using your h/held vhf on another boat

[Shearwater]

Given: A friend has a new-to-him boat; previous owner's DSC radio not yet updated with new call sign and MMSI; said owner is not yet VHF licencsed. You go aboard as helper/adviser/mentor (but not as instructor) and take with you your own hand held vhf which is tied into your own boat's identity/call sign/mmsi. So what id do I you when using it?

It's one thing when calling the marina - it's informal so the name of the boat you're on will be fine as they know it and are almost expecting to hear from a tyro wanting help with mooring lines ..... but what if you called the C/Guard on Ch 16 and they ask for your callsign?

Is the hand held totally 'legal' to be used from another boat or could I expect problems?

Also.. is it appropriate to use a h/held on land to talk to a boat on a mooring or vice versa?

Many thanks in anticipation...............

 

[Cantata]

The CG do not 'police' the VHF licence situation, and anyway if you needed help they wouldn't care if you called them on wet string and two tin cans !

 

[Ray Dunne]

Also.. is it appropriate to use a h/held on land to talk to a boat on a mooring or vice versa?

My understanding is that you cannot use your VHF on land to communicate with a vessel unless you are a licenced station.

 

[AHoy2]

First off, the call sign and MMSI are registered to the boat so will not change (assuming the country of reg stays the same) so it is only necessary to get the ships radio licence re-issued to the new owner. Any operator with a VHF licence can use the ships radio (or supervise use) using the existing name/call sign/MMSI.

In theory a VHF mobile should either be recorded on the licence of the ship/boat it is normally being used on or have a separate mobile "T" licence registered against the handset owner (hence usable whichever boat he is on). I don't think there will be any heavy handed action against a licenced operator using a handset away from own boat on an occasional basis. Marine VHF sets, including handhelds, are only supposed to be used when on board, but mobile to ship from say pontoon or shore (e.g. with dinghy) seems accepted practice.

AHoy2.

 

[KREW2]

Yes, just log on to OFCOM and get a "T" licence for the H/H VHF. This allows you to use it on other boats.

 

[VicS]

as above get a "T" licence actually, called a "Ship Portable Radio Licence".

Its registered to you by name rather to any particular vessel.

You can hold this as well as having your H/held listed on your "Ship Radio Licence"

 

[planteater]

Are handheld units with DSC functions approved for use in the UK? I don't recall seeing any advertised in the brochures that fall out of boaty magazines.

It seems to me that taking a radio with a pre-programmed identifier onto somebodies else boat could only confuse the rescue services. Especially if you hit the Big Red Button and they look up your details on the CG66 database.

They are busy looking for a 50ft Dutch barge while you've fallen out of a Mirror.

 

[gasdave]

Are handheld units with DSC functions approved for use in the UK? I don't recall seeing any advertised in the brochures that fall out of boaty magazines.

It seems to me that taking a radio with a pre-programmed identifier onto somebodies else boat could only confuse the rescue services. Especially if you hit the Big Red Button and they look up your details on the CG66 database.

They are busy looking for a 50ft Dutch barge while you've fallen out of a Mirror.

As far as I know, H/H DSCs are as yet not officially available in the UK. Therefore the situation described ought not to arise. However, this doesn't in practice prevent someone using an imported one.

 

[BrendanS]

wasn't there one from Icom that was discontinued? Old age, I used to be able to answer this question off the top of my head. There are international versions available, but ofcom insisted that any handheld dsc was programmed with a separate MMSI

""Portable VHF / DSC Radios must on no account be programmed with the vessel MMSI number.HM Coastguard needs to be able to differntiate between the types of equiment sending a DSC alert, as it is possible for the alert from a portable set to come from any vessel.The resulting serach on the database for vessel details may provide incorrect information that could jeopardise a Search and Rescue operation. The first 4 digits of an portable MMSI number begin 2359."!

 

[planteater]

The first 4 digits of an portable MMSI number begin 2359."!

Thanks for the clarification. That would make perfect sense. Sounds like a good piece of kit for the coastal sailor or weekend fisherman, especially if it had a built in GPS.

 

[BrendanS]

Jon Brookes when he was with Icom used to post on here regularly and was a great source of information. I'm sure they had a CE certified DSC portable that was discontinued due to lack of sales. It's a shame we don't have more manufacturers represented on here now. MDL Managing Directors used to post on here as well. Encourage anyone you know in the industry to post here. They take flak for a few weeks while people with issues vent their spleen. Afterwards, it's very informative, and very beneficial to the company.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

The wonderful EU (I'll blame them but not sure exactly which body it is) will not allow DSC on a handheld, hence the wording in the Lowrance manual "Distress Calls (US Only)" .

There's at least a couple of handheld VHF/GPS/DSC available now - Lowrance and Standard Horizon are the two I know of. SH HX850S isn't sold in the UK. Lowrance LHR-80 is officially but I haven't seen one yet. For the EU market Lowrance disable the DSC facility I think.

Presumably the problem would be getting an MMSI assigned to a T number. I guess in theory you could claim it was your primary radio and assign it to your vessel but it's yet another example of the great idea that is DSC being totally abused and misunderstood by the faceless ones - not being able to adjust the volume or silence non-critical alerts is the one that gets me the most though.

 

[Seafort]

"Presumably the problem would be getting an MMSI assigned to a T number."

Its rather easy, infact you can do it by accident

 

[Shearwater]

Quote from AHoy2
"First off, the call sign and MMSI are registered to the boat so will not change (assuming the country of reg stays the same) so it is only necessary to get the ships radio licence re-issued to the new owner. Any operator with a VHF licence can use the ships radio (or supervise use) using the existing name/call sign/MMSI." endquote

Thanks for this - I read the users' manual for the radio and it says to return the radio to m'fctr or agent to have the new owner's data entered by them - which seems a little OTT, so this input is valuable. I'll persue having my own h/h vhf extended. Thanks to all - this was really useful.