Why buy the expensive MMSI for your AIS and EPIB

[continuouswave]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

NOAA database is only available to account owner to check their personal data. No ability to search other person’s data.

https://beaconregistration.noaa.gov/RGDB/index

There is confidential personal data in that database. I would not want it open to the public. I suspect most of us would agree.

I agree regarding privacy, however I was surprised by how much personal information is revealed by the FCC in their public search webpage of FCC ship station licensee information.

[joehersey]

Originally Posted by Tugwit

Jim has performed a valuable service by providing this link to the ITU (MARS) database. I'd encourage anyone who believes that they have a legitimate FCC-issued MMSI to verify that their record appears in the international ITU registry. After all, the chief benefit of having an FCC-issued MMSI is that your record is forwarded to the ITU for use by international SAR authorities.

I did, and was unhappy to find that no record was returned for my vessel--despite (or perhaps because of?) having an active ship license for over 40 years.

So I performed a random check of 12 local recreational vessels with FCC-issued MMSI and found that fully half of them fail to show up in the ITU database, although all are listed in the FCC database--searchable, and available here:

License Search - Ship License Search

Now, there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for these discrepancies; I've contacted the FCC and am awaiting a response. On the other hand, many balls may have been dropped between the FCC and the UTC.

And US boaters traveling in foreign waters may be ignorant of the additional risk they are incurring if local SAR authorities are unable to access the particulars of their vessel in the event of an emergency.

Among the topics discussed between the USCG and FCC in their routine quarterly meetings are MMSI registration problems, including providing MMSI data to ITU for their MARS database.. FCC only relatively recently restarted providing MMSI registrations from their ship station database to ITU. They had done so in the past, but at some point that practice apparently stopped. When FCC and USCG last met this past fall, the FCC confirmed that they are now submitting US ship station license MMSI registrations, old and new, to the ITU. I am surprised and concerned to hear that so many MMSIs apparently have in fact not been made it to the ITU.

Does the ship station license from which those MMSIs are based indicate foreign travel?

Note FCC 605 Schedule B item #2 asks "Does your vessel travel to foreign ports?" Unless you've answered this questions "Yes", your MMSI will not be registered with ITU. Note also that only MMSI's obtained from the FCC through their ship station license applications makes to to ITU. US MMSIs obtained through other means (eg BOAT US or US Power Squadron, or federal vessels) are not submitted to the ITU.

FCC/USCG's January meeting was cancelled due to the government shutdown (Both FCC and USCG are furloughed). I can however pass this comment in to the FCC if you like.

Joe Hersey
USCG retired (but still engaged)

[sailjumanji]

Anyone know if the FCC is issuing radio station licenses and MMSI numbers during this govt shutdown?

[joehersey]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

Anyone know if the FCC is issuing radio station licenses and MMSI numbers during this govt shutdown?

To the extent you can apply online, yes I believe FCC will still issue ship station licenses and MMSIs during the shutdown. See https://www.fcc.gov/document/impact-...ion-operations

[CalmSeasQuest]

Originally Posted by joehersey

To the extent you can apply online...

This is key. I'm stuck as I'm waiting for the USCG to process my new registration to get a registration number which is needed for the Ships Station license which is needed for the MMSE application.

I'm told the priority/overnight registration is sitting in a USCG mail room somewhere unopened.

[Tugwit]

Originally Posted by joehersey

... I am surprised and concerned to hear that so many MMSIs apparently have in fact not been made it to the ITU.

Does the ship station license from which those MMSIs are based indicate foreign travel?

...Unless you've answered this questions "Yes", your MMSI will not be registered with ITU....

FCC/USCG's January meeting was cancelled due to the government shutdown (Both FCC and USCG are furloughed). I can however pass this comment in to the FCC if you like.

Joe Hersey
USCG retired (but still engaged)

Thank you very much, Joe, for your knowledgeable report on this issue. I am very happy that you are "still engaged"!

Following my initial post, I sorted my small sample by MMSI number and discovered that all MMSI below (approximately) 367360000 failed to appear in the ITU database while those above that number consistently do appear. This suggests to me that the FCC was not forwarding MMSI to the ITU for quite some time, and has apparently remedied this practice for more recently-issued MMSI.

The six MMSI in my sample that did not appear in the ITU database range from (approximately) 367050000 to (approximately) 367360000. I again checked each one in the FCC database, and ALL of the MMSI had responded "YES" to the question "Does your vessel travel to foreign ports?".

(One answered "no" to the second question, "Does ship communicate with foreign coast stations?", but the remainder answered this "yes", as well. And the license of another of the sample expired in 2018 and was apparently not renewed while the remainder are "active".)

This is perhaps unsurprising--all the vessels in my sample sail in Puget Sound and likely regularly visit Canada.

Personally, I was issued an RT Operator Permit and Station License in 1978 when my call sign was assigned, and I have renewed the license when necessary ever since. My MMSI was assigned around 2005 when I installed my first VHF/DSC radio. (And yes, a GPS has always been connected and working ;-)

I'm sure that all of us with FCC-issued MMSI expect that their vessel record be available to foreign SAR through the MARS database, and I'm sure we would all be grateful for your efforts to help remedy the situation. Meanwhile, I'm hoping for a response to my inquiry when the FCC resumes regular operations.

Thanks again, Joe.

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by CalmSeasQuest

This is key. I'm stuck as I'm waiting for the USCG to process my new registration to get a registration number which is needed for the Ships Station license which is needed for the MMSE application.



I'm told the priority/overnight registration is sitting in a USCG mail room somewhere unopened.

I am told the same thing. It's being dated stamped but not opened. So my doc service also sent them an electronic application with some paperwork, and expects that will at least get us a number assigned. Or so I was told.

[joehersey]

Originally Posted by CalmSeasQuest

This is key. I'm stuck as I'm waiting for the USCG to process my new registration to get a registration number which is needed for the Ships Station license which is needed for the MMSE application.

I'm told the priority/overnight registration is sitting in a USCG mail room somewhere unopened.

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

I am told the same thing. It's being dated stamped but not opened. So my doc service also sent them an electronic application with some paperwork, and expects that will at least get us a number assigned. Or so I was told.

Sorry to hear that. Wish the process were automated.

USCG is stuck in an unwanted continuing furlough and not allowed to handle these. Civilians had their no-pay payday this past weekend, and military have theirs tomorrow. Not fun.

[joehersey]

Originally Posted by Tugwit

Thank you very much, Joe, for your knowledgeable report on this issue. I am very happy that you are "still engaged"!

Following my initial post, I sorted my small sample by MMSI number and discovered that all MMSI below (approximately) 367360000 failed to appear in the ITU database while those above that number consistently do appear. This suggests to me that the FCC was not forwarding MMSI to the ITU for quite some time, and has apparently remedied this practice for more recently-issued MMSI.

The six MMSI in my sample that did not appear in the ITU database range from (approximately) 367050000 to (approximately) 367360000. I again checked each one in the FCC database, and ALL of the MMSI had responded "YES" to the question "Does your vessel travel to foreign ports?".

(One answered "no" to the second question, "Does ship communicate with foreign coast stations?", but the remainder answered this "yes", as well. And the license of another of the sample expired in 2018 and was apparently not renewed while the remainder are "active".)

This is perhaps unsurprising--all the vessels in my sample sail in Puget Sound and likely regularly visit Canada.

Personally, I was issued an RT Operator Permit and Station License in 1978 when my call sign was assigned, and I have renewed the license when necessary ever since. My MMSI was assigned around 2005 when I installed my first VHF/DSC radio. (And yes, a GPS has always been connected and working ;-)

I'm sure that all of us with FCC-issued MMSI expect that their vessel record be available to foreign SAR through the MARS database, and I'm sure we would all be grateful for your efforts to help remedy the situation. Meanwhile, I'm hoping for a response to my inquiry when the FCC resumes regular operations.

Thanks again, Joe.

I passed this info on to Ghassan, FCC's maritime POC, and will check into it myself. Given the furlough I don't know when the next FCC/USCG meeting will be held. Nevertheless I plan to be there and will try to get an answer.

Thanks

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

Anyone know if the FCC is issuing radio station licenses and MMSI numbers during this govt shutdown?

I did one online, paid the $70 and then did the second one. I tried to pay and started getting the message about being shutdown. This was the afternoon of the 3rd. I am not a fan of the FCC website. It shouldn't have taken me so long. Bad timing for the shutdown, but I'm sure others have larger problems than I'm experiencing.

[continuouswave]

Originally Posted by Tugwit

... Following my initial post, I sorted my small sample by MMSI number and discovered that all MMSI below (approximately) 367360000 failed to appear in the ITU database while those above that number consistently do appear.

My boat's MMSI is in the 367500000 range and was granted in September 2011.

The MMSI is above the benchmark 367360000. And my boat does appear in the ITU database. So there is another data point that conforms to your theory.

[maine50]

My MMSI is 367195150 DOES appear in ITU database. First FCC date I believe was 2007.
and I was going to Bermuda

[Tugwit]

Originally Posted by maine50

My MMSI is 367195150 DOES appear in ITU database. First FCC date I believe was 2007.
and I was going to Bermuda

Are you sure?

I just ran your MMSI here: https://www.itu.int/mmsapp/shipstation/list
and found no record. (See attachment)

[maine50]

It does if I give you the right number--- see 367196150

[svmobert]

I just checked mine - 367632210, which I registered in 2014 via FCC.. I registered it with VHF, AIS, and HF uses. It did NOT come up in the ITU search with my vessel name, MMSI, or call sign..

Does ship make international voyages? Yes
Does ship communicate with foreign coast stations? Yes
Radio Installation(s) for Ship and Survival Craft: VHF, MF, HF, DSC, 406 MHZ EPIRB, 121.5 MHZ EPIRB, SART

Searched for my EPIRB also, no dice...