindall claims that adding Vessel Location ser- vices to a subscription "Adds only pen- nies per vessel update."

Digital Selective Calling is the inter- nationally mandated VHF communica- tions protocol that utilizes channel 70 to "Selectively Call" (hail) specified DSC

VHF radiotelephones (vessels) or shore stations. Each DSC radiotelephone has its own unique Maritime Mobile Service

Identity (MMSI) number that identifies the caller. The MMSI is a maritime ver- sion of the cell telephone Electronic

Serial Number that enables a telephone call to be attributed to a specific radiotelephone.

The call is established in an automat- ed, non-voice mode that once connect- ed, automatically transfers to a working voice channel to allow the user's com- munications (voice or data) to take place.

Not all DSC VHF radiotelephones offer the same features. Users may eas- ily identify DSC VHFs by a one-touch mayday distress button on their face- plate, usually with a protective cover that prevents inadvertent operation. All

July, 2001 new model DSC VHFs introduced since 1999 have this mayday functionality as a minimum.

Radiotelephone manufacturers

Furuno, Sailor, SEA, Shipmate, Skanti,

Simrad, Standard, Raymarine and Ross all have, or are expected to offer "Mari-

TEL-READY" radiotelephones. In addition to the minimal one-touch may- day distress function, these radios sup- port the much higher-level enhance- ments offered with a MariTEL subscrip- tion, including the automatic Ship-and-

Shore telephone interconnect and Vessel

Location services. At press time, manu- facturers were also expected to announce the availability of scrambling features that will make marine tele- phone calls totally private. In addition, touch tone dialing for access to voice- mail, bank accounts and other such sys- tems, and data transmission such as fax and e-mail, were also expected.

Circle 76 on Reader Service Card

BRINGING TWO TOGETHER

CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE ff t l *

Xantic, the new company formed by the merger between

Station 12 and SpecTec, will be music to your ears. Because by combining the knowledge and expertise of the two companies,

Xantic will deliver smart new solutions and synergies, while offering you a genuine one-stop solution for all mobile satellite communications, maritime ICT, and satellite broadband communications. These services represent the highest quality of satellite services currently available, and Xantic will also be offering you all the exciting ICT developments that lie ahead.

Xantic is a truly global company, with 29 offices and agents all over the world and 2it/7 customer services helpdesks. To find out more about how to benefit from a reliable partnership with

Xantic, please contact Customer Services: [email protected].

Or visit our website: www.xantic.net. xantic

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