Uniden UM425 User Manual

UM425 VHF DSC

Marine Radio

Making a distress call

Lift the red cover

and press the

DISTRESS button.

NOTE: There is no ofcial VHF DSC shore infrastructure in Australia. Vessels tting VHF DSC equipment should realise that this equipment can only be used for vessel - to - vessel alerting in the Australian region. There is no ofcial

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.

Making a DSC DISTRESS Call

Lift the red cover. Press and hold the DISTRESS button for three seconds. The UM425 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.

For future reference, write your boat’s name & call sign here:

Make sure your radio is on. 1. On the microphone, press the 2. 16/9-TRI button to switch to Channel 16 (156.8

MHz). (If the corner of the display does not show 16, press the 16/9-TRI button again until it does.)

Press the 3. PUSH TO TALK button on the microphone and say: "MAYDAY --MAYDAY-- MAYDAY."

Say "4. THIS IS {name or call sign of your boat}." Say "5. MAYDAY {name or call sign of your boat}." Tell where you are: (what navigational aids or landmarks are near, or read the 6.

latitude and longitude from your GPS). State the nature of your distress, e.g. are you sinking, medical emergency, man 7.

overboard, on re, adrift, etc.

Give number of persons aboard and conditions of any injured persons. 8. Estimate present seaworthiness of your ship, e.g. how immediate is the danger 9.

due to ooding or re or proximity to shore. Briey describe your ship (length, type, color, hull). 10.

Say: "11. I WILL BE LISTENING ON CHANNEL 16." End message by saying "12. THIS IS {name or call sign of your boat}, OVER." Release the 13. 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 distress call

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 (Cont'd)

Enabling automatic test call 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

Connecting the radio..................................................................................................43

Connecting accessories.............................................................................................45

Connecting to a GPS receiver ................................................................................45

Configuring the GPS ...............................................................................................47

Connecting to a charplotter ....................................................................................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

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 - Common GPS receivers and connections ......................................................46

Table 9 - Radio specifications ........................................................................................54

Table 10 - International Channel Frequencies and Channel Tag ...................................57

Table 11 - USA Channel Frequencies and Channel Tag ................................................59

Table 12 - Canadian Channel Frequencies and Channel Tag .......................................61

Table 13 - NMEA Input Parameters ...............................................................................63

Introduction

Features

Watertight Radio Housing: •

Meets the worldwide JIS6 water resistant specication means it is able to

withstand powerful water jets without damage.

Rugged Waterproof Speaker Microphone:•

With Channel Select, One-Touch 16/9 and Triple Watch Select Keys.

Meets the worldwide JIS7 waterproof specications; 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 9 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.

• 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 messages.

Introduction

Table 1 - Terms used in the manual

DSC Digital Selective Calling. A VHF radio standard for

communicating among boats and sending automated distress calls.

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 receivers.

MMSI Maritime Mobile Service Identity number. A unique,

nine-digit number that identies 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.

Getting Started

1 Watt INT Memory Scanning Channels 01,03,05,06,07,08

VHF DSC TRANSCEIVER

UM425 VHF

Getting Started

What's included

UM425 Radio

DC Power Cable

Mounting Bracket and

knobs

Microphone Hanger and

Mounting Hardware

Accessory Cable

Mounting Hardware

Spare Fuse 250V 6A

Getting Started

13.8V DC

ANTENNA

Antenna

connector

(SO238)

Heat sink

Power

connector

Accessory

connector

Parts of the radio

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.

Power connector Nominal 13.8 VDC power

supply with negative ground

Accessory connector GPS receiver, GPS

(10.8 VDC to 15.6 VDC) (Red wire +, black wire -).

chartplotter, external speaker, external PA speaker.

Connecting the radio, page 44.

Connecting the radio, page 43.

Connecting accessories, page 45.

Getting Started

1 Watt INT Memory Scanning Channels 01,03,05,06,07,08

VHF DSC TRANSCEIVER

UM425 VHF

LCD

display

SELECT

button

CHANNEL UP &

DOWN buttons

VOLUME-PWR

(power) knob

(turn clockwise

to increase

volume)

Microphone

cord

16/9-

TRI

(triple/

dual-watch)

button

1/25W

button

SCAN-MEM

(channel memory)

button

MENU-PA

(public

address)

button

DISTRESS

button

SQUELCH knob

(turn clockwise

to decrease

channel noise)

Table 3 - Front panel button functions

Button Press to... Press and hold to...

SELECT

CHANNEL UP

CHANNEL DOWN

16/9-TRI

DISTRESS

Choose an option on a menu.

Move up one channel at a time. Move quickly up the

Move down one channel at a time. Move quickly down the

press: Go to Channel 16.

2nd press: Go to Channel 9.

3 channel.

Select the nature of your distress

press: Go back to the original

for a distress call.

channels.

Go into Triple Watch or Dual Watch mode (see page 15).

Transmit a distress call.

Getting Started

16/9

TRI

MIC

PUSH-

TALK

button

16/9

TRI

(Triple/Dual-

Watch) button

▲

(up) button

(move up a channel)

▼

(down) button

(move down a channel)

Button Press to... Press and hold to...

1/25W

MENU-PA

SCAN-MEM

Change the transmit power (see page 20).

Display the radio menu. Use the public address

(PA) function.

Start scanning the channels saved in memory.

Save a channel into memory or remove a channel from memory.

Table 4 - Microphone button functions

Button Press to... Press and hold to...

▲

▼

16/9-TRI

PUSH TO TALK

Move up one channel at a time. Move quickly up the

channels.

Move down one channel at a time. Move quickly down the

channels.

press: Go to Channel 16.

2nd press: Go to Channel 9.

press: Go back to the original

channel.

Cancel scanning and stay on a channel.

Go into Triple Watch or Dual Watch mode (see page 15).

Talk on a channel.

How It Works

Turning on the radio

Turn the VOLUME-PWR knob clockwise to turn on the radio. As it powers on,

the radio displays the user MMSI number; if there is no MMSI set, the radio

displays MMSI not entered.

When it powers on, the radio selects the last channel used.

Setting the UIC channel mode (USA/CAN/INT)

NOTE: This menu selection is hidden by default. To access this feature; Turn

on the radio while holding down SCAN and be hidden again from the menu when power is turned off. The radio comes preset to use the UIC channels assigned for International waters. If you are operating in an area that uses Canadian or United States UIC channels, you will need to change the channel mode.

Press the 1. MENU-PA button to display the menu, and choose the Setup sub-menu. Select 2. USA/CAN/INT. The screen displays the UIC channel setup. Highlight the channel mode you want to use: US (3. USA mode), Canadian (Canada mode), or international (Intl mode). Press the 4. SELECT button. The radio activates the new channel mode

and exits the menu.

▲

buttons. The feature will

How It Works

The UM425 has two basic modes of operation:

Operation mode What it does: Use it when: To turn it on/off:

Normal mode Monitors a single

marine radio channel and lets you talk on that channel.

Scan mode Monitors all the

channels you save into memory.

You want to talk to another station on a

specic channel.

You have a small group of channels you use most often and want to check

them for trafc.

(default mode)

Press the

MEM button.

SCAN-

How It Works

Marine Operator

25 Watts INT Memory GPS Data OK

Transmit power

(1 W or 25 W)

Current channel

is stored in

memory

Status messages

(see the status

message table)

Current channel number

Current channel name (if the name is too long, the name line scrolls)

Channel mode (USA, CANadian, or INTernational)

Watch mode What it does: Use it when: To turn it on/off:

Triple Watch Checks for activity

on channels 16 and 9 every two seconds.

You want to monitor a channel yet maintain a watch on channels 16 and 9.

Press and hold the

16/9-TRI button for

two seconds.

Dual Watch Checks for activity

on channel 16 every two seconds.

You want to monitor a channel yet maintain a watch on channel 16.

Change Triple Watch to Dual Watch in the setup menu, then press and hold the

16/9-

TRI button for two

seconds.

In addition to the two main operation modes, the UM425 also provides two different “watch” modes which you can activate during any of the two basic modes. In

the watch modes, the radio briey checks for activity on a specic channel, then

returns to its previous mode.

NOTE: You are required to monitor channel 16 whenever your boat is underway. You should have either Triple Watch or Dual Watch on at all times.

Normal mode operation

Normal mode monitors whatever channel you select, and you can transmit on that channel also.

While using normal mode, the display lets you see the following information (not all indicators will display at the same time):

How It Works

Table 5 - Normal mode status messages

Message Meaning

GPS Data OK The radio is receiving valid GPS data.

Check GPS The radio is not receiving valid GPS data: check the GPS status screen and

Input Position The radio has been unable to receive valid GPS data for at least four hours;

Battery Low The battery voltage output is too low (below 10.5 VDC).

Battery High The battery voltage output is too high (above 16.0 VDC).

Triple Watch Triple Watch is turned on.

Dual Watch Dual Watch is turned on.

the GPS connection.

it can no longer track your position. You need to manually input your position (see Setting the GPS position manually on page 22).

Using the radio in normal mode

• To transmit, press and hold the PUSH TO TALK button on the microphone. Release the button when you are nished talking.

• For the best sound quality, hold the microphone about two inches from

your mouth while you’re talking.

• Press the

CHANNEL UP button on the radio or the

microphone to move up one channel at a time. Press and hold either button to scroll quickly up the channels.

▲

button on the

• Press the

CHANNEL DOWN button on the radio or the

▼

the microphone to move down one channel at a time. Press and hold either button to scroll quickly down the channels.

• To change the transmit power, press the

1/25W button. The transmit

power switches between 1 watt and 25 watts each time you press the

1/25W button.

button on

How It Works

Every 2 seconds, the radio

checks channels 9 & 16.

with Triple Watch on

Monitoring Channel 25

Normal mode with Triple and Dual Watch

If you activate Triple Watch while operating in normal mode, the radio checks

channels 16 and 9 every two seconds; with Dual Watch turned on, the radio

only checks channel 16. The radio will not check channels 16 or 9 while you

are actively transmitting; it waits until your transmission is nished and then

checks the channels. Press and hold the 16/9-TRI button (on the radio or the microphone) for two

seconds to turn Triple/Dual Watch on or off. (To change between Triple or Dual Watch, see page 21.)

How It Works

1008 1312

The radio scans about

5 channels in 1 second.

When it detects a signal, the radio stays on the channel until you press the

CHANNEL UP

button or the

signal stops.

Resume scan

1 Watt INT Memory Scanning Channels 01,03,05,06,07,08

Transmit power

last used

Channel mode (USA, CANadian, or INTernational)

Current channel being scanned

Scan list (if the text is too long, the line scrolls)

All scanned

channels must

be in memory

Normal scan

mode or Triple/

Dual-watch on

Scan mode

You can save channels into memory and then use scan mode to monitor those channels. When the radio detects a signal on a channel, it pauses on

that channel as long as the signal is received; when the transmission stops,

the radio will continue scanning.

In scan mode, you can get the following information from the display (some indicators will not always be displayed):

Using the radio in scan mode

You cannot transmit while in scan mode.•

You must have two or more channels in memory to start a scan.•

To save a channel into memory, select the channel, then press and • hold the display.

SCAN-MEM button for two seconds. Memory will show on the

How It Works

09 16

Every 2 seconds,

the radio checks

channels 9 & 16

then goes on to

the next channel.

with Triple Watch on

Memory Channel Scan

08 252417151413121110 20

To remove a channel from memory, set the radio to that channel, then • press and hold the SCAN-MEM button for two seconds. Memory will no longer show on the display.

To activate scan mode, press the •

MEM button again to return to the previous mode.

SCAN-MEM button. Press the SCAN-

When the radio automatically stops on a channel, press the •

UP button to leave that channel and resume scanning.

To end the scan, press the microphone •

SCAN-MEM button. The radio remains on the last scanned channel.

PUSH TO TALK button or the

Scan mode with Triple and Dual Watch

If you activate Triple Watch while operating in scan mode, the radio checks channels 16 and 9 every two seconds, then goes on to

scan the next channel; with Dual

Watch turned on, the radio only checks channel 16:

Press and hold the 16/9-TRI button (on the radio or the microphone) for two seconds to turn Triple/Dual Watch on or off. (To change between Triple or Dual Watch, see page 21.)

CHANNEL

Using Your Radio

Individual

Group All Ships POS Request Position Send Test Directory Standby Receive Log Exit

USA/CAN/INT*

Dual/TriWatch GPS Setup Auto CH SW POS Reply Test Reply Channel Name Group MMSI User MMSI Exit

Contrast

Lamp Adjust Key Beep Exit

DSC Call

SELECT

Setup

SELECT

System

SELECT

(Close Menu)

Exit

SELECT

Using Your Radio

To display the radio menu, press the MENU-PA button. The menu has the following options:

*USA/CAN/INT is hidden by default. See page 12 for instructions to access this selection.

Using Your Radio

Weak signals

Squelch

Medium Squelch

High

Squelch

Strong signals

Noise

The currently selected item is highlighted in reversed out text. •

Press the • microphone to move up a line in the menu; if you are at the top line in

the menu, the cursor jumps to the bottom of the menu.

Press the •

microphone to move down a line in the menu; if you are at the bottom

line of the menu, the cursor jumps to the top of the menu.

Press the •

From any menu screen, choose• Exit or press the close the menu screen.

CHANNEL UP button on the radio or the

SELECT button to choose the selected item.

CHANNEL DOWN button on the radio or the

MENU-PA button to go back to the previous menu screen.

▲

button on the

▼

button on the

16/9-TRI button to

Making a voice MAYDAY call

(see inside front cover)

Setting the volume

Turn the volume knob clockwise to increase the speaker volume; turn it

counter-clockwise to decrease the volume.

Setting the squelch level

The squelch feature reduces the level of static on the speaker by ltering out

the background channel noise. At the lowest squelch level, the speaker plays all radio signals, including any noise on the channel. Setting the squelch

level higher lters out channel noise and lets only actual radio transmissions

through.

Using Your Radio

While listening to a channel, adjust the SQUELCH knob until the noise is

ltered out and you can only hear the transmission. If you switch to a channel

with a lot of noise or with a weak transmission, you may need to adjust the squelch level again.

NOTE: Setting the squelch level too high may prevent you from hearing

weaker transmissions. If you are having difculty hearing a transmission, try

setting the squelch level lower.

Changing the channel

Press the CHANNEL UP or CHANNEL DOWN buttons briey to scroll through the channels one channel at a time. Press and hold the channel up or down button to quickly scroll through the channels.

Making a transmission

To make a transmission, press and hold the microphone PUSH TO TALK button. Release the PUSH TO TALK button when you're nished talking to let the other party respond.

To prevent stuck microphone problems or situations where the •

TO TALK button is pushed accidentally, the radio limits your talk time

to 5 minutes in a single transmission. If you talk for over 5 minutes continuously, the display shows RELEASE MIC BUTTON.

PUSH

For the best sound quality, hold the microphone about two inches away • from your mouth.

You cannot transmit while the radio is in scan mode.•

See the channel list on page 57 for a list of receive-only channels. •

Boosting the transmission power

In most situations, the 1 Watt transmission power is all you need. If you nd

yourself far away from other stations and have trouble getting a response, you may need to boost the transmission power from 1 Watt to 25 Watts:

Select the channel you want to transmit on.1.

Push the 2. hand corner.

The transmit power remains at 25 Watts until you change the setting 3. back. Push the

NOTE: Don’t forget to change the transmission setting back to 1 Watt when you move closer to other stations.

1/25W button. The display shows 25 Watts in the upper left

1/25W button. The display shows 1 Watt.

Using Your Radio

Dual Watch

Triple Watch

[Exit]

Dual/TriWatch

Setup

SELECT

Dual/TriWatch

SELECT

NOTE: By default, when you change to channel 16, the radio automatically boosts the power to 25 Watts. Be sure to change the power back to 1 Watt if you are not making an emergency transmission.

Some channels limit the power of transmission to 1 Watt so that there is less interference between boaters attempting to use the channel at the same time. If you switch to one of these channels, the radio changes back to 1 Watt automatically. See the channel list on page 57 for a list of power-restricted channels.

Choosing Triple Watch or Dual Watch

In Triple Watch mode, the radio briey checks channels 16 and 9 every two

seconds. In Dual Watch mode, the radio checks channel 16 only. Generally, Triple Watch is used in areas where channel 9 is used as a hailing frequency, while Dual Watch is used in areas where channel 16 is used for distress and

hailing. Your radio comes set to use Triple Watch; if you want to use Dual

Watch instead, you will have to select it in the setup:

Press the 1. MENU-PA button to display the menu.

Select 2. Setup and then Dual/Tri Watch.

Highlight3. Dual Watch and press the activates the new setting and returns to the Setup menu.

To reactive Triple Watch, repeat the procedure described above, but 4. choose Triple Watch in step 3.

SELECT button. The radio

+ 47 hidden pages

Uniden UM425 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual