@sailingnaturali/signalk-dsc 0.3.0 → 0.3.1

package/README.md

@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ SIGNALK_TOKEN=<readwrite-token> npm run clear-dsc -- --category distress
 
 `--category all` clears all three. Clearing is a write, so it needs a readwrite token
 (the same one used to fire a test MOB). A new incoming call still alarms normally.
+This clears the `self`-context alarm; the transient per-caller notification raised under
+the sender's vessel context is not persisted or re-raised, so it is left untouched.
 
 ## Limitations
 
@@ -164,6 +166,34 @@ SIGNALK_TOKEN=<readwrite-token> npm run clear-dsc -- --category distress
 - A raised distress notification stays active until cleared from the server —
   deliberate: a received MAYDAY should not silently expire.
 
+## Future work
+
+This plugin is **receive-only**: it reads, logs, and alarms on DSC calls a radio
+puts on the bus, and never transmits. The obvious next capability is the *write*
+path — initiating a DSC call from SignalK, e.g. relaying a MAYDAY or sending a
+distress/MOB alert *to* the radio to broadcast.
+
+The blocker is hardware, not software. Almost no marine VHF exposes an interface
+to be **commanded to transmit** a DSC call:
+
+- NMEA 0183 radios take a GPS position *in* and emit received calls *out*, but
+  there's no standard sentence to initiate a transmission.
+- On NMEA 2000, PGN 129808 carries received call info; there's no
+  widely-implemented PGN to command a transmit. Where "send distress from the
+  chartplotter" exists at all, it's proprietary same-vendor MFD↔radio
+  integration, not an open standard a third-party plugin can drive.
+
+The closest exception we've found is Icom's networked VHFs — the **M510 EVO** and
+**M605** — which expose external/remote DSC initiation, where most radios only
+let you initiate a DSC call on the radio itself. That makes them the realistic
+target for a transmit path.
+
+So a SignalK-driven relay is gated on a radio that actually supports external DSC
+transmission — still rare — plus the care that initiating a distress demands (it
+broadcasts on behalf of a real, licensed MMSI). Until such hardware is common
+this stays out of scope and the plugin remains a passive receiver. If you have a
+radio that exposes a transmit interface, open an issue.
+
 ## License
 
 MIT

package/index.js

@@ -205,7 +205,9 @@ module.exports = function makePlugin(app) {
     if (event.mmsi && event.mmsi === selfMmsi()) event.self = true;
 
     // Re-transmission of the same call (distress alerts auto-repeat until
-    // acknowledged): bump the stored call, do not re-alarm.
+    // acknowledged): bump the stored call, do not re-alarm. This matches on
+    // mmsi+category+nature and ignores `clearedAt`, so an operator-cleared call
+    // that keeps repeating stays silent — a cleared MAYDAY should not re-nag.
     const duplicate = store.findRecent(
       (e) =>
         e.mmsi === event.mmsi &&

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@sailingnaturali/signalk-dsc",
-  "version": "0.3.0",
+  "version": "0.3.1",
   "description": "Receive, log, and alert on DSC (VHF digital selective calling) calls — distress, urgency, safety, routine — from NMEA 0183 ($CDDSC/$CDDSE) and NMEA 2000 (PGN 129808).",
   "main": "index.js",
   "scripts": {