Early this year, I bought myself a VHF Marine radio. On April 4th, 1996 I sent in a check for $75.00 to the FCC to get a Marine Radio Operators License and a Call Sign Number. I waited patiently for the red tape to run through the bureaucratic gears and issue me a license. The check cleared a month or so later, but no call sign documents arrived. Finally, after 6 months with no word, I started poking around trying to find someone in the government I could complain to. Instead I found NPRM WT Docket No. 96-82 FCC 96-145: a proposed amendment to parts 80 and 87 of the FCC Code of Federal Regulations. A copy of this 8 page document is available on the World Wide Web. It is actually surprisingly easy to read for a bureaucratic government regulatory agency document, although it is a little repetitive.
Apparently just 3 days before I sent in my application form, the FCC adopted this Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). It's good news for kayakers and operators of other recreational vessels. This means you can now use a marine radio without a license. The FCC admits that their licensing requirements no longer serve the public interest: Getting an FCC call sign number was redundant in most boats and planes, which were required to get a separate registration number from another bureaucracy anyway. This rule will remove the burden of filing applications and paying fees from recreational boaters. I certainly agree that the hassle of getting the license has been a deterrent to many people, preventing them from carrying a possibly life-saving piece of equipment. Other people carried a marine radio, but never practiced using it for fear that Big Brother would catch them in the act. Of course, if you plan to travel into foreign ports, you must still get a license. The FCC, like any bureaucracy, never made any money off the registration fees we sent in. Of course they spent far more money administrating the system. The money formerly spent on this will now be "redeployed in other areas".
If you have ever tried to make a Marine Operator phone call, they always ask for your call sign, but now you will probably never have one. Another way to deal with marine phone calls is to get a marine calling card. With the unique ID number off this calling card you can have marine calls billed directly to your home and avoid the hassle and expense of collect calls. Pacific Bell (here in northern California) owns the marine radio stations, hires the operators, and processes the billing of these calls. When you try to get a marine calling card ID from Pacific Bell, they have formerly required a call sign number. Oops! Are we stuck in a catch 22?
I called the marine radio people at Pacific Bell ((800) 498-2646) and asked them what to do in light the (lack of) new FCC regulations. They were friendly about it, and were willing to issue the calling card based on the "CF" registration number off of my boat. Oops! Kayaks are not required to be registered! I suggested using the hull ID number off one of my kayaks and they accepted that, appending my last name on the end for good measure. Everyone also wants to know the name of my vessel, so I made one up: "The MYAK" (for MY KAYAK). However, I have several kayaks and canoes that I use this radio in and I may use that name for "whichever one I'm in right now". The friendly people at Pacific Bell issued the card and gave me the number over the phone, so now I'm finally on the air.
Although the new FCC rule is still only proposed, it doesn't add new regulations, instead it relieves a regulatory restriction. This made the rule exempt from the usual Administrative Procedure Act requirements of giving advanced notice. Accordingly, the FCC implemented it immediately (April 1st, 1996) and no longer requires a license to operate a marine radio in a recreational vessel. People like me who sent in money may be eligible for a partial refund, but I'm not going to hold my breath.