U.S. hams on their own US-flagged boats are governed by FCC rule 97.11, which effectively forbids using the boat's marine HF radio also as the boat's only amateur radio. If the vessel is "voluntarily equipped" with a marine radio (as private yachts of any reasonable size would be), you are permitted to share the antenna, between the marine radio and the amateur radio.
Unfortunately, many yachties get ham licenses and ham radios as adjuncts to their boats, and then ignore this rule. I ordered my K3 to use as my boat's ham radio. When the time comes to head offshore, I will get a proper marine SSB radio, too. Jim K7KK K3 #5263 Baba 30 sailboat #4 On 2011-04-21 01:22 PM, Mike Morrow wrote: > Many hams, even the the days of the commercial Maritime Morse radio > officer (which ended July 12, 1999), exhibit a cavalier attitude > towards SOLAS issues. In the Morse days, for example, it is NOT likely > that most hams would have recognized an SOS (which is sent as one > character ...---..., not three characters ... --- ..., quite radically > different in sound). > > Disregarding issues of ham operation upon SOLAS communications, there > are regulatory issues. At sea, the country of the ship's registry > would have jurisdiction over any ham operations. Are ANY cruise ships > of US registry? A few, especially those that cruise in American waters only. I think Matson line may still have some passenger cruise ships. And of course, you can book passage as a passenger on many cargo ships. > When in port, the host country has jurisdiction. IIRC, > back in the Morse radio officer era, operation of the ship's Morse > station was prohibited in port. > > I don't know how MF/HF USB use is controlled today in the GMDSS era. > Obviously use of a ship's VHF-FM is required in foreign ports for > SOLAS, piloting, and docking operations. (The only foreign country > radio operation that I've ever done has been on VHF-FM as a USN > officer of the deck coming in and out of port.) > > Do hams who operate from foreign registry ships use a call sign > indicating the country of ship's registry when at sea, and a call > sign of the host country when in port? I'd be surprised. I would expect the ship's master, when granting permission for a ham to operate his station on the master's ship, to insist on it. Of course, when in American waters (e.g., Alaska inside passage), an American ham would use his American call sign. I'll ask my brother-in-law about this, He is an American ham who works on Holland America Line ships as the piano player in the piano bar. Jim K7KK > Many will see such issues as mere technicalities from olden days that > don't apply any more. > >> That's why it's often so difficult to get permission to operate a >> Ham rig on a ship - they are depending upon clear QRM-free communications >> on frequencies very close to several Ham bands across the HF and VHF >> spectrums. > Plus, many QRP rigs have marginal spurious radiation specs, a situation > aggravated by use of a DDS frequency generation scheme without PLL. > > Were I ship's master, I'd be reluctant to grant permission, based on the > jurisdictional issues alone. > >> Ron AC7AC (Licensed GMDSS Maintainer and Operator). > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
