Tomorrow I will pass the exam to acquire the French amateur radio certificate in order to be allowed to use various tools sailors use at sea for security (VHF, DSC, EPIRB etc..).

I’m baffled by how complex those communication systems are compared to modern tools and how many they are.

They were designed over the last 50 years, and international organizations just added them on top of each other which in end makes for a very complicated ecosystem of tools.

The goal of those tools is to prevent the loss of human life in the harsh marine environment. Having redundancy is key to face all situations, but this also adds complexity.

I’m sure the latest satellite technologies, digital solutions and decentralized systems will help simplify that situation at one point. šŸ¤žšŸ»

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Even though marine coms systems are complex, my wife and I are now allowed to use radio tools in France and worldwide šŸ¤—šŸŽ‰ #radio #sailing

Nice. We only used a vhf with Ais when we were sailing. Enjoy the prep, it's part of the adventure.

Indeed preparation is kind of an adventure as well ! You should be onboard in 15 days and sailing of in a bit more than a month šŸ¤žšŸ»šŸ™šŸ»

We ended up buying a Meridian Go for the Pacific crossing. Great little piece of kit for short comms. Fair winds šŸ™