On 18 May 2004 at 19:53, Dave Kruger wrote: > Michael, there is no course of instruction mandated before applying > for a Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit in the US. It's optional in Canada and is administered by the Power and Sail Squadron. However, it's easier to pay the extra C$15 and take the course than to self-study and then try to get a seat at the "official" exam. The latter is infrequent and crammed with pros, while the former is regularly scheduled for (mostly) recreational boaters, with a few pros as well. > The > details are below. License fees in the US, in similar dollars, are > considerably greater (US$50 = (about) CAN$75). Still cheaper than potential penalties if caught without an ROC in Canada. > Lack of mandated instruction or exam, Odd - I checked the US Power Squadron's web site, thinking they'd pick up the slack - zip. > along with very limited monitoring or enforcement > contributes to widespread misuse of marine VHF channels in the US. I can't understand why this happened. Misguided deregulation, I suppose. Given the value of the system, I don't know why anyone would advocate essentially abandoning the thing to the chaos of anyone-with-the-money-can-play. If they try this in Canada, there will be a big fight to prevent it - it's the core of Great Lakes marine SAR (the ocean areas are less densely populated and served). Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed May 19 2004 - 13:29:06 PDT
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