Can I find my call sign from my MMSI?

[wipe_out]

I am trying to recover the Ofcom registration of our boat.. Since the previous owner had passed away I was only able to recover the MMSI number from the VHF.. The Ofcom site requires the call sign but I have no idea what it is.. I have emailed Ofcom but they haven't replied in over a week.. Is there anywhere to look up the MMSI/Call Sign details of a boat?

 

[Martin_J]

Did you create an account for your radio license with Ofcom? You could then log into that and find all your radio details.

 

[Martin_J]

The other way is on the ITU mars database

https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/terrestrial/mars/Pages/default.aspx

Click on Ship Stations -> Retrieval of information.

 

[Martin_J]

Apologies for not reading the entire post... Not so easy on a small phone..

 

[dunedin]

Why bother. Never used the call sign in 30 years.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Why bother. Never used the call sign in 30 years.

Because he needs it for the ships radio licence.

 

[wipe_out]

Thanks Martin_J.. I have found it..

 

[ProDave]

Because he needs it for the ships radio licence.

But exactly what happens if you don't have it? The CG only know you by the boat's name.

 

[Graham376]

But exactly what happens if you don't have it? The CG only know you by the boat's name.

We've been asked for call sign by various CG stations.

 

[FulmarJeddo]

Why bother. Never used the call sign in 30 years.

The Coastguard always asked for it when taking a now defunct CG66 passage plan. It identified the vessel. I have heard the CG asking for it when they are being asked for assistance from people that obviously have no VHF training. I have often wondered if they have to fill in a report of missuse or untrained/unlisenced vhf.

 

[dunedin]

The Coastguard always asked for it when taking a now defunct CG66 passage plan. It identified the vessel. I have heard the CG asking for it when they are being asked for assistance from people that obviously have no VHF training. I have often wondered if they have to fill in a report of missuse or untrained/unlisenced vhf.

And now they ask for MMSI - which at least has the benefit of helping match to any DSC messages or AIS traces.
Asking for boat name, MMSI and Call Sign is just duplication and time wasting.

 

[PaulRainbow]

But exactly what happens if you don't have it? The CG only know you by the boat's name.

Read the OP, he needs it to get the ship radio license, no call sign or MMSI = no ship radio license.

 

[PaulRainbow]

And now they ask for MMSI - which at least has the benefit of helping match to any DSC messages or AIS traces.
Asking for boat name, MMSI and Call Sign is just duplication and time wasting.

Been asked for call sign, never been asked for MMSI

 

[Bru]

I was asked for our call sign by Oostende Radio when I made a Pan Pan after we were disabled off the Belgian coast

It is still the unique identifier of the vessel as far as radio comms are concerned although ultimately I guess it will be superseded by MMSI numbers

 

[Bru]

Actually, maybe the call sign won't be superseded by MMSI given that it's unique to the radio station which could be anything from a building to an aircraft to a ship

 

[BelleSerene]

The Coastguard always asked for it when taking a now defunct CG66 passage plan. It identified the vessel. I have heard the CG asking for it when they are being asked for assistance from people that obviously have no VHF training. I have often wondered if they have to fill in a report of missuse or untrained/unlisenced vhf.

Only time I have ever used ours was when I was boarded by Dutch customs. Among other questions, they asked the boat's callsign. I told them I wasn't sure as we never referred to it in my country, but thought it was [...] and went below to check. They said don't bother. Turned out I had remembered it correctly, but on reflection they were only asking me to authenticate that I hadn't nicked the boat. If it's not your boat, you're not going to have a clue what the radio callsign is.

 

[TheBomber]

Further to this thread - anybody know how up to date that ‘mars’ database is? There’s an mmsi programmed in the radio on the 1 year old boat I’ve just bought that doesn’t come up in the database. Like the OP I need my callsign to register the radio and Ofcom don’t seem to reply to messages.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

We've all got one but the vast majority never have reason to use it, except for filling in forms as above..

However, the MMSI is used vocally, in a distress to confirm identity after a DSC distress signal, so MMSI is the one likely to be needed, and maybe worth memorizing, and definitely is worth displaying by the fixed VHF.
I also display my callsign there, written out in phonetic because it annoyingly contains an india and an oscar, a pointless recipe for confusion IMO...

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I rather like my callsign. Easy to remember unlike the string of numbers that have effectively replaced it.

 

[Cantata]

Dover CG called me using boatname and callsign for a radio check the other day (yes really). They'd seen me on AIS and as it turned out a few minutes later they were making sure their comms with a nearby RNLI boat launching was going to be OK..
Of course the callsign verifies whether or not the call really is for you, as there could be another boat in the area with the same name.....