What are the legalities?

[reefduffer]

I have a Standard Horizon HX850S handheld DSC VHF radio and the manual indicates that no license is required in the US. It is hard to believe it is not subject to the same rules as the Nautilus Lifeline.

I downloaded the manual from Welcome to StandardHorizon.com
The relevant paragraphs from Page 8 (bolding is mine):

MARITIME STATION LICENSE
An FCC ship station license is no longer required for any vessel traveling in
U.S. waters which uses a VHF marine radio, RADAR or EPIRB, and which is
not required to carry radio equipment. However, any vessel required to carry a
marine radio on an international voyage, carrying a HF single side band radio-
telephone or marine satellite terminal. FCC license forms, including applica-
tions for ship (605) and land station licenses can be downloaded via the Internet
at FCC Form 605. To obtain a form from the FCC, call
(888) 225-5322.
MARINE RADIO CALL SIGN
Currently the FCC does not require recreational boaters to have a Ship Radio
Station License. The USCG recommends the boats registration number and
the state to be used.

The question of a license has not been at issue in this thread. The fact that the FCC doesn't require a license for Marine VHF use on small boats has been previously stated and understood. What's being discussed here is whether use of Marine VHF radios by a diver not associated with a boat is legal, licensed or not, or alternatively, whether the FCC would consider a diver to be a "vessel".

I'm not attempting here to add anything to that discussion, I just wanted to point out that the post I'm replying to hasn't, either.

 

[tc]

It may not matter- I preordered one at DEMA in November last year counting on them shipping in March or April as stated at that time so that I would have it available for a foreign trip I took with students in May.

In May when I called for the status they said they still needed additional testing in the field. I explained my situation and asked to get a test unit for the trip and was turned down.

Still not shipped and we're almost into August.

No need to worry about licenses- at this point it appears they can't get the units to function well enough to sell/ship.

 

[davetowz]

Going to jump in with my feelings on this. If I am adrift and really need to use a radio to ensure that I get picked up by a boat, I don't care what the legality is on my usage of the system. I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.

 

[Kicker1866]

seems moot unless they actually start shipping what we have pre-paid for.

 

[Nautilus Mike]

Mike Lever here. I am the inventor of the Nautilus Lifeline and have spent the last 2 years getting it ready to bring to market.. I'm very happy to report that we shipped the first 49 production units last week. We have over 6000 backorders and are spooling production up carefully and methodically. We are going as fast as possible but it's going to take a number of months to fulfill all the backorders. Each production unit is undergoing very intensive detailed testing to ensure everything is tickety-boo. I am really really happy with the final production unit. It does everything I promised and then some. I thank everyone for their patience. couldn't be happier to be shipping Lifelines..

 

[aquaregia]

Congratulations!