Country Code (Bits 27 - 36)

The country code is part of every beacon message protocol. This code is a 3-digit decimal number allocated to each country/territory by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and listed as Maritime Identification Digits (MID) in Appendix 43 of the ITU Radio Regulations. The up-to-date list of MIDs is available from the ITU web site at:

http://www.itu.int/cgi-bin/htsh/glad/cga_mids.sh?lng=E

The country code is encoded in binary notation in bits 27 to 36 of the message, with the least significant bit on the right. The country code always indicates the country of beacon registration. Upon receiving distress alerts, SAR services will endeavor to obtain additional information on the owner of the distress beacon using the MID to interrogate the appropriate beacon registration database.

The example presented below shows the country code for the United Kingdom, where: MID=232 (i.e. decimal number "232" coded "0011101000" in binary notation).

Bits	27-----------------36
	0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0