§  80.1121   Receipt and acknowledgement of distress alerts by ship stations
and ship earth stations.

   (a) Ship or ship earth stations that receive a distress alert must, as
   soon as possible, inform the master or person responsible for the ship
   of the contents of the distress alert.

   (b) For VHF and MF, ships in receipt of a distress alert shall not
   transmit a distress alert relay, but should listen on the distress
   traffic channel for 5 minutes and, if appropriate, acknowledge the
   alert by radiotelephony to the ship in distress and inform the coast
   station and/or Rescue Coordination Center. Distress alert relays to
   “all ships” on these bands may only be sent by a ship who has knowledge
   that another ship in distress is not itself able to transmit the
   distress alert, and the Master of the ship considers that further help
   is necessary.

   (c) For HF, ships in receipt of a distress alert shall listen on the
   distress traffic channel for 5 minutes. If no distress communications
   are heard and if the call is not acknowledged by a coast station, the
   ship shall transmit a distress relay on HF to the coast radio station
   and inform the Rescue Coordination Center. Distress alert relays to
   “all Ships” on HF may only be sent by a ship who has knowledge that
   another ship in distress is not itself able to transmit the distress
   alert, and the Master of the ship considers that further help is
   necessary.

   (d) In cases where distress alert continues to be received from the
   same source, the ship may, after consultation with the Rescue
   Coordination Center, transmit a DSC acknowledgment to terminate the
   call.

   (e) A ship station in receipt of a shore-to-ship distress alert relay
   (see §  80.1113(e)) should establish communication as directed and
   render such assistance as required and appropriate.

   [ 57 FR 9065 , Mar. 16, 1992, as amended at  68 FR 46980 , Aug. 7, 2003]

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