AIS message type
AIS message type 14: Safety related broadcast message
A short free-text safety message sent to everyone in range. What type 14 carries, who sends it, how often, and how to read it.
What type 14 is
Type 14 is the broadcast safety text message. It is the message AIS-SART, man-overboard and EPIRB-AIS devices use to announce what they are: the text reads "SART ACTIVE", "SART TEST", "MOB ACTIVE", "MOB TEST", "EPIRB ACTIVE" or "EPIRB TEST", alongside position reports from an MMSI starting 970, 972 or 974.
How to read it
A live "ACTIVE" text is an emergency signal for rescue coordination centres, not something to act on from a website. A "TEST" text is the same device being exercised.
Decoding it
The AIS message decoder reads the message type and sender MMSI of any sentence, including this one, but does not unpack the body of type 14.
All message types
| Type | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Position report, scheduled (Class A) |
| 2 | Position report, assigned schedule (Class A) |
| 3 | Position report, response to interrogation (Class A) |
| 4 | Base station report |
| 5 | Static and voyage related data (Class A) |
| 6 | Binary addressed message |
| 7 | Binary acknowledge |
| 8 | Binary broadcast message |
| 9 | Standard SAR aircraft position report |
| 10 | UTC and date inquiry |
| 11 | UTC and date response |
| 12 | Addressed safety related message |
| 13 | Safety related acknowledgement |
| 14 | Safety related broadcast message |
| 15 | Interrogation |
| 16 | Assignment mode command |
| 17 | DGNSS broadcast binary message |
| 18 | Standard Class B equipment position report |
| 19 | Extended Class B equipment position report |
| 20 | Data link management message |
| 21 | Aid-to-navigation report |
| 22 | Channel management |
| 23 | Group assignment command |
| 24 | Static data report (Class B) |
| 25 | Single slot binary message |
| 26 | Multiple slot binary message with communications state |
| 27 | Long-range AIS broadcast message |