I cant speak for Cruise Ships, but I can speak for my company's policies. We recently chartered a 310ft British Flagged research vessel. I asked permission to operate from her while she was being refit in Singapore (and I was installing a HD video system for our Remotely Operated Vehicle) and therefore created our Ham Radio On Board policy!
After working with my company principals, who encouraged my operation, and the charter company, who referred me to the ship's Master, we made the following decisions: I was to operate from the ship's bridge when the ship was not underway (quayside, at anchor or under Dynamic Station Keeping). I could only operate if I had a Singaporean license and only while in Singapore national waters (we ventured offshore into international waters then into Indonesian waters during sea trials, where I had to go QRT). Our reasoning was that since the ship was British territory, I could not operate on the high seas with my US license unless I used CEPT or had a British license. This is also true on our owned Bahamas flagged and Panama flagged ships. According to our Marine Operations folks, the ship's masters would insist I had C5A and HP licenses on the high seas and a local license when inside a given country's territorial waters. That's just the way we do it, I dont know if its "law" or not, but it makes sense. For the Singapore operation, I was told that I could use only a maximum of 100 watts into my portable vertical antenna, which I had to install myself on the comms bridge of the ship on the same plane as the exiting ship HF antennas. If I created any interference with any shipboard equipment, I had to either rectify it or go off the air. Upon my arrival in Singapore, I received my Singapore license and operated from dry dock, floating quayside and 2 km off of downtown Singapore from mid June to mid July of last year, with no issues. I even operated IARU from Zone 54 and came in 2nd in the contest SOLPABM! :) I also became the crew's friend when I used my 3G wireless internet dongle to allow the ship's network (slow) internet access while the InMarSat terminal was down and used my antenna building skill to make a small UHF yagi so that the crew could watch the World Cup off the air from a TV station in Indonesia while at anchor. Your marine milage will vary, but this is worked for me. If it was legal or not is anyone's guess, all I know is that on board any of the ships my company owns or charters, the Ships' Master word is God. -lu-W4LT (9V1/W4LT last year)- =========================== Message: 36 Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:33:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Mike Morrow <[email protected]> Subject: [Elecraft] KX1 strikes again - Cruise Ship Bootleg Operations (OT) To: [email protected] Message-ID: <23877255.1303425212002.javamail.r...@elwamui-karabash.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Chip wrote: > While a ship's master may choose to prohibit your use of a QRP rig > on board, He *definitely* has that authority. In fact, what is very questionable is his authority to *allow* ham operation. It doesn't matter that QRP is to be used. > the likelihood of it actually interfering with any ongoing communication > at any given moment is exceedingly low to nonexistent, IMHO. And you have the engineering studies to substantiate that in court? The same argument can be applied to in-flight cell phone use. > If you are operating amateur maritime mobile (i.e. in international waters) > I don't think there is a requirement to identify yourself with anything > other than your amateur call sign. That is incorrect, as nice as it seems it would be were it true. The FCC has absolutely NO authority or influence on a foreign flag vessel at sea. Your US call has no standing. The country of ship's registry has jurisdiction on the high seas. If you are operating on a foreign flag vessel with a US call, you quite simply are bootlegging, even if you have the master's permission, unless you can take advantage of some of the relaxed CEPT reciprocal licensing requirements, and identify if you were in the country of ship's registry as required under CEPT. Even those QCWA cruises should (but I guessing do not) follow this. The ship's master has no *authority* to allow any deviation in this area. And, as I mentioned above, should any adverse consequence result from the ham station operation, a master would have no defense for allowing an activity for which he really has no authority to permit, but all authority and responsibility to prohibit. It is also not legal to operate as maritime mobile while *in* a foreign port. In port, the host country's rules for radio operation apply even while on board a ship of another country's registry. In any event, this is taking the list off topic. However, it appears that there is some interest in using Elecraft rigs in operations that are technically bootleg, and worst case harmful to SOLAS considerations. I only suggest that those considering use of their Elecraft rigs at sea investigate how to do that legally. It is, after all, only a hobby and there's nothing *bad* about not being able to ham during a cruise. Were it me, I'd forget at-sea operation, but arrange for bona fide operating authority in the ports of call for the cruise and have some sort of portable kit like a K1 or KX1 to exploit that authority. 73, Mike / KK5F ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
