posted 11-27-2014 10:57 AM ET (US)        

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Obtaining an MMSI. Vessel owners must obtain an MMSI prior to using a DSC radio, shipborne universal AIS transponder, or INMARSAT ship earth station. All equipment on the vessel, including handheld VHF-DSC radios, must use the same MMSI. How a vessel owner obtains an MMSI depends on whether the ship station requires a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or is instead licensed by rule.

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It should be noted that this is not only a regulatory requirement, it is also a practical requirement. Digital selective calling (DSC) radios of the modern, Class-D category won't operate as DSC radios until you have initialized their DSC system with an MMSI, and they will nag you to program them with the MMSI until you do enter it into the equipment.

Next, the FCC defines the two categories of ship station license: licensed-by-rule and licensed individually by the FCC. The FCC explains how these categories apply.

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A ship station is licensed by rule and does not need a separate license from the FCC if:

--the ship station is not subject to the radio equipment carriage requirements of any statute, treaty, or agreement to which the United States is signatory;

--the ship station does not travel to foreign ports; and,

--the ship station does not make international communications.

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Note that you have to meet all three of these conditions to be eligible to be licensed by rule.

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A ship station licensed by rule is authorized to transmit radio signals using a marine radio operating in the 156-162 MHz band, any type of AIS, any type of emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), and any type of radar installation. Operators of vessels that are licensed by rule can obtain MMSIs from these designated private registration agents:

--BoatUS,

--Sea Tow International, Inc.,

--Shine Micro, Inc., and

--United States Power Squadrons, Inc.

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For most recreational boaters that are not boating in border regions, their boat transmitter will be licensed-by-rule and they will get an MMSI from a private registration agent, one of the four listed above. If you are a boater in a border region and anticipate going into foreign water and communicating with foreign shore stations, for example, boating to Canada and calling a Canadian marina on the radio, your boat transmitter cannot be licensed by rule. You must get an individual license from the FCC.

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Ship stations that are not licensed by rule must be licensed by the FCC. The FCC assigns MMSIs to vessels with individual licenses through the ship station licensing process. An MMSI is assigned as part of the grant of an application for a new license.

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Now comes the confusing part. If you already had an MMSI from a private issuing agent, and you decide to get an FCC license, what should you do? The FCC says:

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Presently, licensed-by-rule vessels with an MMSI that later are licensed individually cannot use the previously issued MMSI in the FCC licensing process.... Instead, when the new license is granted the FCC will assign the ship station a new MMSI. This MMSI must then be programmed into the vessel’s equipment in place of the previous MMSI. In addition, the licensee must have its private registration agent cancel the privately-issued MMSI.

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In 2007 a boating industry group, the National GMDSS Implementation Task Force, petitioned the FCC to change this rule and process, and asked the FCC to permit the MMSI from a private issuing agent to be carried with the boat if the boater obtained an FCC ship station license. The petition pointed out the burden on the boater of having to reprogram all DSC devices with a new MMSI. Hundred of public comments were filed that supported the request for change. The FCC agreed that the petition had merit, but in 2009 it denied the request. The FCC cited the burden of the cost to alter their licensing system to make only this single change, and said that in the future, when considering modification to their licensing system, they would also consider adding this change. (See http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/gmdss/taskForce/fcc-21.pdf for details.)

Five years later in 2014, the FCC still has not changed its licensing system, and boaters are still stuck with having to change their boat's MMSI number when moving to an FCC issued MMSI from a privately issued MMSI. The FCC also explains:

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On the other hand, a licensee that cancels a ship station license or allows it to expire (because the vessel no longer requires an individual license) generally may retain the FCC-issued MMSI and use it to register the vessel with a private registration agent. The vessel must then be registered with a private registration agent because its emergency contact information will be purged from the FCC’s licensing database.

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What is described here is a situation in which the licensing process of the private issuing agents is apparently more sophisticated than the licensing process of the FCC. The private agents can accept a new registration from a boater who has an FCC-issued MMSI and let the boat retain that MMSI number, but the FCC cannot accept the MMSI from the private agents. I guess this is a case of smaller agencies being more nimble than large agencies.

The FCC also makes an important distinction about the programming of emergency beacon device as distinct from other DSC devices that use an MMSI:

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The vessel MMSI should not be programmed into a 406 MHz EPIRB. FCC rules require that 406 MHz EPIRBs on United States vessels be encoded and registered with the hexadecimal identification code assigned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Users should ensure that the coding marked on the EPIRB is correct and matches data registered with NOAA, and that contact information registered with NOAA is accurate and current.

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For the entire public announcement in the most easily read form, obtain a copy from

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db1210/DA-12-1989A1.pdf

posted 11-27-2014 12:10 PM ET (US)            

At present day, DSC radios and other DSC equipment typically only permit the entry of the MMSI once, and changing the MMSI requires that the radio be sent to the factory for service (or in some cases a factory authorized service agency can perform an MMSI reset in the field). And in the case of AIS transponders, the user is not permitted at any time to enter the MMSI into the equipment, so all AIS transponders would require return to the factory or a service center for change of the MMSI.

posted 11-27-2014 12:28 PM ET (US)            

I suppose this seems reasonable if you consider that the goal is to conserve the total number of MMSI identities in use by tying the MMSI to the boat. If the MMSI were tied to a boat owner, there could be a lot of legacy MMSI numbers being held by people who no longer own a boat. The total number of those MMSI identities might eventually become so large that they took up a lot of the available numbering space for the MMSI system. And the numbering space is not infinite. Even thought MMSI identities are nine-digits, they involve a three-digit embedded identity for the issuing agency, leaving only six digits available, that is 999,999 identifies, for the agency to issue. But there are further constraints on the numbers regarding requirements for a trailing zero. This means in some cases only five digits for the identity, or 99,999 choices.

posted 11-28-2014 05:58 AM ET (US)            

I don't think there is a conflict here that is due to anything that is a function of which agency issued the MMSI. You could have two boats, with each having its own MMSI, and both MMSI numbers issued by the same agency. You'd have the same problem with carrying the same portable radio on the two boats. The radio MMSI can only match one boat.

posted 11-28-2014 08:14 AM ET (US)            

The owner of the device then registers himself as having possession of that EPIRB device. When the EPIRB device is activated, it identifies itself--the EPIRB device itself--and then the owner is identified by association with the device by looking up the data in a table. The identification is a 15-character hexadecimal number. This allows for a total number of identities to be perhaps as high as 1,152,921,504,606,846,975--an enormously large number, many time larger than the number of people on the planet.

There is also a very significant difference between registering a 406-MHz EPIRB and registering for a MMSI: there is NO CHARGE to register an EPIRB with the official government agency data base maintained by NOAA. This is in contrast with the government policy for getting an MMSI from the official government registrar, the FCC. You have to pay $160 to register, and then renew every ten years.

There is also quite a difference in the system of communication used to relay the distress alert. With EPIRB 406-MHz, your distress alert transmission must be received by a satellite, which will then relay the message by some means, typically satellite to satellite, then satellite to earth station, then earth station to computer network. Then the system operators have to maintain a database with potentially many, many billions of identities, search that database, and find the owner of the beacon.

With a DSC distress alert sent on VHF radio, the signal goes from your boat all boats and shore stations in range. It has to be much cheaper to maintain a system of shore stations than to maintain a system or orbiting satellites, earth stations, and data networks. Yet EPIRB registration is at no cost, while MMSI registration is $160.

Both systems, EPIRB and DSC radios, are part of the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS). The GMDSS is "an internationally agreed-upon set of safety procedures, types of equipment, and communication protocols used to increase safety and make it easier to rescue distressed ships, boats and aircraft."

Why do I have to pay $160 to get an MMSI? Why do I have to change the MMSI if I get a new boat? Why to I have to pay a $60 (or higher) fee to make any modification to the MMSI data (such as changing address)?

posted 12-07-2014 09:42 AM ET (US)            

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtMmsi

There you will find the following interesting information:

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Obtaining MMSIs for DSC-equipped VHF Handhelds

A handheld VHF transceiver with DSC and an integral global navigation satellite system (e.g. GPS) not intended for dedicated use on a particular ship (e.g. a diver’s radio) should be assigned a unique 9-digit number in the format 8₁M₂I₃D₄X₅X₆X₇X₈X₉. While currently means do not exist within the U.S. to assign such identities, the Coast Guard has been in discussions with the Federal communications Commission and others on implementing them.

In the interim, VHF handhelds used in the United States should use the MMSI assigned to the ship to which the handheld is primarily associated, even if another radio on that ship uses the same MMSI. Non-commercial users of VHF handhelds not primarily associated with any single ship may use an MMSI provided by an organization such as BOAT US, SEA TOW and U.S. Power Squadron (see above). VHF handhelds should not be used ashore absent FCC or NTIA authorization allowing such use.

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posted 07-22-2015 01:14 PM ET (US)            

Several private MMSI-issuing agencies in the USA have recently announced changes in their policies regarding access to registration, management of accounts, and fees for service.

BoatUS
Beginning July 24, 2015, the private MMSI-issuing agency BoatUS has indicated that it will begin to charge $20 for the issuing and registration of an MMSI for non-members of BoatUS. For BoatUS members there will be no fee for registration and issuing of an MMSI:

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BoatUS provides MMSI free to Members. As of July 24th, non-Members may obtain an MMSI for a fee of $20 with a complimentary one-year membership included.

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http://www.boatus.com/mmsi/

SeaTow
The private MMSI-issuing agency SeaTow presently has a message on their website announcing that access to MMSI account management and account registration in not available, and they seem to imply they are discontinuing their MMSI-registration service:

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MMSI account management/registration is currently unavailable.

Existing accounts registered through Sea Tow may still be updated. Please email us at mmsi@seatow.com to update your existing account. To register for a new MMSI, visit the United States Power Squadron...

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https://www.seatow.com/tools-and-education/mmsi

SeaTow's announcement includes hypertext linking to the United States Power Squadron.

United States Power Squadron
The private MMSI-issuing agency United States Power Squadron appears to be continuing to offer registration and issuing of MMSI to boaters at no charge:

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This web site will be your portal to obtaining a MMSI for your vessel at no charge.

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http://www.usps.org/mmsi/

Shine Micro
The private MMSI-issuing agency Shine Micro offers MMSI registration and issuing for its customers that have purchased an MMSI certificate for $25 from Shine Micro via an on-line shopping cart sales system:

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Code: NUM-MMSI-001
Price: $25.00 USD

After purchase, customers will be prompted to use their order confirmation number to proceed through online assignment and registration.

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Summary