23Purpose of operation — VDES communications

23 Purpose of operation – VDES communications

(1) A person must not operate a maritime ship station for VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) purposes otherwise than: (a) subject to subsection (2) – on a frequency mentioned in column 1 of a table item in Schedule 7; and (b) at a transmitter output power not exceeding the power mentioned in column 2 of that table item; and (c) for any purpose mentioned in column 3 of the table item; and (d) in accordance with any limitations specified in column 4 of the table item. (2) A person may operate a maritime ship station using more than one frequency specified in column 1 of a table item in Schedule 7 if: (a) the channels for those frequencies have a contiguous bandwidth of: (i) 50 kHz; or (ii) 100 kHz; or (iii) 150 kHz; and (b) the use of those frequencies is consistent with Appendix 18 of the Radio Regulations.

Note 1: The technical characteristics of VDES, including AIS and ASM, are described in Recommendation ITU-R M.2092 (Technical characteristics for a VHF data exchange system in the VHF maritime mobile band). Recommendation ITU-R M.2092 is available, free of charge, from the International Telecommunication Union’s website at www.itu.int.

Note 2: The Radio Regulations are available, free of charge, from the International Telecommunication Union’s website at www.itu.int.