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Does your family own a boat? Does your family own a small charter service? Do you have difficulty calling to shore using your cellular telephone? Are you using marine VHF-FM illegally to call home or contact your business? Let’s look at the various regulations and some of the radio services available to families and then look seriously at the General Mobile Radio Service. When you take the Coast Guard Auxiliary Boating Safety Course as I did this year you attend a session on the various communication options available to boaters and communication regulations that boaters must follow. You learn than under FCC Rules part 80 it is not permitted to use your marine radio on shore. Marine radios are for safety,navigation,and commerce. When you re on the water VHF-FM is intended for the boater to call for help on Channel 16, contact marinas, vessel services, and other boaters. It was never intended to permit boaters to contact their home on shore. Unfortunately people do it anyway. Monitoring VHF marine on the Chesapeake I regularly hear groups of people in vehicle caravans using VHF marine. When I worked in consumer electronics retail I met boaters that purchased cable and connectors to put up base station marine radios knowing it was against the law. (Only the Coast Guard and Auxiliary units, and FCC licensed coast stations engaged in commerce are permitted to operate on land. The typical family boater operating a vessel under a certain size is not required to have a VHF marine radio license but that license-free privilege does not permit land-based operation or violating the FCC Rules.

FCC Part 80.13(c):(c) A ship station is licensed by rule and does not need an individual license issued by the FCC if the ship station is not subject to the radio equipment carriage requirements of any statute, treaty or agreement to which the United States is signatory, the ship station does not travel to foreign ports, and the ship station does not make international communications. A ship station licensed by rule is authorized to transmit radio signals using a marine radio operating in the 156–162 MHz band, any type of AIS, any type of EPIRB, and any type of radar installation. All other transmissions must be authorized under a ship station license. Even though an individual license is not required, a ship station licensed by rule must be operated in accordance with all applicable operating requirements, procedures, and technical specifications found in this part.

Sec. 80.89 Unauthorized transmissions. Stations must not: (a) Engage in superfluous telecommunication. (d) When using telephony, transmit signals or communications not addressed to a particular station or stations. This provision does not apply to the transmission of distress, alarm, urgency, or safety signals or messages, or to test transmissions. (e) Transmit while on board vessels located on land unless authorized under a public coast station license. Vessels in the following situations are not considered to be on land for the purposes of this paragraph: (1) Vessels which are aground due to a distress situation; (2) Vessels in drydock undergoing repairs; and (3) State or local government vessels which are involved in search and rescue operations including related training exercises. (f) Transmit on frequencies or frequency bands not authorized on the current station license.

Given that most family communication might be considered superfluous and directed at a land station marine VHF-FM is not the choice for such communication. Why take the risk of a heavy fine? Years ago many boaters used CB radios. That was before the illegal activity on CB rendered it pretty much useless. The Coast Guard Boating Safety Course warns us against the character of the service and asks us to remember that CB is NOT monitored for safety and distress transmissions. So what’s left? The General Mobile radio Service is what’s left. You are allowed up to fifty watts of transmitting power into a gain antenna on board your boat, in your car, or at your home. There are no restrictions associated with use on the water just the same precautionary note that the Coast guard does not monitor GMRS for distress traffic. A GMRS license covers you and your immediately family, including those not living in your household. When you head out on a boating weekend all of your relatives can use the GMRS mobile station with your call letters in your car, boat, or home. Your usable distance compared to VHF marine may in some cases may be far greater when using GMRS repeaters. In southern Maryland you can probably talk to homes on land from the Chesapeake and the Patuxent, and down in St Mary’s while boating in the Potomac. Does that interest you? Let’s say you own a small charter boat business. You and your family are the employees. You may conduct ship to shore business activity by two-way radio using GMRS where using your cellular telephone doesn’t make sense. GMRS can also be used for boat-to-boat communication. Several fishing boats working together can talk to one another using GMRS in order to avoid the frivolous communication rule. What everyone does have to do on GMRS is share frequencies so you would still not monopolize a GMRS channel with your radio traffic. GMRS is a place to communicate when using marine radio might be illegal, improper, or where cellular does not work. What’s your investment? There is an $85 license fee that covers your family and you for five years. A commercial quality UHF radio used or new from $100 up. A UHF antenna $50 to $100 dollars. Good quality coaxial cable used in marine environments. The base station requirements vary depending on where you are and how you plan to contact the boat either direct or through a repeater station. In some cases all you would need is a low-cost portable radio. Consider using GMRS on board your boat. It is a viable option for any family or family-owned business. The VHF Multi-Use Radio Service is a possibluity for close-in communication. Beach to boat communication within a few miles would be possible. The equipment cost would be smaller. MURS radios are low power but external antennas can be used. Om-board a boat you could use a second marine antenna for your MURS antenna. There are nio repeaters on MURS. Need to know more? Visit our marine forum here at PopularWireless.