PLB - Ships radio licence? + HH Portable licence equipment.

[Yellow Ballad]

As Ofcom is about to close, just a couple of Q's if someone can answer them? (I'm sure it's been asked and answered a million time but I can't see it in searches)

I know I need a Ships Portable Licence for the HH DSC, on the Ships Licence it shows "VHF portable" but not on the Portable Licence, this shows "Hand held VHF radiotelephone" I'm assuming these are the same thing?(radiotelephone=DSC)

Now next to the "Hand held VHF radiotelephone" on the Portable Licence there's a box for the MMSI. I'm guessing I need to leave this blank and Ofcom will issue me a "T" MMSI that I need to go back and fill in after?

Also

Whilst I was working through through I noticed I can add my PLB, I've just registered it with the .gov website (that was mentioned on the PLB) but I'm guessing it's best practice to add it to the Ofcom website?

I'm assuming it should go on the Portable Licence as the PLB will be taken with me if I sail on another boat, but they do show an option on the normal Ships Licence, does it matter which licence I add it too or even both?

Thank you in advance, Tom

 

[PaulRainbow]

I know I need a Ships Portable Licence for the HH DSC, on the Ships Licence it shows "VHF portable" but not on the Portable Licence, this shows "Hand held VHF radiotelephone" I'm assuming these are the same thing?(radiotelephone=DSC)

Yes, that's correct.

Now next to the "Hand held VHF radiotelephone" on the Portable Licence there's a box for the MMSI. I'm guessing I need to leave this blank and Ofcom will issue me a "T" MMSI that I need to go back and fill in after?

If the HH does not yet have a MMSI, yes, wait for Ofcom to issue one. I bought a 2nd hand HH that had the MMSI already programmed into it and i entered this into the MMSI box and this was accepted by Ofcom.

Sorry, can't help with the PLB stuff.

 

[snowbird30ds]

For dsc HH you need a seperate licence, you can only have a non dsc HH on the fixed ship licence, it's because the ships licence is valid worldwide but lots of countries have no system for HHdsc yet .

 

[RobbieW]

...I'm assuming it should go on the Portable Licence as the PLB will be taken with me if I sail on another boat, but they do show an option on the normal Ships Licence, does it matter which licence I add it too or even both?

Its a while since I registered my PLB so dont remember the detail; in essence, as I was involved in deliveries at the time, it wasnt registered to a boat. Its important in that case that the registered contact knows roughly where you should be in the case of it being activated.

 

[Iminei]

As Ofcom is about to close

Oh. Didn't know that. Just updated my licences, do we have to do something else now?

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Oh. Didn't know that. Just updated my licences, do we have to do something else now?

Sorry, I started writing the post at a few minutes to five, the phone lines close at five..... Not Ofcom is closing down.

I had a go when I got home and by leaving the MMSI blank and adding "Hand held VHF radiotelephone" to the equipment at the end of the application there was an MMSI listed automatically, I didn't have to go back and add it, so a win for that one.

I'll add the PLB to the portable licence and then see if it'll take it on the ships licence as well, but in my eyes it should be on the portable one (unless anyone knows better?) but in reality I'll probably, only ever be on my boat.

Cheers

Tom

 

[prv]

Now next to the "Hand held VHF radiotelephone" on the Portable Licence there's a box for the MMSI. I'm guessing I need to leave this blank and Ofcom will issue me a "T" MMSI that I need to go back and fill in after?

The "T Number" is not an MMSI or a DSC thing, it's more like the portable equivalent of a vessel's callsign. I've never heard one actually being used, but I put a handheld on its own license years ago before owning a boat, and I marked the T-number on the side of it just in case.

I'll add the PLB to the portable licence and then see if it'll take it on the ships licence as well, but in my eyes it should be on the portable one (unless anyone knows better?) but in reality I'll probably, only ever be on my boat.

I haven't looked at the form recently, but I would think the PLB isn't so much being added to the license to permit its use (after all, you can legally use them as a hill-walker with no license at all), rather it's being recorded as an item of safety equipment in the same way they ask you about number of lifeboats on board and other tangentially-related stuff. I'd tend to record it on the ship station license, so that they know the boat has it if the Coastguard ever gets involved, but I suspect it doesn't really matter.

Pete

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Thank you, I noticed afterwards the T number was a "call sign". Im guessing when making a voice Mayday from the HH I would in theory have to use a different call sign and MMSI, I'm sure in reality people don't. But if say the fixed went down and I sent a DSC from the HH then a voice with the fixed MMSI and boat call sign they may think two different boats were in trouble, I'll worry about that if it happens eh..

I've successfully added the plb to both licences and registered it on the .gov website.