Before you head off to Youngstown
Just a friendly
reminder from Ken Goodings, your friendly marine radio examiner. This spring,
you might seriously consider applying for a maritime radio station licence for
your boat. It's not necessary for Canadian vessels in Canadian waters, but as
soon as you cross the border into the USA, or into any foreign country it is now
a requirement. Here is the application form for the station licence for your
boat. Your vessel will be assigned a unique alphanumerical radio
call sign.
It automatically covers your boat for
all VHF, MF & HF (SSB) , Radar and Direction Finding radios on your boat, as
well as any portable marine VHF transceivers that you may have.
Unauthorized use of CH16 is jumped upon very
quickly by Police and CCG. So is over-use, I believe that very soon it will not
be the calling channel at all here.
It wouldn't take much to end up on the US side of Lake Ontario on a
weekend cruise, or require a vessel to tow-in to US waters. The
enforcement initiative has been stepped up both for ship station licences AND
the operator plastic card certificate ROC(M)
The lifetime plastic wallet card, Restricted Radio Operator's
Certificate (Maritime) is no longer sufficient when Canadians sail in the USA.
You still require this certificate to operate a marine radio transceiver, but
your vessel must once again have an annually renewed station
licence. (It's a piece of yellow paper.)
Toronto
Squadron is holding Maritime Radio operator's classes at the downtown West
Marine store in April. Everyone who crews should know proper radio
procedure so take a class and get your own operators certificate.
If you
haven't got the lifetime Marine Operator's Certificate - ROC (Maritime) plastic
card I'd be pleased to have you register for one of our
classes. http://www.torontopowersquadron.org/
Here's
the application form for the boat's station
licence:
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/vwapj/ic2378ba_e.pdf/$FILE/ic2378ba_e.pdf
Fill
it in, with the complete details of all of your boat's radio transmitting
gear.
State your boats current name, and JUST APPLY AS "NEW", even if you
have once held a station licence for your boat.
This is just an
example for one kind of VHF radio. Look on the rear panel of your equipment to
find the following type of
information.
Manufacturer:
Model
#
Industry Canada approval
#
The following specifications are common to all 25 watt base
station type marine VHF transceivers
RF
output
25 W
Frequency
Range
156.025 - 163.275 MHz
Band Width and
Emission:
16K0F3E
Fax or mail to:
FAX (416)
954-3553
Industry Canada, Spectrum Management
Toronto District
Office
55 St Clair Ave East
Toronto ON
M4T
1M2
May 31,
2004
To: Canadian Power and Sailing Squadron, District
and Squadron Commanders, Training Officers and VHF Registered
Examiners
R/C Keith Roberts, SN, Course Director, Maritime Radio
Seminar, has asked the following information regarding radio licenses be
forwarded at the request of Industry Canada:
“In 1999 we de-licensed
marine and aeronautical and entered into negotiations with the
United
States for a reciprocal agreement for aircraft and boaters crossing the
border into the USA, the idea being that we would not require a license in
either country. Recently, in post 9/11 USA, other issues have taken
the forefront and this issue was relegated to the back burner for the time
being and an agreement was not reached.
As you are all aware, our
exemption only applies in Canadian and International waters. When a
vessel or aircraft is in the sovereign territory of any foreign
administration, the provisions of the ITU apply, which requires that all
stations be licensed unless there is a treaty between the administrations
involved.
Since we do not have a treaty at this point in time, from
this day forward, we should advise our clients enquiring about travel into
the USA (air or marine) that they will require a license to fully comply
with international law. It may save someone's holiday by explaining
that in these post 9/11 days of increasing uncertainty, you never know when
zero tolerance attitudes may surface and cause travelers grief if their
paper work is not all in order. It is fairly inexpensive to obtain and
maintain your Canadian licensing, and these days licensing, operators
certificates and passports are all considered very good things to
have.”
If anyone has questions please contact Jim Laursen at
Laursen.Jim@ic.gc.ca or Michael Krenz at Industry Canada.
R/C
Catherine McLeod P
Chair National Communications
Committee
