(a) A private coast station or a marine utility station may be granted only to a person who is:

(1) Regularly engaged in the operation, docking, direction, construction, repair, servicing or management of one or more commercial transport vessels or United States, state or local government vessels; or is

(2) Responsible for the operation, control, maintenance or development of a harbor, port or waterway used by commercial transport vessels; or is

(3) Engaged in furnishing a ship arrival and departure service, and will employ the station only for the purpose of obtaining the information essential to that service; or is

(4) A corporation proposing to furnish a nonprofit radio communication service to its parent corporation, to another subsidiary of the same parent, or to its own subsidiary where the party to be served performs any of the eligibility activities described in this section; or is

(5) A nonprofit corporation or association, organized to furnish a maritime mobile service solely to persons who operate one or more commercial transport vessels; or is

(6) Responsible for the operation of bridges, structures or other installations that area part of, or directly related to, a harbor, port or waterway when the operation of such facilities requires radio communications with vessels for safety or navigation; or is

(7) A person controlling public moorage facilities; or is

(8) A person servicing or supplying vessels other than commercial transport vessels; or is

(9) An organized yacht club with moorage facilities; or is

(10) A nonprofit organization providing noncommercial communications to vessels other than commercial transport vessels.

(b) Each application for station authorization for a private coast station or a marine utility station must be accompanied by a statement indicating eligibility under paragraph (a) of this section.

(a) A person engaged in the operation of one or more commercial transport vessels or government vessels may receive maritime mobile service from a private coast station or a marine utility station on shore even though not the licensee of the private coast station or the marine utility station. Restrictions on cooperative arrangements are as follows:

(1) Foreign persons must be the licensees of the radio stations installed on board their vessels.

(2) The licensee of a private coast station or marine utility station on shore may install ship radio stations on board United States commercial transport vessels of other persons. In each case these persons must enter into a written agreement verifying that the ship station licensee has the sole right of control of the ship stations, that the vessel operators must use the ship stations subject to the orders and instructions of the coast station or marine utility station on shore, and that the ship station licensee will have sufficient control of the ship station to enable it to carry out its responsibilities under the ship station license.

(b) Cooperative arrangements are limited concerning cost and charges as follows:

(1) The arrangement must be established on a non-profit, cost-sharing basis by written contract. A copy of the contract must be kept with the station records and made available for inspection by Commission representatives.

(2) Contributions to capital and operating expenses are to be prorated on an equitable basis among all persons who are parties to the cooperative arrangement. Records which reflect the cost of the service and its nonprofit, cost-sharing nature must be maintained by the licensee of the station and made available for inspection by Commission representatives.

(a) Private coast stations and marine utility stations are authorized to communicate:

(1) With any mobile station in the maritime mobile service for the exchange of safety communications;

(2) With any land station for the purpose of aiding the exchange of safety communications;

(3) With ship stations.

(b) Private coast stations of the same licensee may be authorized to communicate on a secondary basis between themselves if:

(1) The communications are confined exclusively to those for which authority has been granted the coast station, and concerns ships with which one or both of the coast stations are authorized to communicate; and

(2) Other satisfactory point-to-point communication facilities between the coast stations are unavailable; and

(3) Coast stations which communicate with each other are not more than 160 km (100 miles) apart; and

(4) Harmful interference is not cause to mobile stations.

(c) A private coast station and associated marine utility stations serving and located on a shipyard regularly engaged in construction or repair of commercial transport vessels or Government vessels are authorize to communicate between stations when they are licensed to the same entity and communications are limited to serving the needs of ships on a non-interference basis to other stations in the maritime mobile service. A separate showing is required.

(a) A private coast station or marine utility station using telephony serves the operational and business needs of ships including the transmission of safety communication.

(b) In areas where environmental communications are provided by U.S. Government stations or by public coast stations, private coast stations and marine utility stations on shore must not duplicate that service. In other areas, private coast stations and marine utility stations on shore may transmit weather and hydrographic information required for the ships with which they normally communicate. Private coast stations may provide environmental communication service in areas where adequate service is not available.

(c) Each marine utility station on shore must be operated as a private coast station except that it may be operated at temporary unspecified locations. Marine utility stations on ships are operated as ship stations.

(d) Each private coast station is authorized by rule to use hand-held marine radios in the vicinity of the station's fixed transmitter site on those frequencies assigned to the private coast station. Hand-held communications must conform to those normally permitted under a marine utility station authorization and must be limited to contact with the associated private coast station and ship stations in the vicinity of the private coast station.

Frequencies assignable to private coast stations and marine utility stations are listed in subpart H.

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section each application for a new VHF private coast station license or modification of an existing license to be located in an area having a recognized frequency coordinating committee must be accompanied by:

(1) A report based on a field study, indicating the degree of probable interference to existing stations operating in the same area. The applicant must consider all stations operating on the working frequency or frequencies requested or assigned within 80 km (50 miles) of the proposed station location, and

(2) The report must include a statement that all existing licensees on the frequency within 80 km (50 miles) and the frequency coordinating committee have been notified of the applicant's intention to file an application. The notice of intention to file must provide the licensees concerned and the advisory committee with the following information: The frequency and emission; transmitter location and power; and the antenna height proposed by the applicant.

(b) Applications for modification need not be accompanied by the field study where the modification does not involve any change in frequency(ies), power, emission, antenna height, antenna location or area of operation.

(c)(1) In lieu of the field study, the applicant may acquire a statement from a frequency coordinating committee. The applicant must certify on the application concerning the recommendations of the coordinating committee. The committee must comment on the requested frequency or the proposed changes in the authorized station and give an opinion regarding the probable interference to existing stations. The committee must consider all stations operating on the requested frequency within 80 km (50 miles) of the proposed station location. The frequency coordinating committee statement must also recommend a frequency which will result in the least amount of interference to proposed and existing stations. Committee recommendations may also include comments on technical factors and may recommend restrictions to minimize interference.

(2) A frequency coordinating committee must be representative of all persons who are eligible for VHF private coast stations within the service area of the recognized frequency coordinating committee. A statement of organization, service area and composition of the committee must be submitted to the Commission for approval. The functions of any coordinating committee are purely advisory to the applicant and the Commission. Its recommendations are not binding upon either the applicant or the Commission.

This section contains the names of organizations that have been recognized by the Commission to serve as marine VHF frequency coordinating committees for their respective areas.

(a) The Southern California Marine Radio Council serves the California counties of Santa Barbara, Kern, San Bernardino, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Imperial and the Channel Islands.

(b) The North Pacific Marine Radio Council serves the following counties in the State of Washington: Clallam, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Mason, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston, and Whatcom.

A private coast station or marine utility station using telephony must:

(a) Not be used for public correspondence;

(b) Not be used to transmit program material for radio broadcasting; and

(c) Not be used to transmit press material or news items which are not required to serve the needs of ships.

All communication engaged in by private coast stations and marine utility stations must be limited to the minimum practicable transmission time. Each station licensee must employ standardized operating practices and procedures.

(a) Stations must identify transmissions by announcing in the English language the station's assigned call sign. In lieu of the identification of the station by voice, the official call sign may be transmitted by tone-modulated telegraphy in international Morse Code manually or by means of an automatic device approved by the Commission. Transmissions on the navigation frequency (156.650 MHz) by stations on drawbridges may be identified by use of the name of the bridge in lieu of the call sign. Identification must be made:

(1) At the beginning and end of each exchange of communications and;

(2) At intervals not exceeding 15 minutes whenever transmissions or communications are sustained for more than 15 minutes.

(b) Marine utility stations, private coast stations, and associated hand-held radios, when exchanging communications, may be identified by a unit identifier in lieu of the call sign. Identification by transmission of the assigned call sign must be at the end of the exchange or at least once every 15 minutes.