Sec.  80.1117   Procedure for receipt and acknowledgement of distress alerts.

   (a) Normally, distress calls received using digital selective calling are
   only acknowledged using a DSC acknowledgement by a coast station. Ships
   should delay any acknowledgement in order to give sufficient time for a
   coast station to acknowledge the call. In cases where no acknowledgement has
   been heard and no distress traffic has been heard, the ship should transmit
   a distress alert relay to the coast station. Upon advice from the Rescue
   Coordination Center, the ship may transmit a DSC acknowledgement call to
   stop it from being repeated. Acknowledgement by digital selective calling of
   receipt of a distress alert in the terrestrial services must comply with
   ITU–R Recommendation M.541–9, “Operational Procedures for the Use of Digital
   Selective-Calling Equipment in the Maritime Mobile Service,” with Annexes 1
   through 5, 2004. ITU–R Recommendation M.541–9 with Annexes is incorporated
   by  reference.  The  Director  of  the  Federal Register approves this
   incorporation by reference in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part
   51. Copies of this standard can be inspected at the Federal Communications
   Commission, 445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC (Reference Information
   Center) or at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For
   information on the availability of this material at NARA, call 202–741–6030,
   or go to:
   http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/code_of_federal_regulations/ibr_loc
   ations.html  .  The  ITU–R  Recommendation  can  be purchased from the
   International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Place des Nations, CH–1211
   Geneva 20, Switzerland.

   (b) Acknowledgement through a satellite of receipt of a distress alert from
   a ship earth station must be sent immediately (see  Sec. 80.1119).

   (c) Acknowledgement by radiotelephony of receipt of a distress alert from a
   ship station or a ship earth station must be given in the following form:

   (1) The distress signal MAYDAY;

   (2)  The  call sign or other identification of the station sending the
   distress message, spoken three times;

   (3)  The words THIS IS (or DE spoken as DELTA ECHO in case of language
   difficulties);

   (4) The call sign or other identification of the station acknowledging
   receipt, spoken three times;

   (5)  The  word RECEIVED (or RRR spoken as ROMEO ROMEO ROMEO in case of
   language difficulties);

   (6) The distress signal MAYDAY.

   (d)  The acknowledgement by direct-printing telegraphy of receipt of a
   distress alert from a ship station must be given in the following form:

   (1) The distress signal MAYDAY;

   (2)  The  call sign or other identification of the station sending the
   distress alert;

   (3) The word DE;

   (4) The call sign or other identification of the station acknowledging
   receipt of the distress alert;

   (5) The signal RRR;

   (6) The distress signal MAYDAY.

   (e)  The acknowledgement by direct-printing telegraphy of receipt of a
   distress alert from a ship earth station must be given by the coast earth
   station receiving the distress alert by retransmitting the ship station
   identity of the ship transmitting the distress alert.

   [ 51 FR 31213 , Sept. 2, 1986, as amended at  68 FR 46980 , Aug. 7, 2003;  73 FR 4491 , Jan. 25, 2008]