See how to obtain or renew a station license.
As you are all aware, our exemption only applies in Canadian and International waters. When a vessel or aircraft is in the sovereign territory of any foreign administration, the provisions of the ITU apply, which requires that all stations be licensed unless there is a treaty between the administrations involved.
Since we do not have a treaty at this point in time, from this day forward, we should advise our clients inquiring about travel into the USA (air or marine) that they will require a license to fully comply with international law. It may save someone’s holiday by explaining that in these post 9/11 days of increasing uncertainty, you never know when zero tolerance attitudes may surface and cause travelers grief if their paper work is not all in order. It is fairly inexpensive to obtain and maintain your Canadian licensing, and these days licensing, operators certificates and passports are all considered very good things to have.”
If anyone has questions please contact Jim Laursen at Industry Canada.
How
to obtain/renew a Station Licence
1) You can renew a lapsed radio licence provided it just lapsed this year (April
2004). If a licence is unpaid / delinquent / cancelled, it is purged from the
system in the fall, and no record will remain. This likely means that lapsed
licences will be "renewable" for another few months before a new application
is required.
2) An application for a new licence can be obtained from your local IC office, a local supplier a PDF file.
A list of district offices are available at RIC
66 bottom of the page.
3) Short term licences are available but realistically, they are not really the way to go. They are only available monthly and after a couple of months cost the same as doing one yearly licence, (which is about $36), also with the yearly licence, you only do the paperwork once.
The form to fill out, as a pleasure craft operator, is IC-2378: Application for a Maritime Mobile Radio Station Licence for a Voluntarily Fitted Ship
They are still hopeful that we will have a reciprocal agreement with the USA someday soon but more pressing matters are occupying their time right now. It is Industry Canada's opinion that the licence is cheap assurance when visiting "foreign" ports. "In these days of uncertainty and homeland security issues... you never know when zero tolerance might pop up or and over-zealous border/customs person might ruin you outing/holiday by requesting radio licences".