October 21, 2014, the Coast Guard will conduct Automatic Identification System, or AIS, test messaging from all U.S. Coast Guard Nationwide AIS base stations located across the United States for up to 15 minutes on the hour, from 1100-2215 UTC.
These messages can be identified by their Maritime Mobile Service Identity number: 003669139 or 00366613 and by the words ‘USCG TEST’ within their contents.
This is the first of many tests the Coast Guard will conduct in the future as it seeks to provide another timely delivery source of navigational information and services to promote safety, efficiency and integration of the Marine Transportation System.
View the announcement for details on messages to be tested.
Mariners capable of decoding these messages can ignore them and should contact the Coast Guard Navigation Center at 1-703-313-5900 or TIS-PF-NISWS@uscg.mil should they encounter any negative impacts due to the testing.
This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.