Ship to Shore Communications

Voice, data and fax communications are available between ships and shore. These change from time to time as improved technologies and more cost-effective service plans arise. We attempt to keep the following information current, but if in doubt please contact the Marine Facility (858-534-1641) or Shipboard Technical Support (858-534-0193).

Email is available on a near real-time basis 24 hours per day and is the primary and preferred method of contact for business and personal purposes (see EMAIL below).

EMERGENCIES

In case of emergency a responsible person at MarFac can be reached as follows:

Nimitz Marine Facility: 858-534-1644 during regular workdays (Monday through Friday, 0800-1700).
Marine Facility Guard: 858-534-1639 at other times

The person answering the phone will be able to assist with contacting a ship. Note that the on-duty guard may be away from his desk making rounds of the facility -- if your call is not answered, please leave a message and the guard will reply as soon as possible.

EMAIL

Revelle, Melville and New Horizon

Cost:  Email traffic aboard Revelle, Melville, and New Horizon is conducted via the Scripps HiSeasNet system, which provides nearly continuous internet connectivity.  The cost for using HiSeasNet is included in the vessel day rate, and therefore at no cost to you. 

 If HiSeasNet is nonoperational, these vessels have the ability to communicate using other means.  Those methods are not included in the vessel day rate, and will incur a charge and will be billed by the Shipboard Technical Support - Computer Resource Group.   You may pay with cash, check or major credit card.  Note that user email addresses will remain the same regardless of transmission method.

Address:  Your email address at sea will take the format username@rv-shipname.ucsd.edu (where shipname is revelle, melville, newhorizon or sproul as appropriate).  If you need to know your specific username in advance of your cruise, please contact the Computer Resources Group (858-534-6054). For every ship, the name master will reach the ship's master and the username restech will reach the resident marine technician. Aboard Revelle and Melville, the username scg will reach the on board member of the Shipboard Computer Group.

Caveat emptor:  Satellite communications systems such as HiSeasNet are subject to failure at sea.  Communications cannot occur for instance when the antenna's view of the satellite is blocked by the ship's superstructure, which happens on some ship headings.

Robert Gordon Sproul

Cost:  Email is not funded as part of the ship's day rate, and every message generates a cost to the ship.  We provide each shipboard user with an allowance of $1/day for email, which is roughly 16 paragraphs of unformatted text.  Above that allowance, you will be charged per byte of information sent or recieved.  To reduce costs you should avoid sending large files, pictures or attachments, and use plain text messages where possible. You can also set limits to the sizes of incoming messages you will receive, which prevents you from being charged for large files sent to you.

Shipboard accounts are established for each user, and charges above the $1/day allowance will be collected postcruise by the Shipboard Technical Support - Computer Resource Group.  Cash, check or major credit card may be used.

Address:  Your email address at sea will take the format username@rv-sproul.ucsd.edu.  If you need to know your specific username in advance of your cruise, please contact the Computer Resources Group (858-534-6054). For every ship, the name master will reach the ship's master and the username restech will reach the resident marine technician.

Caveat emptor:  Satellite communications systems such as HiSeasNet are subject to failure at sea.  Communications cannot occur for instance when the antenna's view of the satellite is blocked by the ship's superstructure, which happens on some ship headings.

VOICE VIA SATELLITE

SatComm telephones ring on the Bridge of the vessel. Be aware that the mate on watch may be unable to answer the telephone if busy with other duties of higher priority. Even if answered, it may require time to locate the desired person aboard ship. Common procedure is to take the name and number of the calling party ashore, end the call, and have the shipboard party call back subsequently, as soon as feasible.

Cost: Telephone calls to ships at sea use satellite links, and cost $5 to $10 per minute, with a 3-minute minimum.  These costs accrue to the shipboard party whether the call is incoming or outgoing. The bridge will log satellite calls and charge you appropriately.  You may pay using cash, check or major credit card.

To place an satellite telephone call from shore, dial the international access code (011 in the US) followed by a three-digit satellite identifier (870), followed by the ship number.

For example, to call New Horizon on the F-77 system from a U.S. location, dial 011-870-763473754.

For Inmarsat operator assistance dial 800-826-8680. Ship numbers are:

NOTE: Satellite calls do not always go through on the first try; this does not necessarily indicate system failure.

CELLULAR

Cell telephones can sometimes connect when vessels are working near shore, and, if so, you can call embarked individuals directly.  SIO ships carry cell phones for ship business and are not intended to receive personal calls from shore. If you need a ship's cell phone number, contact MarFac for help (see EMERGENCIES above).

FAX

In addition to occasional failure to connect on the first try (see note above for VOICE calls) fax transmissions to/from ships are prone to mid-transmission failure, generally from short dropouts in the satellite-ship link. We encourage fax material to be recast as email text or, if that is not possible, to be scanned and sent as an email attachment. If a conventional fax is necessary, use the fax numbers indicated in the table above, with the same international code and satellite identifier prefix.

IN PORT, SAN DIEGO

When at the Nimitz Marine Facility, ships are connected to the regular UCSD land-line system as follows:

Melville: 858-534-1646
Roger Revelle: 858-534-1647
New Horizon: 858-534-1648
Robert G. Sproul : 858-534-1649

Other useful San Diego numbers are:

R/P FLIP: 858-534-1650
Nimitz Marine Facility - general office contact: 858-534-1641

(See also Contacts)

Revised August 13, 2009