Fit for sparking: The path to the glow

It's a dark, cold winter evening, and although the barren anteroom of the examination centre where I'm sitting is only heated to a minimum, my hands are sweating. In front of me is a radio. Fortunately, it's the same model as I remember from last weekend's radio course. Next to me is my exam partner, also a friend from the course. Each of us is holding a small card with information about the simulated situation for which we are about to send a radio message. The examiner looks at my colleague and nods curtly. "You may begin."

The practical exam

My partner grabs the microphone. It's an emergency message. A classic. I know the procedure, I've practised it dozens of times. But after just a few seconds it becomes clear: this is going wrong. Because after repeating the mayday three times, he repeats "to all stations". No addressee is named for an emergency message. The examiner raises his eyebrows and interrupts: "Take a deep breath, think for a moment and try again." My partner falters - then the penny drops. He starts all over again and the second attempt goes smoothly. The examiner congratulates him and turns to me: "And now please stop the emergency traffic." I grab the microphone. So in my case: "Mayday" only once and this time actually "All stations" three times.

Slowly and with concentration, I read the callsign and MMSI from my card and follow the scheme in my mind's eye exactly. When I arrive at "Silence Fini" and look up, the examiner nods and smiles encouragingly at me. The tension falls away.

In our article How to radio correctly you will find call schemes, the most important functions of the radio and good reasons why you should reach for the microphone more often than your smartphone.

No fear of sparks - respect for the microphone

I admit: I didn't have much desire to get more involved with the spark or even prepare for an exam. Not because I didn't think it was important - on the contrary. Like many skippers, I have an inexplicable respect for the microphone in my hand. At the Delius Klasing webinar "Radio - your connection at sea", a recent survey of the 134 participants revealed that 68 per cent of them already had a radio certificate, but hardly ever used this qualification in practice. But why is that?

The assumption is that a certificate alone is not enough to lose inhibitions. But it's certainly a start, and winter seemed like the right time for me to face up to this blockade. No cruises, no time pressure, no excuses. So I signed up for a weekend SRC and UBI course at the Sailing school Frank Lochte in Lüneburg - marine radio and inland radio. Two licences, some overlaps, some differences and an astonishing number of rules.

The SRC and UBI radio certificates

The Short Range Certificate (SRC) authorises participation in VHF marine radio. It is mandatory for recreational boaters as soon as a radio is on board - regardless of whether they own or charter a boat. Anyone travelling on rivers, canals or lakes with a radio requires the UBI (VHF radiotelephony certificate for inland waterway radio).

The exams consist of three parts: The SRC exam begins with the dictation of a marine radio text in English, which must be written down and translated into German. Including international radio alphabet. YANKEE ALFA CHARLIE HOTEL TANGO - check, I can do it. Then a German marine radio text with specialised vocabulary has to be translated into English. Doable for me, but a real challenge for some of my "classmates" who last spoke English at school 30 years ago. However, there are no completely unknown radio messages in the exam. There are 27 sample messages. If you know them, you're on the safe side.

Correct sparking - The theory

The second part then contains 24 (SRC) and 22 (UBI) multiple-choice questions on radio rules, technology, channels and operating procedures, to be answered from a considerably large catalogue of questions (180 questions SRC, 130 questions UBI). If you already have the SRC in your pocket or, like me, have taken both together, you only have to take the UBI supplementary exam, which consists of ten questions. This is also doable - if you find the time to study for it. The Delius Klasing learning app is proving helpful for me here. I can use it to cram whenever I have a free minute. The software for the smartphone works with the index card system. Questions that I'm not sure about are repeated until I've got the answers right.

Listen and Repeat! - a textbook for practice

In the book "Radio communication on board yachts" by Delius Klasing (Heidbrink, ISBN 978-3-667-11430-3, 29.90 euros) is also available as MP3 files for radiotelephony exercises for maritime and inland areas.

However, the practical part of the test is what inspires the most respect in me. I have to prove that I can navigate safely through the various programme points of a radio and then send a complete radio message. According to the standardised call schemes, in the correct sequence, without making any mistakes. And that's more difficult than I thought. As very few people have a radio at home, it is advisable to do a course where you practise speaking - as banal as that sounds. Because radio is not knowledge that you just have to call up - you have to apply it, sometimes under stress.

Why radio discipline is important

You don't learn radio just by memorising it, but by speaking it, repeating it and making mistakes. Mayday, Pan-Pan or Sécurité? If the worst comes to the worst, I also need to be able to differentiate: Is this an emergency? Urgency? Or safety? When do I say what and in what order, and what do I have to repeat and how often? Looking at the different call schemes makes my head spin. Especially when I try to recite the radio messages without the memo. In my mind's eye, everything is whirring around happily, I always forget something. Ship names three times, callsign, MMSI, ship names again, once. Ah, crap, I've forgotten the position! Then there's the switching between sea and inland, English and German. Then all the routine traffic with its own channels and its own protocol.

The rules are not actually complicated, but logical: the addressee always comes first so that everyone listening in immediately realises who is meant. If you don't just memorise the sequence, but understand what purpose it serves, it is much easier to recall it.

Sea and inland waterways - the most important differences

Combination radios allow you to switch between marine and inland radio. The most important differences: While in marine radio you manually reduce the transmission power from 25 to 1 watt before radioing harbours so that you do not "shout in the ear" of the addressee and drown out everything else, the devices automatically switch to the lower transmission power when switching the channel group from DSC to ATIS, because inland radio is always operated with 1 watt.

Also important: At sea, channel 16 is the international emergency and call channel. In inland radio, however, channel 10 is used for this purpose and ships must always be ready to listen. This no longer applies to maritime radio with the DSC. Digital Selective Calling has made the permanent listening watch on channel 16 obsolete because a loud beep sounds as soon as an alert is received, regardless of which channel was previously set.

The direct line - rescue at the touch of a button

Each marine radio station with DSC also receives an individual number, the MMSI, which can also be used to make direct calls. The MMSI of the ships in the vicinity can be viewed via AIS. The digital selective call offers decisive advantages over a mobile phone call: Firstly, it is independent of network coverage, and secondly, in an emergency, all important data, such as the position, vessel identification and - if already selected in the menu - even the type of emergency, are transmitted at the touch of a button. And not just to the relevant maritime emergency control centre (whose telephone number you would first need to have to hand), but to all ships in the vicinity.

This means that even if you are outside the range of the nearest coastal radio station, there is a good chance that another marine radio station will hear the distress call and pass it on.

Routine radio - and how to become a routine radio operator

However, there is no DSC in the inland radio range. Instead, ATIS is used, an automatic identifier at the end of each transmission. After contact via the call channel, a change is made to a working channel - both inland and at sea. Although there is radio etiquette in principle here too, in everyday life communication usually proves to be more relaxed than is taught in theory. Just as when learning a foreign language, it is advisable to listen to radio conversations in order to develop a feel for them and expand your vocabulary.

A few days later, the two notes arrive in my letterbox. One red and one blue. So now I know how sparking works. But, as with the sports boat licence, they say little about how experienced I am in practice. After all, radio is not knowledge that you acquire once and then own. Radio is a skill that disappears if you don't use it. Safety comes from repetition. Through the seemingly banal calling of a harbour. By having the courage to pick up the microphone, even if you could theoretically use your mobile phone. So that the first radio message after the test is not the emergency message outside of mobile phone network range. To summarise: By radioing as often as possible.