RYA SRC Part 6 — Urgency, Safety, and Routine Voice Procedure
Syllabus coverage: CEPT/RYA sections C1.2 (urgency and safety announcements), D1.2 (urgency), D1.3 (safety), D1.4 (IMO SMCP), D1.5 (phonetic alphabet), and D2.1 (traffic routines, callsigns, garbled calls).
Distress is the headline. Below it sit three more priorities, each with its own proword, its own procedure, and its own exam questions.
Urgency — PAN-PAN
PAN-PAN (pronounced “pahn-pahn,” from the French panne meaning breakdown) is the proword for an urgency message: a very urgent message concerning the safety of a vessel, aircraft, or person, but where there is not yet grave and imminent danger to life requiring a MAYDAY.
Examples:
- Lost steering, drifting toward danger but not yet aground.
- Engine failure offshore, no immediate threat to life but a situation that could escalate.
- Man overboard, recovered but injured, urgent medical advice needed.
- Vessel disabled and being towed but needing escort.
- Person aboard with a serious medical condition needing radio medical advice.
Procedure
If your set has DSC, send an Urgency Announcement by DSC first (menu → Urgency Call → All Ships), then make the voice call on CH16:
PAN-PAN PAN-PAN PAN-PAN
ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS
THIS IS [vessel name] [vessel name] [vessel name]
[Your MMSI]
MY POSITION IS [...]
[Nature of the urgency — what's happened and what you need]
[Number of persons on board]
[Any other relevant information]
OVERFor a long message you may instead announce on CH16 then switch to a working channel:
PAN-PAN PAN-PAN PAN-PAN
ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS
THIS IS NORTHERN STAR NORTHERN STAR NORTHERN STAR
MMSI 232123456
URGENCY MESSAGE FOLLOWS ON CHANNEL ZERO SIX
OVERThen switch to CH06 and deliver the message.
Radio medical advice
The CEPT syllabus calls out the specific case of requesting radio medical advice — a very common reason for an urgency call. In the UK, you address the call to the Coastguard, who will patch you through to a medical practitioner:
PAN-PAN PAN-PAN PAN-PAN
SOLENT COASTGUARD SOLENT COASTGUARD SOLENT COASTGUARD
THIS IS NORTHERN STAR NORTHERN STAR NORTHERN STAR
MMSI 232123456
MY POSITION IS [...]
REQUEST RADIO MEDICAL ADVICE FOR INJURED CREW MEMBER
OVERThe Coastguard will either pass medical advice themselves or arrange a phone patch. The phrase the syllabus expects you to know is “radio medical advice” — that’s the standard request.
Acknowledging an urgency call
Urgency calls are acknowledged by the addressed station (or by any station that can help if addressed to All Stations). The proword is “ROGER” or “RECEIVED.”
Safety — SECURITE
SECURITE (pronounced “say-cure-ee-tay,” from the French sécurité) is the proword for safety: messages concerning the safety of navigation or important meteorological warnings.
Most SECURITE calls come from coast stations broadcasting MSI to all ships — gale warnings, navigation warnings, urgent meteorological reports, NAVAREA messages. A typical Coastguard broadcast:
SECURITE SECURITE SECURITE
ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS
THIS IS SOLENT COASTGUARD SOLENT COASTGUARD SOLENT COASTGUARD
FOR A GALE WARNING LISTEN ON CHANNEL ZERO SIX SEVEN
OVEROther vessels acknowledge by tuning to CH67 and listening; no individual acknowledgement is needed for a broadcast safety message.
Ship-originated SECURITE
A vessel may originate a safety call for things like:
- Floating obstruction sighted in a shipping channel.
- Unlit navigation buoy.
- Casualty observed (but not in distress requiring immediate assistance).
- Hazardous cargo spill spotted.
SECURITE SECURITE SECURITE
ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS
THIS IS NORTHERN STAR NORTHERN STAR NORTHERN STAR
MMSI 232123456
POSITION 50°15.4'N 004°08.7'W
LARGE FLOATING TIMBER OBSERVED IN POSITION, HAZARDOUS TO SMALL CRAFT
OVERThe preferred option in the syllabus is for a ship station to relay safety information to a coast station rather than broadcast to all ships directly. The coast station has the reach and authority to disseminate it more effectively, and routine voice broadcasts from a ship to “all stations” can clutter CH16. Call the Coastguard, pass the information, let them broadcast.
Routine calls — the voice procedure you’ll use most
Routine traffic is everything that isn’t distress, urgency, or safety. Marina logistics, fellow yachts, lock bookings, customs/border force, harbourmasters.
Listening before calling
Before you key the PTT, listen. Make sure the channel isn’t already in use. The exam tests this in the practical — if you transmit on a channel where another conversation is in progress, that’s a fail point.
The call itself
[Station called] [Station called] [Station called]
THIS IS [your vessel] [your vessel] [your vessel]
OVERThree repetitions of each name on the initial call, especially if conditions are poor or the called station may not be expecting you.
Once contact is established and confirmed, drop to one repetition each:
[Station called]
THIS IS [your vessel]
[Message]
OVERMoving to a working channel
CH16 is for distress, safety, and calling only. After establishing contact, move to a working channel immediately:
NORTHERN STAR
THIS IS WHITE SQUALL
CHANNEL ZERO SIX
OVERWhite Squall confirms by tuning CH06 and continuing the conversation there.
Public correspondence and AAIC
The syllabus mentions public correspondence (ship-to-shore phone calls via a coast station) and the AAIC — Accounting Authority Identification Code, the international billing system. The UK no longer offers public correspondence on marine VHF. A few countries still do. The exam expects you to know it existed, what AAIC was for (billing), and that it’s largely been replaced by mobile telephony and satellite communications.
Unanswered or garbled calls — what to do
The CEPT syllabus is specific here. If your call is not answered:
- Wait at least 2 minutes before repeating the call.
- After three unsuccessful attempts, wait longer (15 minutes or more) before trying again.
If a call comes in but you’re not sure it was for you:
- Do not respond on a guess. Listen for repeat.
If you receive a garbled call you cannot understand:
- Reply with the standard proword response:
[Calling station, if known]
THIS IS [your vessel]
SAY AGAIN
OVEROr, if you didn’t catch the caller’s identity:
STATION CALLING [your vessel] [your vessel] [your vessel]
THIS IS [your vessel]
SAY AGAIN YOUR IDENTITY AND MESSAGE
OVERCallsigns
A UK vessel with a Ship Radio Licence is issued a callsign (e.g. “MJEM4” — letters and digits). The callsign uniquely identifies the radio installation, internationally. In practice, most small-craft VHF traffic uses the vessel name as identification, sometimes followed by the MMSI for clarity in distress. The callsign comes into its own when working with coast stations or in formal traffic.
The syllabus expects you to know:
- A UK callsign is issued by Ofcom with the Ship Radio Licence.
- The format is letters and digits (M-prefix for UK).
- The callsign identifies the radio installation, not the vessel name.
Phonetic alphabet — NATO/ITU
Letters in radio voice traffic are spelled using the NATO phonetic alphabet (officially the ITU/ICAO phonetic alphabet). Numbers are usually said as themselves, with a few special pronunciations for clarity.
| Letter | Phonetic |
|---|---|
| A | Alfa |
| B | Bravo |
| C | Charlie |
| D | Delta |
| E | Echo |
| F | Foxtrot |
| G | Golf |
| H | Hotel |
| I | India |
| J | Juliett |
| K | Kilo |
| L | Lima |
| M | Mike |
| N | November |
| O | Oscar |
| P | Papa |
| Q | Quebec |
| R | Romeo |
| S | Sierra |
| T | Tango |
| U | Uniform |
| V | Victor |
| W | Whiskey |
| X | X-ray |
| Y | Yankee |
| Z | Zulu |
The exam catches people on three things:
- Alfa with an f, not Alpha. (To make it intelligible to non-English speakers — ph isn’t a sound everyone reads consistently.)
- Juliett with two Ts. (To distinguish it visually in writing.)
- X-ray with a hyphen.
Numbers in CEPT/ITU radio voice traffic should be pronounced individually and clearly. The standard ICAO pronunciations exist (wun, too, tree, fower, fife, six, seven, ait, niner, zero) but they are mostly used in aviation; in maritime VHF, normal English pronunciation is acceptable and common.
Worked example
Spelling out a vessel name and callsign:
NORTHERN STAR — NOVEMBER OSCAR ROMEO TANGO HOTEL ECHO ROMEO NOVEMBER — STAR — SIERRA TANGO ALFA ROMEO
CALLSIGN MJEM4 — MIKE JULIETT ECHO MIKE FOURIMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP)
The IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases are a set of English-language phrases standardised for maritime use, intended to keep communications unambiguous between speakers of different first languages. The syllabus expects you to be aware of their existence and to be able to use common ones.
Examples:
- “I have…” (e.g. “I have a fire on board”)
- “I require…” (e.g. “I require immediate assistance”)
- “Stand by on channel…” (asking the other station to wait on that channel)
- “What is your position?”
- “Say again your last message.”
You will not be examined on the SMCP vocabulary in detail, but using these phrases over invented English makes any radio call clearer.
Prowords — the bookends of every call
Prowords are standardised words used to control radio voice traffic. Memorise them:
| Proword | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OVER | I have finished this transmission and expect a reply. |
| OUT | I have finished this transmission and do NOT expect a reply. End of conversation. |
| ROGER | I have received and understood your message. |
| AFFIRMATIVE | Yes / correct. |
| NEGATIVE | No / incorrect. |
| SAY AGAIN | Please repeat. (Not “repeat” — that has a military meaning of “fire again” and is avoided.) |
| WAIT | Stand by for a moment, I cannot answer immediately. |
| STAND BY | Wait; I will call you back. |
| THIS IS | The identification preceding the calling station’s name. |
| CORRECTION | I have made a mistake; the corrected version follows. |
| I SPELL | I am about to spell the following word phonetically. |
| READ BACK | Repeat the message back to me to confirm reception. |
| WILCO | Will comply. (Not commonly used in maritime; aviation more.) |
The exam likes to test:
- “OVER” vs “OUT” (don’t say “OVER AND OUT” — they’re contradictory).
- “SAY AGAIN” not “REPEAT.”
- “ROGER” means received, not “yes” — use AFFIRMATIVE for yes.
What to take into the next post
You should leave Part 6 able to:
- State PAN-PAN, SECURITE, and routine procedure.
- Make a radio medical advice call.
- Spell out a vessel name in NATO phonetic.
- Use the major prowords correctly.
- Explain why a ship-originated safety message is best relayed via a coast station.
- Describe what to do with an unanswered or garbled call.
Part 7 leaves voice procedure and turns to the rest of GMDSS that the SRC syllabus covers — EPIRBs, SARTs, and NAVTEX.