Code of Federal Regulations Title 47. Telecommunication § 47.80.102 Radiotelephone station identification

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section, stations must give the call sign in English. Identification must be made:

(b) Private coast stations located at drawbridges and transmitting on the navigation frequency 156.650 MHz may identify by use of the name of the bridge in lieu of the call sign.

(c) Ship stations transmitting on any authorized VHF bridge-to-bridge channel may be identified by the name of the ship in lieu of the call sign.

(d) Ship stations operating in a vessel traffic service system or on a waterway under the control of a U.S. Government agency or a foreign authority, when communicating with such an agency or authority may be identified by the name of the ship in lieu of the call sign, or as directed by the agency or foreign authority.

(e) Voice traffic in the INMARSAT system is closed to other parties except the two stations involved and the identification is done automatically with the establishment of the call. Therefore, it is not necessary for these stations to identify themselves periodically during the communication. For terrestrial systems using DSC to establish radiotelephone communications, the identification is made at the beginning of the call. In these cases, both parties must identify themselves by ship name, call sign or MMSI at least once every 15 minutes during radiotelephone communications.

(f) VHF public coast stations licensed to serve a predetermined geographic service area are not required to provide station identification under this section. A site-based VHF public coast station may identify by means of the approximate geographic location of the station or the area it serves when it is the only VHF public coast station serving the location or there will be no conflict with the identification of any other station.