GMDSS for Small Craft

Fernhurst, 1997E3 94pp £1195

GMDSS is important: we must know how to use it from early in 1998. There are two books on the subject: this one and Reeds VHF DSC Handbook by Sue Fletcher. This is the better, but it does have its weaknesses. It explains the whole subject simply but abruptly with no wasted words. The reader must keep his wits about him and winkle out those bits of immediate relevance. It can be hard going when the author writes "lack of display means the human interface is compromised by the lack of a properly displayed menu structure". However it tells you what equipment you must have (but fails to tell you that you don’t need it all at once) and it tells you how to operate that equipment, although it makes this seem more difficult than it really is. It omits reference to cost (£500 to £800) and to the major problem that finding and keying correctly a 9-digit number in the dark when you are cold, wet and tired and being knocked around by the weather really does compromise the human interface. If you don't yet understand GMDSS - put an ice-pack on your head and read this book. EO