R. Walker wrote: > > > > > Hi All! > > > > I'm looking at the Apelco 520 radio. > > > > Can someone point me to a source (preferably on the web) about > > requirements to obtain a license to operate the handheld VHF radios? > > In short, you don't need one if you are in a boat on the coastal waters of > the United States. For non US specific info, it will vary from country to > country. > > Richard Walker He's right. The government did away with such licensing several years ago. Good thing. In the last year or two of the licensing requirement they decided that you had to pay for your license for 10 years in advance rather than annually and that 10 year license was about $90 or so if I recall correctly. So anyone buying a radio then had to shell out $200 or more for the radio and nearly another $100 for the license. I know I was considering one just at that point and backed off. Good thing. The radios have since gotten cheaper, stronger and even submersible at reasonable prices considering their life-saving attributes. As Richard says, you no longer need a license for operating one on a boat but you do need one for operating from a land station, meaning on land. However, it is an FCC reg that isn't enforced unless someone is setting up something pretty permanent. If an emergency occurs and you are on land watching it, call in a May Day. The Coast Guard will come in and no one is going to get technical about where the call was made. The thing is not to be abusive with calling from the land. I understand from some sources that along remote stretches of the Alaskan coastline people regularly use marine VHF radios on land and the law does not come down cracking on them. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Oct 10 1999 - 21:31:01 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:14 PDT