Part 1 discusses getting started, Part 2 looks at the messages received.
Many of the messages are simply “TEST” messages, this is because it is mandated the systems must be tested at regular intervals. The positive side is the number of messages being exchanged is quite high, and so it doesn’t take long to record traffic.
In this example, you can see a number of test messages being sent too and from both ships and land stations.
Taking the top message as an example, you can see this has come from the ship KAVAFIS with its unique MMSI number 256821000. The database provided by John GM4SLV allows you to click on the name of the ship “KAVAFIS” and this allows you to see further information.
You can also review the location of the ship, usually derived from Automatic Identification System AIS data.
The main purpose of the system is to assist with the safety of life, and so you will receive emergency signals sent from or relayed by ships.
Using the database provided by John you can query all the urgent / distress calls received in the last 24 hrs using a simple query.
If you haven’t already seen it Part 1 deals with getting started.