The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) were enforced by SOLAS and were mandatorily installed by ships as of February 1, 1999. With the introduction of this new system, the Morse code was phased out. Since the general concept of the GMDSS is to provide rapid and automated alerting for search and rescue during a distress incident, Solas made provisions (Solas Chapter IV) to govern this system particularly the 9 Communication Functional Requirements and shall be used by ships to the fullest of its capability. The nine communications and the means of communication method used are as follows:
1. Distress Alerting (Ship to shore) – EPIRB; DSC; INMARSAT.
2. Distress Alerting (Shore to ship) –Digital Selective Calling (DSC); SafetyNET service; and Navtex.
3. Distress Alerting (Ship to ship) –VHF Channel 16 and 13; and either by VHF, MF or HF DSC.
4.   SAR Co-ordinating Communications - Transmission/reception of Maritime Safety Information, NAVTEX or SafetyNET; and through voice communications using MF/HF or VHF or Inmarsat. 5.  On-Scene Communication - Voice communications using MF/HF or VHF
6.Locating - RADAR (9GHz); and SART(Search and Rescue Radar Transponder)
7.Transmission/Reception of Maritime Safety Information – Navtex and SafetyNET
8.General Radiocommunications - DSC to set up a telephone or telex link on MF/HF or VHF; and the Inmarsat network
9. Bridge-to-Bridge Communications – normally carried out by VHF and MF/HF.
The Nine Communication Functions are explained in much detailed information at the MERSAR Section. This includes the provisions as stated by Solas Chapter IV. You may also download the resources in PPT and PDF format.

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