Radio Call Signs
 

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:46:07 -0700, in message
.com
Peter Bennett wrote:

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:05:14 -0400, Ryk
wrote:

What are the likely consequences if I don't?

So, Yes, if you take your Canadian boat into US waters, you require a
Canadian Ship Station License, in addition to the Radio Operator
Certificate. Similarly, a US vessel in Canadian waters requires a US
Ship Station License.

I understand that a few years ago, some Canadian vessels on the Great
Lakes got into Serious Legal Problems when they ventured into US
waters without a station license.

What were the SLPs? Would I be better off not transmitting in US
waters? Or are you thinking of the incidents in the Detroit River?

Ryk

Radio Call Signs
 

Bruce in alaska wrote in news:fast-
:

WOM, we miss you......

and KMI as well......

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply



One of my buddy radiomen on a nuclear boomer sub sent me a prize I still
cherish. It's a large magnetic panel about 10" long x 4" wide that
glows quite brightly in the dark, especially if charged by the UV coming
from a flourescent light.

It's a WOM operational schedule chart sent out to the radio shacks on
the ships that had accounts with WOM. It says:

AT&T High Seas Radiotelephone Service
To reach an AT&T High Seas Operator call 1-800-SEA-CALL
WOM - AT&T Coast Station - Florida

Address: AT&T Station WOM
1340 N. W. 40th Avenue
Ft Lauderdale, Florida 33313
For Technical Information Call +1-305-587-0910 Collect

Then there's a chart of the 2, 4, 8, 12 and 22 Mhz duplex channels for
all services.

Under that is the VOICE BROADCASTS on 403, 802, 1206, 1601 and 2215 with
a chart showing the times for TFC and WX. WX was only at 1300 and 2300
UTC

The bottom says:

SITOR/DSC Data
Broadcasts - NONE

Morse Data Broadcasts
Freq Carrier 4423.0 and 8746.0 Khz
Traffic Lists Continuously

Copywrite At&T 5/1991

It makes a great nightlight stuck to the door of my beer fridge next to
the computer...(c;

Back when I was a kid 9 or 10 years old, I learned Morse from WCC and
WOM on a Hallicrafters Sky Buddy on a long wire strung up through the
trees behind my bedroom in Moravia, NY. I used to copy ship traffic for
hours. WCC had trouble, one night when I was glued to my headphones,
instead of studying American History, hearing a ship that needed some
engine parts for their steam plant that was dead in the water. I rushed
out and begged my father to let me call WCC in Chatham on the phone, an
expensive proposition in the mid 1950's on New York Bell. Seeing my
excitement that I could hear them and WCC couldn't on the coast, he
relented and we made the call. WCC listened to my Sky Buddy over the
long distance phone and got the message from the ship running on low
power because I suppose her charging system was also DOA. When the guy
at WCC found out I was a little kid he got our address and sent me a
letter of commendation for my participation that said I was an honorary
WCC Morse Operator. Another letter arrived from England, from the
shipping company office of the ship, to thank me for helping procure
their parts. Even my father, who never paid much attention to my radio
station, was really impressed. Unfortunately, we never did get to
Chatham to meet the station operators and take the tour I was invited to
do. I got my ham license about a year later, breezing through the Morse
test complaining to the Novice License tester that 5 WPM was way too
slow to move ship traffic I'd been listening to. After he signed off on
my Morse skills, I showed him my WCC operator priviledges to his
amusement....(c;

Ham radio was lots more fun when I was 12. Debbie Hart (a man down the
street) helped get me my Novice license so he could get to use HIS
station once again. I used to camp out in front of his National NC-303
and Hallicrafters HT-32 KW transmitter a lot. I could find a DX station
on the receiver, tune the transmitter to match the frequency, then tune
up the big amp to full power to work him by the time I was 11. We
worked some great DX together from his station behind his house in the
horse barn's tack room on West Cayuga Street, Moravia, NY. Those old
guys ruined many boys' lives with their slick electronics and ham radio
doublespeak and Morse Code....(c;

Roger Long's grandfather, 2ABT after the stations were licensed in the
20's, was one of the real pioneers of ham radio...long before Hiram
Percy Maxim's ARRL, 1AW. Simply an amazing historical story in itself.

73 DE W4CSC

NNNN

Radio Call Signs
 

Ryk wrote in
:

On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:41:30 -0500, in message

mister b wrote:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:39:29 -0400, Ryk wrote:

In my neck of the woods (Eastern Lake Ontario) 16 remains the only
calling channel.

???!? 16 a calling channel in Canada for pleasure boaters? I don't
think so Ryk.

It is the calling channel endorsed by international convention and by
the Coast Guard. I understand that 9 is an alternate in congested
spaces in the US, but 16 is not congested up here.

Ryk



Just for information on the ICW and Charleston in South Carolina:

Everyone monitors Channel 16, including all marinas, switching to
working channels 68, 69, 71, 72 for comms.

Opening road bridges all monitor Channel 9 across SC, the pleasure boat
calling channel pleasure boats never monitor because of the bridge
traffic.

Shrimp boats and tourist cruise boats are on 10 or 11, but monitor 13
underway as well as 16 if they have the equipment.

Yacht Clubs scan 16 and 68 or 69 on the harbor. CG monitors 16 and 22A
but, as the S/V Morning Dew incident proves, do not respond well, even
if a ship confirms screaming in the waters at the jetties. The towing
companies usually have their attention better.

Call the ships on 13 if you are in the ship channels underway to plan
passing situations with the harbor pilots who are always very nice and
helpful. The pilot boat monitors 10, 13, 16, too. Dredges can be
found, generally, on 13 and 10.

SeaTow/Towboat US monitors 16, 22A in Mt Pleasant's office and on the
boats.

Race control for all sailboat races monitors 72 if you need them. The
boats in the race monitor 72 for instructions, but captains are usually
too busy screaming at their crews who just ran over the now-torn
spinnaker to answer the calls. That kind of cursing isn't permitted on
the radio, anyways....(c;

Cellular - The harbor and near offshore is well covered near Charleston
and the local barrier islands by Verizon on 800 Mhz A and Alltel on 800
Mhz B well offshore 5-8 miles. ATT and Sprint on PCS have much more
limited range on 1900 mhz, as does Nextel on iDen.

Alltel's EVDO high speed internet works very well out nearly 20 miles if
you are bluetooth tethered to the phone hanging from the mast in a zip
lock bag with bluetooth linking the bag to the PC or, in my case, Nokia
N800 Linux internet tablet on deck. Altitude is our friend!

FREE wifi is available at Ashley Marina and Charleston City Marina where
the ICW turns S off the Ashley River in front of the USCG Base
Charleston. They make up for it by charging you through the nose for
dockspace...ask Skip...$100/day for Flying Pig on the Megadock. Other
marinas have wifi, but I'm not sure how they work it. Hundreds of
unprotected wifi hotspots exist in downtown Charleston for you to use in
a wide variety of places. Help yourself...

Radio Call Signs
 

In article ,
Ryk wrote:

On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:12:41 GMT, in message

Bruce in alaska wrote:

In article ,
Ryk wrote:

I used to have a VHF station license for my boat, but dropped it when
the local requirement went away. Somebody recently suggested to me
that I would need a station license to legitimately operate my radio
(on a Canadian registered vessel) in US waters. I do have an
operator's license. Do I need more to be legit in the US?

Ryk

Yes, to legally operate your VHF Radio in US Waters you are REQUIRED
by International Convention (ITU International Telecommunication Union)
to have a current Radio Station License issued by the Country of your
FLAG.

Thanks Bruce!

Is it specific about a license, or is it about meeting requirements of
the FLAG? I know that when we race internationally the SIs refer to
meeting requirements in the country of origin for either licensed or
registered vessels on a lot of safety issues.

What are the likely consequences if I don't? (Assuming I am otherwise
in compliance and using my radio responsibly inside the Great Lakes
Basin.) Is it different if I go south down the ICW?

Ryk

By International Convention, (ITU) each Country MUST supply it's Flagged
Vessels with a Maritime Radio Station License, if it actually does
license any Flagged Vessels under it's jurisdiction, if they make
International Voyages. ( Voyages outside the waters, of the Nation of
Flag) So Canada, if signatory to the ITU, (which it is) is required to
issue a Maritime Radio License to any, and ALL vessels that it registers,
that make voyages outside its Territorial Waters. There are some, Very
Limited, Exceptions, and these are usually done by Treaty, usually
by Adjacent Countries that share Common Waters, or adjacent
International Waters. See the Great Lakes Convention Treaty between USA
and Canada, and the EU Treaty for Europe. Some countries have Reciprocal
Licensing Agreements that allow one countries License to be used in
another Countries Territory. See ITU Convention for Aircraft Radio
Licensing. I did a few Licenses for local Bush Pilots, that made trips
into Canadian Territories, specifically to deliver Explosives and Caps,
to Mining Operations that were more easily served from US Airports. You
just can't imagine the Beauacratic BS involved, since 9/11. US Aircraft,
that never leave US Territory, are covered by the Same Type of Blanket
License that boats have, BUT if they leave US Airspace, they are REQUIRED
to be licensed by the FCC/USA Government.

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply

Radio Call Signs
 

On 21 Jul 2008 17:11:01 -0500, Dave wrote:

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:31:55 GMT, Bruce in alaska said:

US Aircraft,
that never leave US Territory, are covered by the Same Type of Blanket
License that boats have, BUT if they leave US Airspace, they are REQUIRED
to be licensed by the FCC/USA Government.

You need to either sharpen your thinking or sharpen you expression. If they
have a "blanket license" from the FCC then by definition they are "licensed"
by that agency. Do you mean that the regulations specify explicitly that
they must be individually "licensed" under those circumstances and that a
"blanket license" will not do?

There is a difference in terminology between countries (as usual).

The US issues a "blanket station license" to cover all US vessels (is
it just pleasure craft?) while they remain in US waters. This
"blanket license" becomes invalid if such vessels enter the territory
of another country, and the vessel then must obtain an individual
station license.

Canada exempts most Canadian vessels from having a station license,
providing they remain in Canada. Vessels going to other countries
must get a station license, as they will be outside the terms of the
license exemption.

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

Radio Call Signs
 

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:44:04 -0400, Ryk
wrote:

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:46:07 -0700, in message
s.com
Peter Bennett wrote:

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:05:14 -0400, Ryk
wrote:

What are the likely consequences if I don't?

So, Yes, if you take your Canadian boat into US waters, you require a
Canadian Ship Station License, in addition to the Radio Operator
Certificate. Similarly, a US vessel in Canadian waters requires a US
Ship Station License.

I understand that a few years ago, some Canadian vessels on the Great
Lakes got into Serious Legal Problems when they ventured into US
waters without a station license.

What were the SLPs? Would I be better off not transmitting in US
waters? Or are you thinking of the incidents in the Detroit River?

Ryk

I don't recall the details, but I believe the occupants of the vessels
involved were arrested or detained.

You do require a station license if you will be travelling in US
waters and your vessel is equipped with a Marine radio. There is a
statement regarding this from Industry Canada at
http://www.cps-ecp.ca/public.asp?WCE=C=47|K=224768


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

Radio Call Signs
 

In article ,
Dave wrote:

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:20:45 GMT, Bruce in alaska said:

Having been in the Radio Regulation Enforcement Biz for many
years,

Ah, that explains a great deal.

I once had a partner who said he would never hire a former regulator as a
lawyer. He said they were very good at being able to quote chapter and
verse, and to regurgitate the agency's position, but very bad at determining
when the agency was wrong.

I wasn't one of the Lawyers, but a Resident Field Agent. I mostly did
SOLAS Inspections on Compulsory Equipped Vessels, and a bit of
Interference and unLicensed Operation Enforcement.

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply

Radio Call Signs
 

Bruce in alaska wrote in news:fast-
:

unLicensed Operation Enforcement.

What was the biggest CB linear? How many TV sweep tubes did it have in
parallel?.....(c;

I saw a home brew linear at a hamfest that had enough sweep tubes in
parallel that its output impedance was 50 ohms! It was HUGE! Not sure
how they kept it from eating Channels 2 and 5, though....

CB went all to hell after they quit makin' 6J?6's....(c;

I built an amp for HF with a pair of 4-1000A's in proper sockets and
chimneys, pole transformer hooked up backwards controlled with 30A
230VAC Variac, home wound filament transformer.

Mine was different because it was common cathode and the RF input was a
100W dummy load with adjustable drive on the finals. Screen supply had
two power tube regulators, a copy of a Hewlett-Packard lab powersupply.
It was beautiful in its World War 2 Navy TBK transmitter cabinet...first
class rotary inductors and 25KV vacuum variable plate cap.

We never operated over 1000 watts DC input to the final power
amplifier...on 20 meter RTTY for hours sending teletype pictures of
Vargas Girls out of the latest Playboy. I still got a few reperf tapes
for old times sake! With 2KW of graphite plates and a 5KVA plate
supply, 100% duty cycle at a kilowatt was loafing....

WFIG-AM had a 3-tower cardioid array running about 200W on 1240? at
night pointed right over my antenna array. Ernest Jenkins was the great
old engineer that kept the 866's glowing blood red (in the day). EJ
would call me up at night and say, "You on 75 meter SSB tonight?" "Yes,
I'm on 3903." "Well, how about give me 5 minutes to read the antenna
current meters. You got more current in these towers than I do!", he'd
joke as I did make them "wiggle" a tiny bit, being near 3/4 wavelength
and near my full wave loop on 75M...(c; I used to go down during
thunderstorms and stand by the old Gates with my fingers on the Fils and
Plates buttons. EJ wasn't really too mobile at 79 years old and he'd
stay at the night console across the room from the Gates while I kept
recycling the power every time the lights on our crappy rural electric
system blinked out.....

73 DE W4CSC aka KN4IM aka WB4THE aka WN2IWH and 20W1956.

I go way back....(c;

Radio Call Signs
 

In article ,
Dave wrote:

On Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:04:51 GMT, Bruce in alaska said:

I wasn't one of the Lawyers, but a Resident Field Agent. I mostly did
SOLAS Inspections on Compulsory Equipped Vessels, and a bit of
Interference and unLicensed Operation Enforcement.

Ah, so you with enforcing the laws without any legal training.

I got all the Legal Training I needed, from the Regional Legal Staff,
and the US Attorney's Office. Just how much Legal Training do you think
a US Marshal has? All he needs to know is your violating a Law, and he
puts you in the Hoosgow... We, as Resident Field Agents, didn't have
Arrest Powers, and when we needed "Muscle" we went and got a US Marshal,
or a USCG Officer, depending if the violation was on LAND or Water.
They provided the "Muscle", and we provided the expertise. Believe me,
you don't want to be trying to tell a US Marshal, that he can't put the
cuffs on you, or trying to tell a USCG Officer that he can't board you
vessel, and do his duty. In BOTH cases, those guys have ALMOST unlimited
Powers, on point, and they let the Courts worry about the fine points of
the situation. I watched a US Marshal, lock up a small town Sheriff, in
his own Slammer, for willful violations of the Communications Act of
1934. It stuck too. The guy did time for it, in a Federal Prison, and
had to pay a $5KUS fine. I wasn't with the Commission at the time, but
was the Radio Tech, for the local Sheriff, The Field Agent, was one
of the toughest Inspecting Engineers, in the Commission, and a mentor
while I was learning the Service Side, of the SOLAS Game., a few years
later.

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply

Radio Call Signs
 

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:19:48 -0700, in message
.com
Peter Bennett wrote:

I don't recall the details, but I believe the occupants of the vessels
involved were arrested or detained.

You do require a station license if you will be travelling in US
waters and your vessel is equipped with a Marine radio. There is a
statement regarding this from Industry Canada at
http://www.cps-ecp.ca/public.asp?WCE=C=47|K=224768

Thanks Peter. I am surprised to hear of anybody being arrested or
detained for properly operating a VHF without a station license. At
least in the US and Canada. Do you have a cite?

The IC link is actually an undated CPS news item that talks about 9/11
as recent, so I don't know if it is current. Are there any current
references to US/Canada VHF rules in the Great Lakes?

Ryk