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3.13 EGC Message Reception
3.13.1 EGC Messages
EGC is a message broadcast service within the Inmarsat-C communication system. It allows terrestrial
information providers to pass messages or data to JUE-87 Inmarsat-C MES.
EGC messages are sent to Land Earth Station by shore based Information Providers using terrestrial
facilities such as Telex, and are processed at the LES, and forwarded to an NCS then are broadcasted to
the INMARSA-C MES via NCS common channel transmitted by NCS.
There are three basic services offered by EGC; the Safety NET
TM
service, the Fleet NET
TM
service and
System service. Safety NET
TM
is a service provided primarily for the dissemination of maritime safety
information, such as shore to ship distress alerts, weather forecasts and coastal warning. Fleet NET
TM
is a
commercial communication service allowing terrestrial information providers to send messages to
pre-defined groups of subscribers. System service is a service provided for operational information.
Both the Safety NET
TM
and Fleet NET
TM
services make use of flexible addressing techniques to allow
the reception of messages from a variety of service providers depending on the particular requirements of
the user. The Safety NET
TM
service utilizes a geographic area addressing technique to direct messages to
ships within defined boundary. The Fleet NET
TM
service employs closed user group and unique receiver
addressing to provide secure transmission of messages from the terrestrial information provider to the
desired service recipients(s).
Following message services are available:
(a) General Call
(b) Group Call
(c) Urgency message, NAV warning to rectangular area
(d) Inmarsat system message
(e) Coastal warning
(f) Shore-ship distress alert to circular area
(g) EGC system message
(h) Urgency message, MET/NAV warning to circular area
(i) MET NAVAREA warning or MET Forecast
(j) Download group identity
(k) SAR coordination to rectangular area
(l) SAR coordination to circular area
(m) Chart correction services
(n) Chart correction services for fixed area