Your callsign and MMSI may not be unique

again, for a major system, poor process...these are the sort of problems that a decent analyst captures upfront, and ensures that system developers code out problems, not code 'em in!.... they would make any pre-requisite data entry a compulsory, and prevent manual entry of data if a risk of this kind of thing exists... or perhaps ensure than any manual entry is chcked for uniqueness before final being committed to the permanent record.....

This is what I do all day every day.... there is no excuse for the situation they found themselves in... just very poor management of systems design and roll out.

I agree that many teams are all to often trying to make a system fit a process rather than vice versa... but these errors are more basic than that.
 
I noticed a problem in April last year and reported it to Ofcom. Looking at the MARS database I discovered that my call sign had been replaced by "...". I looked up my call sign and it was shown against another vessel. In this instance there seemed to have been a typo by someone because the correct call sign for this vessel was the same as mine except for two letter transposed, "BP" instead of "PB". They sent a license "revocation notice" to the other vessel's owner.

I checked MARS last October and nothing had changed. I contacted Ofcom by email but had no reply. I've just checked MARS again and although my vessel details still show the call sign as "...", at least when I search by call sign I nolonger find the other vessel!

Ofcom did say, that all my details were correct on their systems even if MARS was not correct and that our emergency services would use their data rather than MARS.

Not a very satisfactory state of affairs by any means.
 
E mail back from Mars "Sir,

I apologize for this error on our part.

Please note that we have updated our records with your ship details and it will be available on our site from Monday 16 February.

Once again, my apologies."
So, no idea why I was dropped or when?
 
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I bought (another) boat 18 months ago: I applied on line to have the ships license transferred to me, No problems. About 3 months later I had a letter from Licensing Centre saying I could not use the allocated call sign as it was already in use elsewhere. The previous owner had given up sailing due to ill health, so had not taken it with him.

I suggested to RLC that the call sign had been in use for 20 years on this vessel, and did not want to give it up. (not that it made any real difference to me). No, it was 'already allocated' to someone else, and here is the new Call Sign.

So what happened? Have there been two boats using the same call sign ever since the prevous owner licensed it in the late 80's? How come my boats Call sign had been re-allocated?

It doesnt matter - I am just curious to know how they cocked it up. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Last year went through the Duplicate Call Sign argument on the telephone. Girl wouldn't tell me who other "licencee" was due to data protection ! So I suggested that it may be me and gave them my name ... she finally agreed that I was other Licencee ! Turned out it was fault of the old software. So I asked them to cancel the 'spurious' one ... which she refused saying I must write a letter explaining why there was 2 licences, that I wanted a new Call Sign etc. and request to cancel one. I refused and asked for supervisor nicely. She then agreed to cancel one, I could keep my call-sign and no letter needed. I later e-mailed to complain that they had cancelled the wrong one and they now needed to post me the OTHER licence to replace the now useless document I had in hand ! Of course later you could print yourself.

Lovely !
 
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