Ofcom????

[AndyPandy]

fellas (and swimbos)

been trying to apply for a ships radio licence for 3 hrs now and i'm getting a bit bored!
the site is not easy to understand and i keep getting to the part where i'm asked for the details of the boat, pleasure, yacht etc etc. then it just stops and goes nowhere, am i doing something wrong and shall i just give up and ring em on monday??

thanks for any help,

andy

 

[BrendanS]

Have you registered with them? They will then send username by post (remember the password you enter at this point, as you will need it once you get your username)
Only once they have sent username by post, can you continue to enter details

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you registered with them? They will then send username by post (remember the password you enter at this point, as you will need it once you get your username)
Only once they have sent username by post, can you continue to enter details

[/ QUOTE ] All quite correct of course , but then you always are!

Surely though in oder to have even accessed the application form never mind about getting as for as filling in these details he must have registered and logged on using ID and password.

Andy Pandy,

Fill in the fields maked with an asterisk. As is normal they are mandatory. Then click the <next> button to go to the next page (IIRC there is one at the top and bottom of each page) If you do not know your gross tonnage an estimate will do. Leave fields without asterisks asking for info that is not applicable to you blank. (Thats most of the form further on!) Keep clicking on <next> until you get to the last page, P9. Then you have to click on "save licence details" That takes you back to the beginning where you can click on your licence application to proceed to downloading and printing

Before you start be sure you know all the info you'll need .... there are some notes somewhere on the site .. that includes details of emergency an contact, (name, address and phone number IIRC) ..... as if you hesitate it times out on you. However if you do need to pause you can save the partly completed application at any point.

If you are using IE7 make sure you read the advice on the Ofcom site about setting its security settings so that it allows file downloads.

You are right it is a grotty bit of software that Ofcom have bought. It is workable but I have lost count of the number of times i have been over it on these forums.

Shout if you need any more help.

 

[DeeGee]

Even the guy I spoke to at OfCom thought their site was pretty 'orrible.

Having registered, and been given some naff password, I tried to change the password and I got/get a change password empty screen. OK, I can live with the funny bunch of characters which are the password... so went on in and added my EPIRB which had somehow vanished between paid-for and freebie licence. All went well, and I even got a confirmation of changed details - which actually were the same as the original, complete with, or rather incomplete... no EPIRB!!

Government organizations do one thing consistently well - finding and going on using the worst possible software providers. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
naff password

[/ QUOTE ] You chose the password so thats entirely your fault. Ofcom allocated the User ID which in most cases as been based on the applicants name eg initial and surname. So if it's the userID that naff its must be your naff name.
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

You are right, I think, in that the 'change password' facility does not actually exist.

I added a hand held radio to mine, no problems, I suspect you missed a step somewhere along the line. You start from "edit" and work your way through the whole thing, adding the extra(s) at the appropriate page(s) and IIRC you have to go right through to the end, all nine pages for a ship licence, then click on save licence details. That takes you back to the opening page from where you can acces and download the revised licence.

This post is intented to be an expression of good humour. Any implied aggression or bad-feeling is totally due to the medium and not the messenger.

 

[DeeGee]

Sorry, in my case the pw was given to me by OfCom due to their making a cock-up of my registration.

Even my stupidity is limited, as I managed to change the details to record the EPIRB, and even printed out the licence, and reference this am shows my EPIRB to be present and correct, sir.

But the point I made was that the confirmation of change DIDN'T include the EPIRB !!

Thanks for the confirmation that it was not only me who can't change the password.

I have encountered .gov.uk software written by the same s/w company, and it was equally badly designed, and yet totally different. No question of reusablity which used to be the watchword for reliable software. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
I have encountered .gov.uk software written by the same s/w company, and it was equally badly designed,

[/ QUOTE ] Yep I've seen that before, or at least words conveying a similar message.

You have lost me over a "confirmation of change", all I can remember doing is adding the new kit and reprinting the licence.


Sounds like you are stuck with the password. You should not have made such a cock up of your registration in the first place. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[AndyPandy]

thanks guys,

i've had a few more attempts and got as far as downloading the license, and am unable to get it to download. i've played around with the security settings and it still dont work /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif i think i'll ring them with some "customer feedback" tomorrow.

thanks again,

andy

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
i've played around with the security settings and it still dont work

[/ QUOTE ]

Two things you can do:

Either <u>carefully</u> follow the instructions Ofcom have published HERE


Or go to "internet options" in the tools menu then select the security tab and then change your security setting to "low", down load the licence AND THEN go back and restore your security setting to its previous level ... medium ... I guess


If you phone Ofcom they will probably just tell you to do the former anyway!

The download problem has arisen becuase Microsoft have changed the default security settings in IE 7 from what they were in previous versions.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

I am a hunted man, hiding in the shadows and waiting for my collar to be felt.

I now operate two unlicensed radios as, despite advice on this forum, I cannot get past the log in page. E-mails to Ofcom remain unanswered.

Have my old licence - no details have changed - so I will take my chances as I have better things to do than fight a webshite.

Prisoner TH2563649

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
I am a hunted man

[/ QUOTE ] Not sure where your problem is.

If you had a valid licence at the switch over to the new system (Oct 2006) you should not have had to do anything. For licences that expired in October and November temporary 1 year licences were automatically issued FOC as the new system was not running. From Dec onwards expiring licences were automatically replaced with the new lifetime ones FOC. The temporary ones will automatically be replaced with lifetime ones FOC when they expire.

If you had allowed an old licence to lapse by failing to renew it when due theoretically you still have to re-establish it by post and cough up £20 but then its free and for life after that. You can of course simply apply for a new licence by saying that the vessel has not previously been licenced but you will get a new call sign. I do not know what the implications might be beyond that though.

I assume you have registered to use the new system, have got your user ID and have correctly remembered your (case sensitive) password. (The ID is the one Ofcom sent you and the password is what you concocted when you registered)

If you log on with those you should get a page from which you can either apply for a new licence (the box is perversely headed "View licences") or you can see your existing licence(s) in the box headed "My licences" or you can continue with a partly completed application from the box headed "My current licence applications".

If that does not help and you want to become legal then the best bet is to phone Ofcom. Generally people have found them very helpful on the phone. Ofcom’s Licensing Centre (Tel. 020 7981 3131)


Later:

Just a final thought: If you still have a valid 1 year licence, either issued as a renewal or as a temporary one in Oct or nov I do not think your licence(s) will appear on the website yet. They will or should appear when replaced by lifetime ones. I think!

 

[DeeGee]

[ QUOTE ]
You should not have made such a cock up of your registration in the first place. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]And, despite your obvious opinion that users of the site have to be the fools, rather than that the site is poor...

I did say that OfCom made the cock-up. If you are interested, it happened that my WRITTEN change of address details led them to create two versions of me. The old version had the licence still attached, the new version had no licence. In creating just one of me (so nice of them) they had to issue me with a new password.

Of course, you will say how foolish of me to change address... tut, tut, I am such a dope.

The reality of course is, as I said before, this is a user-unfriendly site, and is just as bad with Firefox as IE.

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
I am such a dope.

[/ QUOTE ] Lighten up .. it was a joke. But I'll take your signature at face value!

I do not disagree about the licence application, it is poor AND I emailed Ofcom to tell them so when it first came in to operation. I trust you and all the others who have complained on here have done so as well.

It is workable though as even I did manage to use it without too much difficulty and we do now know that the cock up with your registration was probably down to someone at Ofcom and was nothing to do with the licence application program.

We must be thankful that Government departments spend only the minimum of tax payers money on relatively trivial matters like radio licence application software, although I suppose they could have spent a shed load of cash on some all singing all dancing program and kept a fee in place to pay for it!

I guess we all get so used to the smooth running, glich free software from Microsoft that we become intolerant of that from other sources that is not.