FCC Grants ICOM a Wavier to Permit Sale of M802

VHF Marine Band radios, protocol, radio communication theory, practical advice; AIS; DSC; MMSI; EPIRB.
jimh
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FCC Grants ICOM a Wavier to Permit Sale of M802

Postby jimh » Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:45 pm

The FCC made a very sensible decision today to grant a wavier as requested by ICOM to allow sale in the USA of the ICOM M802 medium-frequency and high-frequency communication radio with CLASS E DSC features. ICOM had withdrawn the M802 from the market because the radio failed to completely comply with the recommended digital selective calling features that came into effect several years ago; the radio, as it was initially designed and produced, was compliant, but the recommended feature set changed slightly.

The FCC notes that it received about 200 public comments on the request for a wavier, with all but one endorsing ICOM's request. Full details are available in a quite readable fashion in the official report and order. See

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1002/DA-17-960A1.pdf

This excerpt explains the background for this ruling:

Background. MF/HF DSC radios, which operate in the maritime mobile portions of the 1.6-27.5 MHz band, are used by ship stations to communicate with other ship stations or coast stations for safety, navigation, and weather information. The Commission’s rules require DSC radios to comply with certain international technical standards. The M802 complies with the standard that was incorporated into the Commission’s rules when equipment certification was granted for it in 2002. Over time, the rules were amended to incorporate subsequent revisions of this standard. In 2010, the Commission amended its rules to require compliance with technical standard ITU-R M.493-13 and, after a phase-out period, prohibited the manufacture, importation, sale, or installation of non-compliant equipment. The M802 does not comply with requirements in Appendix 4 of ITU-R M.493-13 regarding automated procedures initiated by sending a non-distress DSC message, so Icom removed the model from the United States market.


ICOM's reticence to offer for sale a radio that was not 100-percent compliant may have been due another FCC recent action; the commission fined ICOM a substantial amount of money for selling a non-compliant VHF Marine Band DSC radio. ICOM reacted by removing a number of radios from the market for several months while modifying their DSC features.