| MARITIME RADIO STATIONS OF THE WORLD
Sweden
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SEARCH AND RESCUE Stockholm Radio has probably a quite unique station architecture providing many types of different services, all sharing a common technical infrastructure and personnel. About 30 people are employed in the operations, and a typical day shift has about 5 - 6 crew members, with 3 on a night shift. The most important safety role of the Stockholm Radio system is that of the MRCC function, under a contract with the MaritimeAdministration. The area of responsibility for MRCC Stockholm is the Swedish part of the Baltic Sea and Bay of Bothnia, from the Finnish border in the north and to south of the island of Gotland, where the MRCC Gothenburg area takes over. Stockholm Radio/MRCC Stockholm is also the technical center for the VHF-DSC (Channel 70) and MF-DSC (2187.5 kHz) distress watch systems. Additionally, all transmissions of navigational warnings,weather reports and other maritime safety information on either telegraphy, telephony or NAVTEX takes place from Stockholm Radio, as well as the Swedish NAVAREA information coordinating and distribution functions outside office hours. The MRCC is a subset of the operational functions of the whole network, concentrated into two operating positions. From each workstation, the MRCC officers have access to all communications facilities,radio and landline, in the whole network. These facilities can be combined and used at will, providing the Search and Rescue Coordinating officer with a powerful communications, command and control tool. Even though the Gothenburg MRCC is operated and staffed by the Maritime Administration, and not co-located with any coast station, it shares the same systems architecture and radio network. The Gothenburg MRCC has several operating positions connected to the VCCS system by means of a fibre-optic data and telephony trunk. |
