FCC Updates Maritime Radio Services Rules

[wrwakefield]

It looks like some welcome rule changes have been made by the FCC [US] which may benefit those of us in the US and/or licensed by the FCC.

I haven't waded through the official version yet, but the following bullets in this short version caught my eye:

• Permit limited use of portable marine VHF radio transmitters by persons on shore in areas adjacent to the water for communications relating to the operational and business needs of the associated vessel to provide flexibility in the use of marine radio equipment in a manner that furthers maritime safety.
  [I'm pretty sure none of us ever dared use our handheld VHF radios on shore before this...]
  
• Allow assignment or transfer of control of ship station licenses [Intriguing wording, but needs further investigation to see if this will be helpful when purchasing a new, previously licensed vessel.]
  
• Noteworthy: EPIRBs will [finally] require built-in GPS [Just last year I retired the older EPIRB (without GPS) that originally came with our life raft.]
  

FYI for those who may be interested.

Cheers! Bill

[MarkJ]

Pt 1 very important and good!
Pt 3 very important.

Both points overdue.

Dunno about pt2 thats usa only bs. But the others will have world wide effect, effectivly

[Paul L]

Here's a more extensive list of the changes
FCC Updates Maritime Radio Services Rules