Strange Email from Ofcom - Ship Radio Licence.

[DJE]

They say that somebody has applied for a licence using our call sign and MMSI number and ask if we have sold the boat.
We haven't sold and we don't intend to. I've told them this and that we want to keep the licence. But I'm a bit puzzled about how this can come about - possibly some sort of fraud or scam.
Anybody else had the same happen to them?

 

[Boathook]

Not yet. If fraud or scam what would it achieve ?

 

[Hoolie]

Yes, I had that happen to me not long after I made some changes to the equipment list. They threatened to revoke the licence unless I could show good reason within a month why they shouldn't. In the end they did restore the licence to a version of several years ago. I haven't dared to try amending it so it is still well out of date!

 

[LittleSister]

Not yet. If fraud or scam what would it achieve ?

Someone is 'cloning' a stolen boat? Some scammer has 'sold' the OP's boat ?

Or, more innocently, the previous owner of DJE's boat has sold another boat, and accidentally given the new owner his/her previous boat's radio details?

Curious!

 

[Hoolie]

Curious!

Not really. As I said it happened to me - a decade and a half after we bought the boat. The Ofcom IT system is flaky and seems to occasionally regard amendments as a new application. In my case they had seemingly lost the most recent version of my licence and went back about seven years.

 

[DJE]

It seems that this saga is not over yet.

I was recently looking at the itu MARS database of ship radio stations and there is no record of my boat's name, call sign, or MMSI number. I'm sure it was there a few years ago shortly after we bought the boat. I have emailed Ofcom's spectrum licencing people to try and find out what is going on.

 

[Boathook]

Just checked mine and she is listed plus all the bits including the epirb purchased earlier this year.

 

[jwilson]

There are many boats that cannot by found by a name search on the ITU database but can be found (including the name) if you put in the MMSI or call sign. The whole system seems a bit flaky - not just UK Ofcom's bit of it.

 

[Sadler25Owner]

Just checked my former Jaguar 25 (sold in 2008) and still showing me as owner!

 

[Seven Spades]

You want to get that changed in case it is found to have drugs on it. You would not want to be associated with it.

 

[Sadler25Owner]

You want to get that changed in case it is found to have drugs on it. You would not want to be associated with it.

Absolutely! Although I know where she is berthed and she doesn’t go far. I’m already on it with ofcom.

 

[Sadler25Owner]

Just checked my former Jaguar 25 (sold in 2008) and still showing me as owner!

Apparently my fault - I thought I had notified Ofcom (or whoever it was in 2008) but obviously not. Ofcom did say that there had been no other radio licence applications for that yacht and call sign, so the 2 or 3 subsequent owners hadn’t bothered registering. Similarly for the 2 subsequent owners of the last boat I sold it appears.

 

[ColleyV8]

I just checked the link above for mine and it shows the music for the ais, but the owner is one from 2 sales previous

It also has a dsc vhf set i haven't had time to check yet, any resources available on what to do when buying a boat with ofcom?

Still have my other boat and vhf etc that I still own registered in my name

 

[Sadler25Owner]

Ship radio and ship portable radio

worked for me.

 

[ColleyV8]

Strange, logged into my account with ofcom, my previous licences have disappeared for my first boat, can update with the new details but will need to contact them about my other vhfs

 

[DJE]

It seems that this saga is not over yet.

I was recently looking at the itu MARS database of ship radio stations and there is no record of my boat's name, call sign, or MMSI number. I'm sure it was there a few years ago shortly after we bought the boat. I have emailed Ofcom's spectrum licencing people to try and find out what is going on.

The saga is finally closed. There was no reply to my email but they were very helpful on the phone and the boat is now back on the database.

 

[ProDave]

Ship radio and ship portable radio

worked for me.

Thank you for reminding me. Our new to us boat this year now has a ships radio licence and my others have been validated again.

 

[CliveF]

Thanks for the reminder. Just tried to access mine to check details, no would do, did not recognize my e mail.

However a quick ( yes it was relatively, much to my surprise ) call to Ofcom.

In my case "spectrum licensing - option 6 " and a nice lady said my e mail had been disabled, but could not say why.
She reactivated it and I got an e mail link to set a new password.
I did and it worked and all my info was still there present and correct.

So all is good for another few years until they disable it again.
Why I should have to access my account more frequently than once ever 6 years or so I know not.

 

[Daverw]

Ofcom are very good when you call them, they have been trying to get people to re validated licences every 5 years to try and keep records up to date Im told, I’ve a number of Ham licences as well as ship licenses and just log on every 2-3 years if not had to change anything ie radar, AIS or PLB etc in the mean time