MMSI
- Thread starter sailor-d
- Start date
We have our number installed in the radio, but untested also. The system is up and operating here in Port Angeles, but we have not had the need to send any distress messages. Also, I have not used the calling capabilities to communicate with other boats. I just use the good old channel 16, but we're ready to receive the distress signals, or use them if needed.
starcrafttom
Active member
I found this link today on another site. I have not had the time to go thru the tutorail yet but it sound like a good source of useful info.
http://www.boatus.com/foundation/dsc/player.html
http://www.boatus.com/foundation/dsc/player.html
journey on
New member
We got our free MMSI number from Boat-US, through the internet.
Boris
Boris
davehogue555
New member
I got mine a couple of days ago through BoatUS.com, only took a few minutes, and the advantage is that if you ever need to change emergency contacts, update cell numbers, etc....you can do it right there online. You've got to pay attention entering the 9 digit code into the radio, read the owner's manual first, because you only get two tries. So far untested.
Dave
Dave
Alyssa Jean
New member
As an operational note, please be aware,and make your crew aware, that to activate a distress call with the new DSC equiped radios you MUST hold the activating button down for at least 5 seconds. The distress message is sent out over Ch. 70 and if you have registered and inputted your MSSI number into your radio correctly AND have it connected to your GPS properly it will send out your lat and long, and tell the coasties what and who you are. Only 10% of boat owners with the new DSC radios have registered them to date.
Gene Morris
New member
I have had my MMSI numbers for 5 years. We have never had an occasion to use it (Thank God). But, I have heard some distress calls that would have saved lives if they had the radio/gps hooked up and a dsc button. Instead of taking hours to find a boat (or life raft) it can take only minutes. In the cold water we have here this is a life saving procedure.
Another use for the mmsi is to locate fellow boaters in your group. Many new radios will recognize a friends mmsi signal and give you that persons location, without broadcasting an emergency. I haven't practiced this option yet. But as soon as our boating season starts I'll work on that option.
Gene
Another use for the mmsi is to locate fellow boaters in your group. Many new radios will recognize a friends mmsi signal and give you that persons location, without broadcasting an emergency. I haven't practiced this option yet. But as soon as our boating season starts I'll work on that option.
Gene
Chris,
I have heard that the MMSI numbers issued by Boat US only puts your information in the US data base and the information associated with the number does not show in the international data bases.
If you are operating out of the USA, a MMSI number issued by the FCC puts your information (boat, contact phone #, etc.)into the international data base.
The US FCC requires a Ship Radio Station Authorization (license)for US vessels which go on international voyages or communicate with non US stations.
A far as I know no one in the US or Canada checks on the status of your license.
If your boat is registered in the US, I think you could apply to BOAT US for a free MMSI number. That number would allow you to use the DSC functions of your VHF radio.
Here is a link to the FCC home page:
http://www.fcc.gov/
The FCC application form is FCC 605 and I don't see any place on that form where they ask about your citizenship.
I have heard that the MMSI numbers issued by Boat US only puts your information in the US data base and the information associated with the number does not show in the international data bases.
If you are operating out of the USA, a MMSI number issued by the FCC puts your information (boat, contact phone #, etc.)into the international data base.
The US FCC requires a Ship Radio Station Authorization (license)for US vessels which go on international voyages or communicate with non US stations.
A far as I know no one in the US or Canada checks on the status of your license.
If your boat is registered in the US, I think you could apply to BOAT US for a free MMSI number. That number would allow you to use the DSC functions of your VHF radio.
Here is a link to the FCC home page:
http://www.fcc.gov/
The FCC application form is FCC 605 and I don't see any place on that form where they ask about your citizenship.
Chris,
You can go the the FCC link above and search 'Ship Radio Station Authorization', or try this link:
http://wireless.fcc.gov/marine/fctsht14.html
You will have to get a FRN registration number and then fill out the form FCC 605. After that you have to pay the fee and if you have filled out the form successfully, the FCC will issue a license online and mail you a copy. You will also need a Restricted Radiotelephone Operators License. No test, just pay more money!
There is a phone contact number and I would print out the application, fill it out and then call and ask to verify the correctness of the form prior to submitting it. You can submit the form and pay the fees online.
After checking on all this, some folks have decided to just go without the licenses and get the MMSI number from Boat US.
There was a long discussion here a couple of years ago about whether or not to get a license. I cannot advise anyone to forgo the license, that would be a personal choice. In Canada, boats use their boat name on the VHF, and you are going inland, probably well away from the coastal VHF and Canadian Coast Guard coverage.
To be legal with the US FCC you need both licenses.
Larry H
You can go the the FCC link above and search 'Ship Radio Station Authorization', or try this link:
http://wireless.fcc.gov/marine/fctsht14.html
You will have to get a FRN registration number and then fill out the form FCC 605. After that you have to pay the fee and if you have filled out the form successfully, the FCC will issue a license online and mail you a copy. You will also need a Restricted Radiotelephone Operators License. No test, just pay more money!
There is a phone contact number and I would print out the application, fill it out and then call and ask to verify the correctness of the form prior to submitting it. You can submit the form and pay the fees online.
After checking on all this, some folks have decided to just go without the licenses and get the MMSI number from Boat US.
There was a long discussion here a couple of years ago about whether or not to get a license. I cannot advise anyone to forgo the license, that would be a personal choice. In Canada, boats use their boat name on the VHF, and you are going inland, probably well away from the coastal VHF and Canadian Coast Guard coverage.
To be legal with the US FCC you need both licenses.
Larry H
This gets a liitle off the MMSI number. The VHF has a very limited range--and specifically in the remote area you are going into, there will be much of the area where a DSC distress will do you no good.
Where Chris and crew are going, it will be far more important to have personal GPS enabled EPRIB's and a ship's EPIRB, which will be picked up by the 406 mhz Sat Sar international satellite program. Some countries put the MMSI in the data base for the registration of the EPRIB. I do not believe that the US or Canada puts the MMSI in the EPRIB data base. Germany does put the MMSI in the EPIRB Database. (According to an appendex of the US CG decument on International Marintime Organization).
I don't know the implications of registration of the MMSI in the US vs Canada, VS Germany for a German Citizen, who owns a US boat, voyaging a river in Canada, but my best guess is that rescue will come much more reliably with an 406 EPRIB.
Where Chris and crew are going, it will be far more important to have personal GPS enabled EPRIB's and a ship's EPIRB, which will be picked up by the 406 mhz Sat Sar international satellite program. Some countries put the MMSI in the data base for the registration of the EPRIB. I do not believe that the US or Canada puts the MMSI in the EPRIB data base. Germany does put the MMSI in the EPIRB Database. (According to an appendex of the US CG decument on International Marintime Organization).
I don't know the implications of registration of the MMSI in the US vs Canada, VS Germany for a German Citizen, who owns a US boat, voyaging a river in Canada, but my best guess is that rescue will come much more reliably with an 406 EPRIB.
Hi Bob
I don't carry the DSC for safety ! In the NWT I can't count on being rescued over VHF anyway....
It's just that if I have it on board, I want it to function...
Its more a nice thing to communicate with the barges up there,
they do carry DSC...
I am not afraid of getting lost in the woods, I spend a good part of my last 20 years in the woods,
its like a city for me, and to be honest I am more afraid in the city...
I do carry a sat-phone, but just for communication with my cousin...
hone
I don't want to get other people in danger to get me out of a situation I get my self in... :!:
If I get lost, than it is my responsibility to find out by my self !!!
I am very good in not getting lost, there fore i wont get lost...
Well, never say never but as i say the wood's are my second home...
Be prepared and most likely nothing will happen out there, use common sense,
if not, well no DSC, Sat Phone or EPIRB will help you anyway... :shock:
regards Chris
I don't carry the DSC for safety ! In the NWT I can't count on being rescued over VHF anyway....
It's just that if I have it on board, I want it to function...
Its more a nice thing to communicate with the barges up there,
they do carry DSC...
I am not afraid of getting lost in the woods, I spend a good part of my last 20 years in the woods,
its like a city for me, and to be honest I am more afraid in the city...
I do carry a sat-phone, but just for communication with my cousin...
hone I don't want to get other people in danger to get me out of a situation I get my self in... :!:
If I get lost, than it is my responsibility to find out by my self !!!
I am very good in not getting lost, there fore i wont get lost...
Well, never say never but as i say the wood's are my second home...
Be prepared and most likely nothing will happen out there, use common sense,
if not, well no DSC, Sat Phone or EPIRB will help you anyway... :shock:
regards Chris
Thanks, Chris,
Do you do a "poll all" to see what barge it is and contact? I don't think our tugs on the Gulf Coast are using DSC. How much barge traffic is there on the river and how far up does it go?
I understand your position on EPRIB's. I have also spent a part of my life in remote areas--both the sea and mountains long before any electronics. But there is another side of the coin. That is if you do have an injury or serious medical problem, the rescue will be much easier if you have a GPS enabled EPRIB. For example the two rescues in Oregon last month: Those which did not have an EPRIB parished and a lot of rescue effort and risk was spent in the search. Those who had a beacon saved the searchers a lot of grief, un-necessary work in the search with a precise location.
I suspose we can always say--what we get into we don't expect others to get us out of...and I respect that. Unfortunately there are those "at home" who often trigger the alarm.
There is also the point to encourage those who do travel into remote areas to consider what type of search might be necessary if things go wrong?
Regards,
Bob Austin
Do you do a "poll all" to see what barge it is and contact? I don't think our tugs on the Gulf Coast are using DSC. How much barge traffic is there on the river and how far up does it go?
I understand your position on EPRIB's. I have also spent a part of my life in remote areas--both the sea and mountains long before any electronics. But there is another side of the coin. That is if you do have an injury or serious medical problem, the rescue will be much easier if you have a GPS enabled EPRIB. For example the two rescues in Oregon last month: Those which did not have an EPRIB parished and a lot of rescue effort and risk was spent in the search. Those who had a beacon saved the searchers a lot of grief, un-necessary work in the search with a precise location.
I suspose we can always say--what we get into we don't expect others to get us out of...and I respect that. Unfortunately there are those "at home" who often trigger the alarm.
There is also the point to encourage those who do travel into remote areas to consider what type of search might be necessary if things go wrong?
Regards,
Bob Austin
tstrum,
Welcome to the pub! Good to see another Alaskan here.
It is true that rec vessels don't need a license to use a VHF in US waters.
Chris is going on an expedition into Northern Canada, so his need for a VHF license or a MMSI number is not the same as domestic boaters.
For use of the DSC function on the newer VHF radios, a MMSI number is required to activate the DSC function.
A MMSI number is available thru BOAT US for free. The US FCC VHF license also provides a MMSI number, and that license costs $2-300 for a 10 year license. The FCC requires US boats going to a foreign country or communicating with a foreign station to have a license.
If you don't go foreign, you don't need a US FCC license, and the free BOAT US MMSI number is all that is needed to activate the DSC portion of the radio.
Larry H
Welcome to the pub! Good to see another Alaskan here.
It is true that rec vessels don't need a license to use a VHF in US waters.
Chris is going on an expedition into Northern Canada, so his need for a VHF license or a MMSI number is not the same as domestic boaters.
For use of the DSC function on the newer VHF radios, a MMSI number is required to activate the DSC function.
A MMSI number is available thru BOAT US for free. The US FCC VHF license also provides a MMSI number, and that license costs $2-300 for a 10 year license. The FCC requires US boats going to a foreign country or communicating with a foreign station to have a license.
If you don't go foreign, you don't need a US FCC license, and the free BOAT US MMSI number is all that is needed to activate the DSC portion of the radio.
Larry H