rescuecomm said:
If you are not carrying passengers for hire, and not leaving US waters, you do not need a Marine Radio License for VHF radios. I ran into this several years ago when the marine radio license for our rescue squad boat was nearing expiration. Since it is used on inland lakes about 250 miles from the sea, there was no need for one.
Bob
Part 80 of the FCC rules covers your rescue boat:
Sec. 80.89 Unauthorized transmissions.
Stations must not:
(a) Engage in superfluous radio communication.
(b) Use telephony on 243 MHz.
(c) Use selective calling on 2182 kHz or 156.800 MHz.
(d) When using telephony, transmit signals or communications not
addressed to a particular station or stations. This provision does not
apply to the transmission of distress, alarm, urgency, or safety signals
or messages, or to test transmissions.
(e) Transmit while on board vessels located on land unless
authorized under a public coast station license. Vessels in the
following situations are not considered to be on land for the purposes
of this paragraph:
(1) Vessels which are aground due to a distress situation;
(2) Vessels in drydock undergoing repairs; and
(3) State or local government vessels which are involved in search
and rescue operations including related training exercises.
(f) Transmit on frequencies or frequency bands not authorized on the
current station license.