Ships station license and operator permit

As an aside, I have wondered for some time whether anyone operating a VHF in BC or the PNW has ever taken the course! I have never herd anyone, whether boater or Coastguard traffic operator, say the words "Over", or "Out". I hear lots of "ten-four", "see you later", and so on. Channel 16 is frequently used for fishing reports and arranging sun-downers. I guess it's a West Coast thing

MV Content said:

As an aside, I have wondered for some time whether anyone operating a VHF in BC or the PNW has ever taken the course! I have never herd anyone, whether boater or Coastguard traffic operator, say the words "Over", or "Out". I hear lots of "ten-four", "see you later", and so on. Channel 16 is frequently used for fishing reports and arranging sun-downers. I guess it's a West Coast thing

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I have my ROC-M.

The Canadian Coast Guard does a pretty good job of keeping chatter off of 16. Or at least the Comox station used to. But it's closed now.

MV Content said:

As an aside, I have wondered for some time whether anyone operating a VHF in BC or the PNW has ever taken the course! I have never herd anyone, whether boater or Coastguard traffic operator, say the words "Over", or "Out". I hear lots of "ten-four", "see you later", and so on. Channel 16 is frequently used for fishing reports and arranging sun-downers. I guess it's a West Coast thing

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You don't boat where I do. I hear proper useage of channel 16 most of the time. Yes there are the occasional CB types that clearly don't have their ROC-M, but they are the very tiny minority. As soon as someone transmits a bit of chatter that doesn't belong on 16, the Victoria CG operators are right on them to "move to a working channel" and a note that "channel 16 is for emergency and hailing only"

I got my ROC-M 25 or 30 yrs ago, when the course was offered within my yacht club. My wife has one too. Over the years we have taken to pointing out to each other when someone on the radio fails to use the proper language, so we are quite aware of the frequency of mis-use, at least while we are out on our boat.

Spy - Comox Radio has simply been absorbed into Victoria Radio, as part of making the whole system seamless. Coverage of the old "Comox area" by Victoria CG Radio is as good or better than it was.

Agreed: the misuse of Ch16 is rare, and well-policed. But I'm still surprised that the correct protocols are so very rarely used, by Traffic operators, BC Ferry operators, and just about anyone else. But I guess everyone understands what they mean, so that's ok. Some of the protocol comes out when there is an emergency, but not all. I didn't mean to distract from the original topic, but my point was this: if the authorities insist on folk being licensed, and then don't lead by example on the correct use of protocol, then what benefit are they trying to engender, other than revenue generation?

koliver said:

You don't boat where I do. I hear proper useage of channel 16 most of the time.

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Agree.

koliver said:

Spy - Comox Radio has simply been absorbed into Victoria Radio, as part of making the whole system seamless. Coverage of the old "Comox area" by Victoria CG Radio is as good or better than it was.

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Oh, I know, I just miss the familiar voices. One got to "know" them after a while. They were very professional. Great listening during an emergency.

Hate the robot voice reading the weather too.

Northern Spy said:

Agree.

Hate the robot voice reading the weather too.

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Since I started using an app on my phone for the ocean bouy reports, I rarely turn to the weather channels for anything. Not only the robot voice, but the endless wait while the tape cycles through all of the data you are not interested in, does it again in French (some would complaint that they have to wait through all the English just to get to the French), then, just when your attention has strayed to something more urgent, you miss the one little snippet you were waiting for.

I like SailFlow, though I know there are others that give the same information in a format you may prefer. It gices the most recent bouy reports, usually hourly, and a prediction over the next day or so. Much better information than the WX channels.

MV Content said:

Channel 16 is frequently used for fishing reports and arranging sun-downers. I guess it's a West Coast thing

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Must be as you'd get quickly rebuked in our area for doing anything more than hail, respond, alternate channel.

Ka_sea_ta said:

I would suspect that most of the recreational boaters going into Canada don't know about the requirement for an SSL. I wouldn't have until I changed out a VHF and thought briefly about installing an AIS transmitter as a safety precaution, which needed an MMSI number. Which is where I discovered the SSL requirement. Which is where I assume most people become aware of this requirement...

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I think information about it used to always be included with the documentation (manual, whatever) when one bought a new VHF radio.

That was way long before MMSI days, though...

That said, when we installed new radios in this boat, the ICOM manual does also include info about both the Ship's Station License and an Operator's License. Wording is "You may require..."

-Chris