DSC vhf license, do I need one?

I agree I did radio operating in the army. So I need two licenses and a course. The call sign and MMIS is it I take i inherit?
 
Tryweryn said:
Having bought my boat it has a vhf DSC radio on. Do I need a license to use one or for the DSC functions? :ambivalence:
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To add some info to what has been said

You need a Ship radio licence. Its free from Ofcom if applied for on line and will cover most bits of radio transmitting equipment on the boat that require a licence

You will be issued with a callsign and a MMSI number for the DSC. You will retain the boat's existing callsign and MMSI number if it already has them under previous ownership although the licence as such is not transferrable to you as the new owner.
See l'Escargot's link and/or http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radiocommunication-licences/ships-radio/

You personally require a Marine Radio Short Range Certificate. See http://www.rya.org.uk/coursestraining/courses/specialist/Pages/SRC.aspx

Unfortunately this is not free and it also requires you to, in practice, take a short training course and to take a simple test or exam . Probably the easiest exam I have ever taken. The training course costs as well but you will learn how to use the radio correctly and efficiently and confidently.
 
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Yes, but you need to transfer it. Don't have my notes with me but there's a website for doing it.

Doing the course is important. I did the old VHF course and had to re-sit the exam for DSC. I thought it would be a doddle but it wasn't (very properly pedantic about how exactly to make mayday, pan pan etc calls).

Having heard some of the numpties on VHF in the Solent I cringe on behalf of all conscientious radio users and applaud CG for their patience and professionalism.
 
Tryweryn said:
Having bought my boat it has a vhf DSC radio on. Do I need a license to use one or for the DSC functions? :ambivalence:
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There was a bloke from Abersoch, one of the volunteer coastguards, used to run a one day course in PSC occassionally. Check with them
S
 
BlueSkyNick said:
Its not just about getting the right pieces of paper - its about learning how to operate the radio properly over the airwaves which everybody else is sharing.
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T only has to listen to the chatter on the weekends at Pwllheli to realise that the vast majority of dont bother!
S
 
I did the course a few years ago. I remember very little of it now as I rarely use the radio - maybe a total of three or four times over the 5-6 years since I did the course.
If I need to use it (as opposed to using it for convenience, say, to come into a harbour) then I don't think I will be worried in the slightest if I don't manage to remember the 'right' way of doing things.
 
The regulations for getting a Marine Radio Operators licence changed in January this year. You now need to take a 10-hour course (3 hours can be home study first) followed by a 1 hour practical and theory exam.

The RYA have an online version of the course that's pretty good. If you do it you can print out the test completion certificate at the end and then you only have to find somewhere you can take the test. If you go to the RYA Interactive website www.ryainteractive.org/ you can sign in as a Guest and then look at a demo of the course.
 
>You need a Ship radio licence. Its free from Ofcom if applied for on line and will cover most bits of radio transmitting equipment on the boat that require a licence

When we bought out boat we applied for a ship's radio licence and filled in VHF, SSB and Inmarsat C. The licence came back with SSB MF, I went back to them to point out SSB transmits and receives on MF and HF frequencies. They replaced the licence but I was staggered they didn't know that.
 
KellysEye said:
>You need a Ship radio licence. Its free from Ofcom if applied for on line and will cover most bits of radio transmitting equipment on the boat that require a licence

When we bought out boat we applied for a ship's radio licence and filled in VHF, SSB and Inmarsat C. The licence came back with SSB MF, I went back to them to point out SSB transmits and receives on MF and HF frequencies. They replaced the licence but I was staggered they didn't know that.
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Surely if you do it on line you get what you apply for, without human intervention. No ?
 
srp said:
You didn't read what I wrote. If I need to use it I won't be worried, certainly not about what others might think of my radio etiquette. The only reason I bought a radio was as insurance against the unthinkable.
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What about the question of the civil responsibility to listen out in case another mariner is in trouble?
 
jerrytug said:
What about the question of the civil responsibility to listen out in case another mariner is in trouble?
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Quite so - since I started using marine VHF we have had to carry out Mayday Relays TWICE - once for a dive boat that had broken down, couldn't retrieve its divers and had a handheld VHF that the Coastguard couldn't hear, and once for a yacht aground on a falling tide, who were in a place where Solent CG couldn't hear their calls.
 
jerrytug said:
What about the question of the civil responsibility to listen out in case another mariner is in trouble?
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What about it? I can listen in anytime I want. That doesn't involve anything other than switching the radio on and setting the channel to 16. I don't have to know anything about radio procedures until such time as something happens. If it does and I am near enough to help I can easily press the transmit button to tell the local coastguard I'm going to help. I don't suppose the drowning man will be overly worried that I didn't use the correct terminology, and if I say something so dreadfully wrong that I need correcting the coastguard will probably do that.
 
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