ham radio on board

Any ham ops out there take your 2 meter on any ship and work as maritime
mobile?
All i want to do is operate in U.S. and INTL. waters,and stay quiet in
Mexican territories.
Did any one have problems with permission?
tnx
de
DW
southern cal

On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:06:02 -0400, Brian K
<brian1951BLOG@> wrote:

>On 7/27/2008 9:23 PM board op old school plucked Senior Frog's Magic
>Twanger and said:
>> Any ham ops out there take your 2 meter on any ship and work as maritime
>> mobile?
>> All i want to do is operate in U.S. and INTL. waters,and stay quiet in
>> Mexican territories.
>> Did any one have problems with permission?
>> tnx
>> de
>> DW
>> southern cal
>>
>>
>
>Do you *really* think that in these post 9/11 times any cruise line in
>their right mind would sign off on this? As we say in NJ and NYC,
>Forgedaboutit! If you can't do it on an airplane or a train, then you
>can't do it on the ship. Ham radios will interfere with navigational
>equipment and communications. Even a guy like me who was an air jock on
>a college radio station knows that.

Sorry, but you are misinformed.

A licensed amateur radio operator may operate in US and international
waters with permission from the captain. I had no problem obtaining
permission to use a UFH/VFH handheld on Celebrity. One of the crew
members on the NCL Pride of Hawaii ran a portable HF station. At one
time, the QE II had an amateur radio room onboard.

The frequencies used for ship-to-shore and satellite communications
are not those generally used by traveling amateur radio operators, and
there won't be interference.

I would not try to get permission to operate in Mexico; it sounds
difficult and time-consuming to get the requisite license. A US
licensee doesn't need to do anything to operate in Canada.

I get the impression that many people use FRS or GMRS handhelds on
ship, legally or not.

I have never heard even a hint that using a radio isn't allowed on
trains. When I commuted by train, I used to do it all the time, in
plain view of the conductors (if they happened to be walking by). With
a headset, of course.

The message <23746-488D1F9E-296@storefull-3272.bay.>
from oldradioguy04@ (board op old school) contains these words:

> Any ham ops out there take your 2 meter on any ship and work as maritime
> mobile?
> All i want to do is operate in U.S. and INTL. waters,and stay quiet in
> Mexican territories.
> Did any one have problems with permission?

My husband does this and indeed just done a 2 week stint from the UK to
Italy working all the way except in Moroccan waters [aboard Fred. Olsen
Cruise Lines].

He has done this in on HAL in the Caribbean too.

All one needs to do [asides from the appropriate licences is obtain the
cruiseline HO permission at the outset and then when aboard the final OK
from the Captain under the terms of the license. You need a license for
the country of registry of the vessel too, to work in int'l waters. The
only problem my husband had was that it made his call sign rather long
at times - LOL

I am told there are groups of ham ops who sail HAL in Alaska each year
together.

--
Pam

[Default] Thus spake Brian K <brian1951BLOG@>:

>On 7/27/2008 9:23 PM board op old school plucked Senior Frog's Magic
>Twanger and said:
>> Any ham ops out there take your 2 meter on any ship and work as maritime
>> mobile?
>> All i want to do is operate in U.S. and INTL. waters,and stay quiet in
>> Mexican territories.
>> Did any one have problems with permission?
>> tnx
>> de
>> DW
>> southern cal
>>
>>
>
>Do you *really* think that in these post 9/11 times any cruise line in
>their right mind would sign off on this? As we say in NJ and NYC,
>Forgedaboutit! If you can't do it on an airplane or a train, then you
>can't do it on the ship. Ham radios will interfere with navigational
>equipment and communications. Even a guy like me who was an air jock on
>a college radio station knows that.

Knows what? That 2 meter causes absolutely no effect on navigation
equipment? That most world cruisers have a ham and SSB on their
sailboat and use them with no ill consequences? That most of the
"inteferes with navigation" is fear mongering and has never been
tested or verified?

As an on air jock, you were only qualified to spin vinyl. There was
an engineer there to run the station, who had actually taken tests and
been licensed by the FCC. Just like anyone running a 2 meter.

I've taken my 2 and 10 meter on some cruises. The 10 meter requires a
balcony. The 2 meter was pretty much a waste of time.

It takes about a week to get a reciprical license from the Mexican
government.

Dillon Pyron wrote:
> [Default] Thus spake Brian K <brian1951BLOG@>:
>
>> On 7/27/2008 9:23 PM board op old school plucked Senior Frog's Magic
>> Twanger and said:
>>> Any ham ops out there take your 2 meter on any ship and work as maritime
>>> mobile?
>>> All i want to do is operate in U.S. and INTL. waters,and stay quiet in
>>> Mexican territories.
>>> Did any one have problems with permission?
>>> tnx
>>> de
>>> DW
>>> southern cal
>>>
>>>
>> Do you *really* think that in these post 9/11 times any cruise line in
>> their right mind would sign off on this? As we say in NJ and NYC,
>> Forgedaboutit! If you can't do it on an airplane or a train, then you
>> can't do it on the ship. Ham radios will interfere with navigational
>> equipment and communications. Even a guy like me who was an air jock on
>> a college radio station knows that.
>
> Knows what? That 2 meter causes absolutely no effect on navigation
> equipment? That most world cruisers have a ham and SSB on their
> sailboat and use them with no ill consequences? That most of the
> "inteferes with navigation" is fear mongering and has never been
> tested or verified?
>
> As an on air jock, you were only qualified to spin vinyl. There was
> an engineer there to run the station, who had actually taken tests and
> been licensed by the FCC. Just like anyone running a 2 meter.
>
> I've taken my 2 and 10 meter on some cruises. The 10 meter requires a
> balcony. The 2 meter was pretty much a waste of time.
>
> It takes about a week to get a reciprical license from the Mexican
> government.
Not had any problem with smaller ships. If you use 2meter in Europe you
will need tone burst for some repeaters. Just stay in the band and
don't take the radio off the ship in former Soviet countries.

CFL wrote:

> Not had any problem with smaller ships. If you use 2meter in Europe you
> will need tone burst for some repeaters. Just stay in the band and
> don't take the radio off the ship in former Soviet countries.
>

A licensed HAM is not allowed to use his radio in "National" waters
outside the USA, with out written permission or a license for that country.
Also, some ship companies and captains require you to be licensed in the
country the ship is registered.


Clay>>KF4ELC

frijoli wrote:
> CFL wrote:
>
>> Not had any problem with smaller ships. If you use 2meter in Europe
>> you will need tone burst for some repeaters. Just stay in the band
>> and don't take the radio off the ship in former Soviet countries.
>>
>
> A licensed HAM is not allowed to use his radio in "National" waters
> outside the USA, with out written permission or a license for that country.
> Also, some ship companies and captains require you to be licensed in the
> country the ship is registered.
>
>
> Clay>>KF4ELC

I called Royal Caribbean. They said "Captain makes the final call".(no
pun intended) I made the call because of an ARRL article I read about
someone who was successful in gaining permission. I'll see if I can find it.

Clay

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:48:35 -0400, frijoli <crabman@dud.net> wrote:

>CFL wrote:
>
>> Not had any problem with smaller ships. If you use 2meter in Europe you
>> will need tone burst for some repeaters. Just stay in the band and
>> don't take the radio off the ship in former Soviet countries.
>>
>
>A licensed HAM

Why do you capitalize "ham"? I've seen people do that, and never
understood why - it's not an acronym.

>is not allowed to use his radio in "National" waters
>outside the USA, with out written permission or a license for that country.

Not true - a US amateur radio operator can operate in Canada without
either written permission or a Canadian license.

>Also, some ship companies and captains require you to be licensed in the
>country the ship is registered.

Which would be more difficult, depending on where the ship is
registered. But some ships are registered in Panama, and Panama
doesn't require US amateurs to obtain a license, just a permit from
the ARRL (the major US amateur radio society). That's true of several
other countries in the Americas, and there's a similar system for some
countries in Europe.

Thank you all for the great info,
I think the HT stays home and maybe just take a portable scanner or
short wave radio.
Seems to be too much hassle , but just a thought.
Thank you again
DW

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 19:00:27 -0700, oldradioguy04@ (board op
old school) wrote:

>Thank you all for the great info,
>I think the HT stays home and maybe just take a portable scanner or
>short wave radio.
>Seems to be too much hassle , but just a thought.
>Thank you again

Consider an NCL cruise around Hawaii on their remaining NCLA ship - no
license hassles, and there are repeaters in most of the ports.

I was told that HF is problematic (even if you get permission) because
of the difficulty of finding a good ground - which you wouldn't think
would be difficult on a large piece of metal, but apparently
everything you can easily get to is painted or covered with plastic or
both.