Licensing, Regulations and Radio Etiquette
Two different documents
A ship radio licence authorises the vessel and its equipment to transmit; in the UK it is issued free by Ofcom and covers every radio on board, including a DSC VHF, an EPIRB and a SART. A ship portable radio licence covers a handheld used away from its licensed vessel - in a tender, for example, or on a friend's boat. The operator's certificate, the SRC certificate you are working towards, is personal: it proves you are competent to operate the equipment. The vessel still needs its own licence whether or not you hold a certificate.
Rules that carry real penalties
Transmit only on frequencies you are authorised to use and only as the licence permits. Maintain the secrecy of correspondence: what you overhear is not yours to repeat. Do not use offensive or profane language, do not transmit music or broadcasts, and always identify your station by name and callsign or MMSI. A false distress alert is a criminal offence carrying prosecution and a fine, quite apart from the rescue resources it ties up. Keep a listening watch on Ch 16 whenever the set is on and the vessel is under way, unless watchkeeping has been formally delegated.
Etiquette that examiners look for
Think before pressing PTT: is this message necessary, on the right channel, at the right power? Keep transmissions short, use plain language and standard phrases, and let the other station finish before replying. Give way on Ch 16 - if you are calling and a distress is heard, stop. Use low power in harbour and at close range. Remember that everyone within twenty miles can hear you, including the coastguard.
Worked example
You buy a second DSC handheld for the tender. Reasoning: the SRC certificate qualifies you as an operator, but the handheld needs its own authority to transmit - a ship portable radio licence - and if it has DSC it needs its own MMSI, which must not duplicate the parent yacht's. Programming the yacht's MMSI into the handheld would leave two stations answering to the same identity and confuse any rescue coordination.
Traps
- Believing the SRC certificate licenses the boat; it does not.
- Using a handheld VHF with no licence at all.
- Holding a long personal conversation on a marina channel.
- Identifying yourself as "the yacht off the point" instead of giving name and callsign.