Jeff, Amateur Radio units are indeed cheaper plus the people on 14.313
have declared that this is "their" emergency calling frequency 24/7.
Even one of the ARRL SE Division candidates a few years ago made this
one of his key advocacy points to have the IARU name it as such. Thank
God he lost or he would be pushing this stupid idea at the ARRL as he
promised to do.
There is already excellent spectrum for vessels to use monitor by
international treaty by many other ships at sea. Yet the lure of a free
phone patch to his property broker or bank to check on "is everything
10-4?" is supported by amateurs who become enablers and should know better on
ham bands.
Some of the gurus on 14.313 brag about the amounts of
"green stamps" sent to them in many cases for the devotion to this illegal
practice.
Herb, KV4FZ
On 10/1/2012 1:08 PM, Radio KH6O wrote:
Folks, for the benefit of us reading the digest version, please
consider trimming quoted text to the bare minimum. Thanks!
This is because the equipment they purchase, like Icom rigs, operates in Ham
bands. The radio buoys also are programmable to Ham bands.
73 Tom
Tom, this is news to me. Maritime equipment is manufactured to
extremely strict type acceptance. Can you give me an example of an
Icom MF/HF maritime rig that can be used or reprogrammed onto the ham
bands? It seems to me that some incredible redesigning of such a radio
would have to be done. Also, I don't see how the maritime
channelization design could be defeated to give the frequency agility
we enjoy in the amateur radio service (the only service to be given
such a privilege).
There are maritime channels set aside specifically for "chit-chat"
among vessels at sea, so I see no reason for a vessel owner to go
through the incredible effort of getting a maritime-only rig
operating on the ham bands. I suspect, instead, that the vessel owner
has purchased a ham band transceiver (which is about half the price of
a maritime transceiver).
Note that maritime frequencies are channelized. See for example, our
website: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov
73, Jeff KH6O
Senior Chief, US Coast Guard
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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