Wansworth
Well-Known Member
With the boar came a vhf radio with mast head antenna.I have a radio license issued in 1978 whilst in the MN.Do I need any other paperwork to legally use the radio.? Thanks.
Radio,permission to use.
- Thread starter Wansworth
- Start date
Biggles Wader
Well-Known Member
Ive got one of them too,the one with "restricted" written on the cover. I thought they had an expiry date so I did another RYA course.
CLB
Well-Known Member
Is it a Spanish registered vessel?
prv
Well-Known Member
Your "radio license" is presumably an operator's certificate of competence.
The actual radio station license relates to the combination of you and the boat, so if you've just bought the boat then you'll need to apply for one. Fortunately it's free and instant online: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/manage-your-licence/radiocommunication-licences/online-licensing-service
One of the terms of the station license is that the radio only be operated by people with a certificate of competence; I don't know whether yours is still valid. I think it might be if the VHF is an old non-DSC unit, but if the radio is DSC then your old certificate is definitely not valid for it. In that case, in theory at least, you should do the course to get a new operator's certificate (there used to be conversion courses from non-DSC to DSC, but nobody runs those anymore). Some people might not bother, but you did ask how to be legal.
This all assumes a UK-flagged boat in the UK.
Pete
The actual radio station license relates to the combination of you and the boat, so if you've just bought the boat then you'll need to apply for one. Fortunately it's free and instant online: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/manage-your-licence/radiocommunication-licences/online-licensing-service
One of the terms of the station license is that the radio only be operated by people with a certificate of competence; I don't know whether yours is still valid. I think it might be if the VHF is an old non-DSC unit, but if the radio is DSC then your old certificate is definitely not valid for it. In that case, in theory at least, you should do the course to get a new operator's certificate (there used to be conversion courses from non-DSC to DSC, but nobody runs those anymore). Some people might not bother, but you did ask how to be legal.
This all assumes a UK-flagged boat in the UK.
Pete
awol
Well-Known Member
The course may not be actually necessary if you already have a vhf Restricted certificate - the exam can be taken by itself, though still expensive at £60 to the RYA and £?? to a training centre for facilitating it.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Probably worth getting up to date with the modern DSC stuff. Can be done on line via an RYA School so it's properly regulated. At the end you take an on line test. With this you can then book the practical test. Prices vary a lot so it's worth shopping around. :encouragement:
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Thanks for reply’s.Will contact a school and start from scratch,if the boat didn’t have one I wouldn’t bother....If I disconnect. the radio and don’t use it am I still liable for prosecution?
Tranona
Well-Known Member
No. You need to have a station licence to have the radio on, but an operator's certificate to use it other than for emergencies. If it is DSC then you can press the red button and follow up with a Mayday without a certificate. suggest you keep it.
Nobody is going to prosecute you and many people go for years using their radio illegally. The legal stuff dates from an era when VHF was the sole means of communication and therefore it needed to be regulated to make it operate effectively. now it is just a poor substitute for a mobile and mainly used by bored people who like the sound of their own voice using the stilted official language (mostly badly).
prv
Well-Known Member
Firstly, in the UK provided you aren't causing a problem with your transmissions then nobody in practice cares.
Legally, if you get the station license (the free online one, not the operator's certificate with courses and exams) then you can leave it connected and available for emergencies, in which situation anyone is legally able to transmit. By the strict letter of the law you shouldn't turn it on for routine listening without a certificate-holding operator present, though it's extremely hard to imagine any problem arising by doing so.
I suppose if the VHF set is not connected to power or an antenna then it's reasonable to claim that it's not "a radio station" hence doesn't need to be licensed. I doubt the distinction has ever been tested.
Pete
Kukri
Well-Known Member
My sons have been cheerfully batting about in the no.2 son's Squib with a hand held VHF. No.1 son is in the MN and has the necessary certificate but I never thought about the boat needing one! Should I get one - she obviously doesn't have a "ship station" as such!
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
Sticky Fingers
Well-Known Member
If it's a handheld it does not need a ships license. But the HH needs one (somehow) - IIRC it's either a standalone (my DSC h/h has its own), or listed under another vessel's ship licence. Think that's right. Ofcom very helpful. The licenses are free.
Kukri
Well-Known Member
Thanks very much!
prv
Well-Known Member
You can either take out a license for the Squib as a Ship Station or register the handheld in its own right as a Ship Portable Station.
I've done both in the past - taken out Ship Station licenses for both a 12' RIB and a Zapcat, and registered a Ship Portable Station for a handheld I might potentially take other places.
For the Portable you get a "T number" which takes the place of the callsign and vessel name (since there is no associated vessel) and I stuck that on a label on the side of the radio. Of course when actually making a call from a boat you can use the boat's name rather than reading out a number every time.
Pete
Kukri
Well-Known Member
Thank you!
elton
Well-Known Member
I strongly disagree. A mobile phone is a poor substitute for a radio. Firstly the phone needs a mast within a short distance, line of sight. Secondly a radio will reach anyone within range; and you don't need a number. It will give your position if DSC. No ambiguity. No confusion. When I had my disaster, I was at the base of the highest cliffs in England, and the phone couldn't get a signal. My mayday was received by a drilling rig several miles offshore, and relayed to the coastguard. Otherwise I'd now be fish food.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
You missed the point completely. I was not saying that it is ineffective or worse/better than a mobile phone as it clearly is the prime medium for emergencies, particularly effective now with DSC.
I was commenting on how it is actually used now. Most of the original function of VHF in our coastal waters, including access to the phone network does now not need VHF but is better done over the mobile network (phone calls, chatting to mates on other boats or ashore, talking to marinas and harbourmasters etc). So essential VHF is now only for emergency (and even then not totally essential) and communication directly connected with navigation. However the airwaves are still packed with non essential chit chat including unnecessary "radio checks".
solent clown
RIP
if you have time, go through this thread, it has a blow by blow account of going about the licencing with ofcom for both ships radio and portable.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?495944-MMSI-quot-inheritance-quot&highlight=
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?495944-MMSI-quot-inheritance-quot&highlight=
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Homer Simpson's Lovechild
Well-Known Member
Not just the Solent.
Out and about on the Clyde for the last few weeks and a constant stream of inane "request radio check......owvah ! '' on ch16.
Quite a few "Starburst Starburst Starburst, this is Fruitella Fruitella Fruitella ... err ,,,, channel 16,, errr , owvah ! " from Nigella with her new VHF license. Trying to find out if their chums are still 1mile behind them en route to Portavadie for lunch.
1 Russian mate on a large tanker telling a yacht to kootfw!- I'm a Tanker !
Out and about on the Clyde for the last few weeks and a constant stream of inane "request radio check......owvah ! '' on ch16.
Quite a few "Starburst Starburst Starburst, this is Fruitella Fruitella Fruitella ... err ,,,, channel 16,, errr , owvah ! " from Nigella with her new VHF license. Trying to find out if their chums are still 1mile behind them en route to Portavadie for lunch.
1 Russian mate on a large tanker telling a yacht to kootfw!- I'm a Tanker !
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maby
Well-Known Member
All the various comments above are more or less correct - for a boat operated under British law - but the OP is in Spain and they may well have significantly different rules. A British boat should have a Ship's Radio Licence which requires no qualifications on anybody's part and can be had at zero cost in a few minutes through the Ofcom web site. Under British law, anyone operating the radio should also hold a valid operator's certificate or be supervised by someone that does. But there is a specific exemption that anyone can operate a ship's radio in the event of an emergency.
A lot of continental countries are much more bureaucratic about things like this and I would not be at all surprised to hear that Spain is one of them - the OP really needs to ask locally......
A lot of continental countries are much more bureaucratic about things like this and I would not be at all surprised to hear that Spain is one of them - the OP really needs to ask locally......
