Portable international MMSI for U.S. handheld DSC VHF

[GlobalPlayer]

Obtaining a basic United States MMSI for handhelds when only looking for USCG purposes is easy enough. However, if I want my MMSI to be SAR-registered (a.k.a. "international") then the red tape is confusing, to say the least.

Basically, I am a club member in the SF Bay Area and charter boats here, so I don't/can't have a fix ship station license from the FCC. I'd also like to be able to take my handheld DSC VHF aboard/abroad while cruising down to Mexico, or perhaps even when chartering in other non-U.S. waters far away from home, so I can't just go to BoatUS or SeaTow (their MMSI don't get registered with SAR).

It appears that only the US FCC can issue SAR-capable MMSI for people based in the US. However, all the forms and legalese gobbledygook never seem to show any path towards a portable ship station license for maritime use for folks without boats.

I sure can't be the first with this problem but searching online has been frustrating... has anybody here done this, perhaps a simple step-by-step advice or a web link with a how-to?

Thank you so much,
Matthias

[Jim Cate]

As I understand it, the MMSI is issued to a ship, not to a person or a radio. If this is the case, I think you are out of luck with your quest.

Jim

[GlobalPlayer]

That was the original idea back in the 90s, when DSC first appeared on the scene. However, in the meantime DSC became a commonplace feature for handhelds and both USCG and international SAR organizations became cognizant of the challenge that existing initial regulations didn't properly address handheld DSC-enabled VHF radios.

The FCC even has references to "portable" handheld DSC VHF MMSI... my problem is more of a procedural nature - any form or instruction booklet I find incessantly refers to ships and vessel IDs and such, as if every handheld somehow belongs to the owner or dinghy of a registered mothership. It surely can't be the case that non-owners aren't supposed to be safe, aren't supposed to make use of this technology, right?

Matthias