Radio Operators License

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Anonymous

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[ QUOTE ]
Available for use. What the hell does that mean. .....

[/ QUOTE ]He didn't make that very clear. That's the boat licence, not the operator's licence. If there is a radio on the boat then the owners are obliged to licence it. You can sail a boat that has a licenced radio and as long as you don't use the radio you don't need an operator's licence. As Jon says, in the case of any sort of emergency nobody is going to argue.

What Jon did not cover is the attitude of foreign officials who might not be quite so easy to argue with and who, if they felt crossed, could tell you to stay put for days on end while they check the rules (or whatever). Lesson one in life:- Never give officials a weapon to use against you.
 

Das_Boot

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Ie if I am in the vicinty of a tx/rx radio i can be had if there is no licensed operator around makes a lot of sense that.
Why dont the dealers ask for your operators license before selling you one.

In other words it is illegal to posses one.
There is also no legal requirment to carry one.
put two and two together and what do you get
Over the side they go.
 

Das_Boot

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I agree about the issues of various foreign or otherwise officials that is why I am trying to become compliant. Like I say the only other alternative is to remove them to the bottom of the sea.
 

fireball

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Oh I do - they EVENTUALLY managed to get through on mobile phone - WHEN they drifted into mobile phone signal range....

Nobody is suggesting you don't take your mobile, but your post was asking for documented evidance that your too far away from a test centre to take the required exam for radio certificates and therefore should be allowed to operate without them.

Any case would be heard initially by magistrates - and they would judge if you intended to operate the radios outside the law. Quite simply the logic would go along the lines of:

Is it your boat - yes/no
Is it a recent purchase - yes/no
Did you fit the radio - yes/no
Have you operated the radio (turned it on) - yes/no

I would suggest that the only mitigating circumstance here would be if you had just purchased the boat, had not taken the relevant course but were looking at doing it or in the process of removing the equipment.

If you wish to operate outside the law that is your perogative, but don't whinge on here if they confiscate your boat.
 

Das_Boot

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I am not whinging as you put it. I have done everything possible to operate within the law. (not the radio) although it is licensed so is everything I own that requires a license. I am trying to find out alternative strategy's allowing me to become compliant. these are
Get an operators license (do I want to travel 50 or more miles to do a course)
keep the radios (licensed and paid for)
throw them out.
The conclusion after months and months of trying the first option and not wanting to fall foul of the law negates the second option it leaves only the third
Good night and thanks for the input
I am off home (not to use the radio)
 

JonBrooks

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Das

Its a four day course.
Why not make a short break out of it?
Travel to a nice venue.
Stay in a B&B.

Surely that is cheaper and better use of money than heaving your SSB into the Oggin?

There is no alternative other than to do the course if you want to use the unit and stay with in the law.
 

fireball

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Das - sorry - wasn't suggesting you were currently whinging ... just didn't want u to whinge if the bar stewards take your boat ...
I happen to partly agree with your sentiment - you need a licence to breath! And having a licence doesn't mean you can operate a radio - I've seen apawlling operation from someone who should know better.
Me? I've found a VHF/DSC course locally that is fairly cheap (<£50!!!) so will be legal soon.... and before any of you send round the law to confiscate my boat - it is shared ownership and the other party DOES have vhf/dsc licence - so NER!
 

Thistle

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I think you are saying that someone should be running a LRC course somewhere near (ie within about 20 miles of) you at a time of your choosing. If we accept this, we then have to accept that no place in the UK should, at any time, be more than 20 miles from an establishment running a course. This becomes absurd!

Look at it from the providers' point of view. The LRC is a course with fairly small demand so relatively few centres will wish to offer it; they will only run a course when they can get sufficient candidates. This means that, for many of us, to get a course when we want it we will have to be prepared to travel, perhaps a considerable distance. That may be a little inconvenient and may add to the expense, but I can't see it as unreasonable.
 

cliff

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[ QUOTE ]
Ie if I am in the vicinty of a tx/rx radio i can be had if there is no licensed operator around makes a lot of sense that.
Why dont the dealers ask for your operators license before selling you one.

In other words it is illegal to posses one.
There is also no legal requirment to carry one.
put two and two together and what do you get
Over the side they go.

[/ QUOTE ]I am now confused but I always understood provided the radios were licensed to the vessel the radios themselves were legal. Furthermore it was/is not illegal to listen to communications on the radios but it is illegal to transmit unless you, or someone "supervising" you, has the appropriate piece of paper.

I think, Bruce, you want to calm down and start acting your age, either that or sober up before posting such rants on the forum. As for your self expressed sailing territory, why do you want a long range license? VHF is more than adequate unless you are planning trips to the med or across the pond.

The rules and regulations governing what is basically commercial marine communications are far more complex that those governing VHF/DSC which could be classed as "amateur" marine radio.

The courses are not to teach you how to "key a mike" but are more to teach you when to transmit and what to transmit and more importantly on what frequency to transmit. Then you have the age old problem of side band - manually clarifying the incoming signal (assuming you do not have auto tuning).

As others have gone to length to explain you do not have to worry too much about the UK authorities although they will still "do you" if they can, but many "foreign" authorities are less than understanding particularly when dealing with an Englishman with an "attitude problem" Trust me - Foreign "lock-ups" are not for the faint hearted.
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cliff

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just a thought.. has anyone ever been asked to display their radio license?

[/ QUOTE ]By law the ships radio licence (AKA "tax disc") should be clearly displayed on the PORT side of the vessel. Please read the "bumph" that comes with the licence.
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Bergman

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I agree that the licensing situation is nonsense, but I have argued that one til I'm fed up of it.

On a practical note if you go to Hartlepool Marina there is a school that advertises on the notice board, I'm sure the office will have details.
 

cliff

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[ QUOTE ]

My Radio IS licensed.

[/ QUOTE ]Well Mr Davis may we see a copy of your radio licence sir?. Wot no licence? NICK-NICK
search on KATH here
Sorry Sir. No vessel named "KATH" appears on the register of licenced vessels nor do any permutations of the name under "G" (UK) registration belong to you. Either your bio is incorrect or your radios are not licenced or the ITCU database is in error.

In keeping with the PC brigade you are hereby found guilty until you prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are innocent. After all, the powers that be are never wrong - are they?

Interesting if the database is incomplete coz it cannot then be used "mobile" around marinas / moorings to check licences.
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mikebees

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Typical British. Roll over on your backs and get shafted by everybody. Just don't pay any fees and they will go away. We Kiwis did this years ago with TV licence and the government walked away so no TV licence in NZ.
LICENSE is the verb, LICENCE is the noun. It's quite easy but maybe the gullible who pay fees and whinge to this forum don't have the intelligence to know the difference between a verb and a noun.
 
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Anonymous

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Interesting if the database is incomplete coz it cannot then be used "mobile" around marinas / moorings to check licences

[/ QUOTE ]Don't trust the databases. I've just checked my entry and although the callsign is there the MMSI is not listed. Very strange as I have the paperwork in front of me and it is all OK. Similarly, when I went on my LRC course, the tutor was explaining how to look up callsigns and we used my last boat's as an example - 2VAA - and according to him it did not exist yet it had been in existence for at least a decade and all the paperwork was still up to date in my name. He gave me an odd look as if to suggest that I was either telling porkies or mistaken. It is showing today and still in my name although I sold it in November and informed the MCA.
 

cliff

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Interesting if the database is incomplete coz it cannot then be used "mobile" around marinas / moorings to check licences

[/ QUOTE ]Don't trust the databases. I've just checked my entry and although the callsign is there the MMSI is not listed. Very strange as I have the paperwork in front of me and it is all OK. Similarly, when I went on my LRC course, the tutor was explaining how to look up callsigns and we used my last boat's as an example - 2VAA - and according to him it did not exist yet it had been in existence for at least a decade and all the paperwork was still up to date in my name. He gave me an odd look as if to suggest that I was either telling porkies or mistaken. It is showing today and still in my name although I sold it in November and informed the MCA.

[/ QUOTE ]Checked mine - it is ALL there as are about a half dozen other boats I know are licensed and a couple I know arn't licensed arn't there....... Big Brother is watching us......
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Das_Boot

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In answer to all the posts since I last posted.
1. I am not angry
2. I am not whinging
3. I am not trying to operate outside of the law
4. My boat is registered and all equipment that should be licensed is.
Perhaps I owe an explanation for my point of view.
I bought a boat last year I brought it back to the UK to have it re-fitted. I have purchased new epirb radio (dcs) radar etc these are still in their boxes at home. However the old equipment is still on board and is licensed. It is therefor no problem to heave it over the side. Before I install the new equipment I want to make sure I comply and also that I am not breaking the law now. I was seaking clarity on the law. from all of the posts. What I can deduce is this.
1. the wording of the law is that if you dont have an operators license it is illegal to have the equipment available for use. So it does not matter if you dont have it connected or powered up or whatever just by having the equipment on the boat I am breaking the law. and will need to remove the equipment, as it is old I will heave it over the side.
2. Before I install any new equipment I will need to weigh up the pros and cons of getting an operators license against the usefullness of the equipment.
This last point raises a whole new debate. Can one sail safely without radio equipment I will start this as a new thread.
 
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