Someone on the dock asked me if they needed a commercial radio operator's
license to operate their boat radio stations, today. I hadn't looked up
any changes to the regs in a while so did a little FCC webpage browsing
to find him the correct answer. Way too little attention is paid to boat
owner's radio licenses, because they think that the FCC doesn't care, now
that they don't have a license for their VHF Marine any more. That is
just wrong....

Who needs an OPERATOR's license:
http://wireless.fcc.gov/commoperators/wncol.html

"Ship radio stations if:

* the vessel carries more than six passengers for hire; or
* the radio operates on medium or high frequencies; or
* the ship sails to foreign ports; or
* the ship is larger than 300 gross tons and is required to carry a
radio station for safety purposes."

If you have a Ship Radio License so you can operate outside the USA or
inside the USA on HF/SSB/GMDSS....you need one for yourself and every
operator aboard. The only people who don't need OPERATOR licenses are
people talking on marine VHF INSIDE the borders of the USA. ANYONE
talking on HF/SSB, operating any kind of GMDSS (including DSC on VHF),
MUST be licensed!

"Radio Maintenance and Repair

You need a commercial radio operator license to repair and maintain the
following:
* All ship radio and radar stations.
* All coast stations.
* All hand carried units used to communicate with ships and coast
stations on marine frequencies."

You STILL must have a GROL (General Radio Operator's License) to work on
ship radios and radar stations, including right down to the VHF walkies.

Now, most SSB operators have had the Restricted Radiotelephone Operator's
Permit (no test, just registration to bring you under the FCC's guns) for
many years:
http://wireless.fcc.gov/commoperators/rp.html
"They can also operate marine radiotelephone stations aboard pleasure
craft (other than those carrying more than six passengers for hire on the
Great Lakes or bays or tidewaters or in the open sea) when operator
licensing is required. An RP is NOT needed to operate the following:

* a voluntarily equipped ship or aircraft station (including a CAP
station) which operates only on VHF frequencies and does not make foreign
voyages or flights."

The keyword here is RADIOTELEPHONE....the voice part of your SSB
anywhere...and your VHF offshore. That keyword should now say ONLY
Radiotelephone, because that's what it covers....ONLY Radiotelephone.

.....but, new radios have selective calling DSC, part of GMDSS on Channel
70! This requires a GMDSS OPERATOR's LICENSE, which DOES have a test!

http://wireless.fcc.gov/commoperators/rg.html
Now, this is the Restricted (RG) GMDSS operator's license for VHF ONLY IF
YOU NEVER GO MORE THAN 20 MILES OFFSHORE. You must pass elements 1 and
7R of the GROL in front of a volunteer examiner, now available through
many ham radio testing facilities as well as maritime schools. This is a
REQUIREMENT for ALL GMDSS-equipped vessels. How many DSC-equipped boats
have a licensed operator? I'm guessing that number is damned near ZERO
at any marina....hmm....

If you go OFFSHORE more than 20 miles, you must get a full GMDSS Radio
Operator's License, swapping the much harder 100 question element 7 for
the 7R of the Restricted. You also need this more comprehensive license
if you operate GMDSS, including DSC, on an HF radio with a Ship License,
even inside the good 'ol USA. Restricted Radio Telephone Operator's
license does NOT COVER operating GMDSS anything!

Even our crusty ol' 1st Phone and CW commercial ticket holders must pass
element 7 to operate GMDSS, no matter how many decades they've been
keeping those tubes warm in the fishing boats. They already passed
element 1....long ago.

If they intend to repair and adjust GMDSS stations, they must also pass
element 9, the GMDSS Maintainer's test to add to their elements 1 and 3
their GROL is credited with. Newbies will need 1,3,7 and 9 tests.
http://wireless.fcc.gov/commoperators/dm.html

I'm not sure how this all applies to the millions of illegal Mexicans
strewn across America, any more. FCC says:
" To qualify, you must:
* be a legal resident of (or otherwise eligible for employment in) the
United States; and
* be able to receive and transmit spoken messages in English; and...."

....but they don't seem to enforce the immigration laws any more with the
impending North American Union tearing apart our nation, which may make
all this moot because the FCC and USCG may no longer exist in the NAU!

All the Mexicans around here seem to be "otherwise eligible for
employment in) the United States" by default. They just have to show up
out of nowhere.....

Well, that's what the FCC website says, straight from the horse's mouth.
USCG has nothing to do with what license you need to operate the RADIOS.