This priority is below Distress and indicates a station broadcasting an urgent message concerning the safety of a person or vehicle. It is used when there is no immediate danger and that immediate assistance is not required or fully justified. This category has priority over all other communications except Distress.

It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a particular situation is grave and imminent, or simply urgent. For example, if your vessel has broken down and is drifting onto rocks and will be on the rocks in 20 minutes, then that could be considered Distress. But if the time is 4 hours, then it is more likely to be an Urgency situation.

If you have an urgent message about the health of a person and require medical advice (Medico), then you can be put in touch with a doctor via a CRS or, if you require evacuation of a casualty, then a Medical Evacuation (Medivac) can be provided by the Coastguard.

The urgency communications comprise the urgency call (announcement) and urgency message.
The urgency call (announcement) is the initial voice or text procedure. The urgency announcement is a digital selective call using an urgency call format, in the bands used for terrestrial radiocommunication or in which case it is relayed through space stations..
The urgency message is the subsequent voice or text procedure in the an urgency message format.

Urgency communications procedure

In a terrestrial system, urgency communications consist of an announcement, transmitted using digital selective calling, followed by the urgency call and message transmitted using radiotelephony, narrow-band direct-printing, or data.
The announcement of the urgency message shall be made on one or more of the distress and safety calling frequencies specified in Table … using either digital selective calling and the urgency call format, or if not available, radio telephony procedures and the urgency signal.
A separate announcement need not be made if the urgency message is to be transmitted through the maritime mobile-satellite service.
Ship stations not equipped for digital selective-calling procedures may announce an urgency call and message by transmitting the urgency signal by radiotelephony on the frequency 156.8 MHz (channel 16), while taking into account that other stations outside VHF range may not receive the announcement.
In the maritime mobile service, urgency communications may be addressed either to all stations or to a particular station. When using digital selective calling techniques, the urgency announcement shall indicate which frequency is to be used to send the subsequent message and, in the case of a message to all stations, shall use the “All Ships” format setting.

Urgency announcements (urgency call) may be addressed to all ships, to selected group of vessels, to the specific ships, or to vessels in a defined geographical area or to specific coast station. The frequency on which the urgency message will be transmitted after the announcement shall be indicated in the DSC urgency call.

The urgency call and message shall be transmitted on one or more of the distress and safety traffic frequencies specified in the table distress and safety frequencies.
However, in the maritime mobile service, the urgency message shall be transmitted on a working frequency:

  • in the case of a long message or a medical call; or
  • in areas of heavy traffic when the message is being repeated.

An indication to this effect shall be included in the urgency announcement or call.

In the maritime mobile-satellite service, a separate urgency announcement or call does not need to be made before sending the urgency message. However, if available, the appropriate network priority access settings should be used for sending the message.

The urgency call format and the urgency signal indicate that the calling station has a very urgent message to transmit concerning the safety of a mobile unit or a person.

Communications concerning medical advice may be preceded by the urgency signal. Mobile stations requiring medical advice may obtain it through any of the land stations shown in the List of Coast Stations and Special Service Stations.
Urgency communications to support search and rescue operations need not be preceded by the urgency signal.


PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN

ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS or
(Name of individual station spoken 3 times)

THIS IS (Name of the vessel spoken 3 times), (Call sign of the vessel), (MMSI of the vessel)

POSITION (Vessel's position)

(Reason for call, Assistance required, Number of people onboard, Information that could help rescue)

OVER
Pattern of an Urgency Call and Message

PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN

ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS

THIS IS Spinaker, Spinaker, Spinaker, call sign Sierra 5 Lima 1 2, 278054321

POSITION 450 36' North 0130 32' East

Medivac

Injured crewman requires medical evacuation

Steaming towards Trieste speed 6 knots

OVER
An example of an Urgency Call and Message

Transmission of an urgency announcement and message on MF frequencies

Announcement:
  • tune the DSC transmitter to the DSC distress calling channel (2187,5 kHz on MF);
  • in accordance with the DSC equipment manufacturer’s instructions, key in or select on the DSC equipment keyboard;
  • the format specifier (all ships call, group of ships, geographical area or individual station),
  • if appropriate, key in the the 9-digital identity of specific station, group stations or geographical area (not required if the format specifier is “all ships”,
  • the category of the call (urgency),
  • the frequency or channel on which the urgency message will be transmitted,
  • the type of communication in which the urgency message will be given (radiotelephony or radiotelex), in accordance with the DSC equipment manufacturer’s instructions;
  • transmit the DSC urgency call.
After the DSC announcement, the urgency message will be transmitted on the frequency indicated in DSC call.

Transmission of urgency messages on MF should normally be addressed:
  • either to all ships within a specific geographical area,
  • or to a specific coast station.

Transmission of an urgency announcement and message on HF frequencies

Announcement:
  • choose the HF band considered to be the most appropriate, taking into account propagation characteristic for HF radio waves at the actual season and time of day; the 8 MHz band may in many cases be the appropriate first choice;
  • tune the HF transmitter to the DSC distress channel in the chosen HF band;
  • key in or select call format for either geographical area call or individual call on the DSC equipment, as appropriate;
  • in case of area call, key in specification of the relevant geographical area;
  • follow the manufacturer instructions for keying in or selection of relevant information on the DSC equipment keyboard , including type of communication in which the urgency message will be transmitted (radiotelephony or radiotelex);
  • transmit the DSC call; and
  • if the DSC call is addressed to specific coast station, wait for DSC acknowledgement from the coast station. If acknowledgement is not received within a few minutes, repeat the DSC call on another HF frequency deemed appropriate.
Announcement and transmission of urgency messages addressed to all HF- equipped ships within a specified area may be repeated on a number of HF bands as deemed appropriate in an actual situation.

Transmission of urgency messages on HF should normally be addressed:
  • either to all ships within a specific geographical area,
  • or to a specific coast station.

Practise on the MF/HF radio simulator

  1. If necessary, switch on by pressing the ON/OFF button.
  2. Press the Menu button.
  3. Choose DSC CALL from SELECT MENU by up and down softkeys.
  4. Press the OK softkey when the selected bar DSC CALL is lit.
  5. On the window named SELECT TYPE OF CALL choose AREA.
  6. Approve settings by OK softkey.
  7. On the window named SELECT CATEGORY choose URGENCY by using the up and down softkey.
  8. Approve settings by OK softkey.
  9. On the window ENTER WORK FREQ, you can change working frequency or accept default frequency.
  10. If you accept default frequency, approve the settings by pressing the OK softkey or, if you want to program another working frequency, press the CHANGE softkey.
  11. If you selected the CHANGE softkey, enter the working frequency using the numerical keypad and accept by pressing ENTER.
  12. Approve settings by using the OK softkey.
  13. On the next window named SELECT DSC FREQ you can select calling DSC frequency by using CHANGE FREQ softkeys.
  14. Approve settings by using the OK softkey.
  15. On the last window you can check all parameters of the transmission.
  16. If you accept the prepared transmission, press the SEND softkey.




Urgency Alert is transmitted to All Ships on DSC frequencies. Follow up with voice communication on associated RT or telex frequencies commencing with the procedure word Pan Pan.

Reception of an Urgency Alert

Ships receiving a DSC urgency call announcing an urgency message addressed to all ships, shall NOT acknowledge receipt of the DSC urgency call, but should tune radiocommunication receiver (the radiotelephony or radiotelex, as appropriate) to the frequency (and communication mode) indicated in the DSC call, and allow at least five minutes for the urgency message to be received, by radiotelephony or radiotelex, as appropriate. If, at the end of the five-minute monitoring period, no urgency message has been received, a coast station should, if possible, be notified of the missing message. Thereafter, normal working may be resumed.
Coast and ship stations which are in communication on frequencies other than those used for the transmission of the urgency signal or the subsequent message, may continue their normal work without interruption, provided that the urgency message is not addressed to them, nor broadcast to all stations.

Cancellation of an Urgency Alert

When an urgency announcement or call and message was transmitted to more than one station and action is no longer required, an urgency cancellation should be sent by the station responsible for its transmission.

PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN

ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS, ALL STATIONS or
(Name of individual station spoken 3 times)

THIS IS (Name of the vessel spoken 3 times), (Call sign of the vessel), (MMSI of the vessel)

PLEASE CANCEL URGENCY MESSAGE OF (Time in UTC)

OVER
Pattern of an Urgency Cancellation Call and Message