All ships broadcast on the DSC !

If you browse boats on the internet brokerages you may, like us, be curious as to why so many otherwise patently sea worthy vessels are equipped with radio equipment so antiquated it's on a par with a cocoa tin and a peace of string - especially when a modern VHF set equipped with DSC can be had for less than a hundred quid.
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Why bother to upgrade ? Isn't it just more un-necessary tech that you'll never understand or master and just another selling ploy by the manufacturers ?
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Well, yesterday's events convinced me otherwise....
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We set out from Pw at around 1100 on passage for Arklow which we thought would take around 18 hours. The wind was a Force 4 from the south west, so we planned in a series of big tacks to make progress against the wind. Although we didn't seem to be making much western progress, and the seas were quite lumpy to begin with, the track showed the plan was working. At about 1500 UT we came up to Bardsey Sound. We though we were perfectly lined up for one long port tack which would get us through the sound at just the right time and land us at the north cardinal to Arklow Bank, with a bit of motor assistance, at around 0400 this morning.
Literally, when we were heading south to get the transit through the sound the DSC alarm sounded.!
Now this is not an unusual occurrence around there as unfortunately there has been a spate of dive clubs providing some impromptu DSC training with a flood of false alarms - so there is a temptation to ignore it out of hand.
Good move not to ! I've never heard an ALL SHIPS broadcast before, but this was from Hollyhead Coastgaurd {thanks guys} - so we turned up the volume and listened in. GALE WARNING -  F8 right in front of us  and LATER, right when we would be there.

The track show right where we turned around. At about the time we got back to the fairway buoy the wind suddenly rose to over 20kn, adding extra interest to getting back onto our piled mooring !
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Moral - if you haven't go a DSC radio, get one and listen to them messages.
We'll see you in Arklow before too long, mine's a pint in the Bridge Hotel.