Rule Part
Radio Service Code(s)
- PC - Public Coast Stations, Auctioned
- SA - Ship Recreational or Voluntarily Equipped
- SB - Ship Compulsory Equipped
- SE - Ship Exemptions
- MA - Marine Auxiliary Group
- MC - Coastal Group
- MK - Alaska Group
- MR - Marine Radiolocation Land
The Maritime Mobile Service is an internationally-allocated radio service providing for safety of life and property at sea and on inland waterways. It includes the Maritime Mobile Service, the Maritime Mobile-Satellite Service, the Port Operations Service, the Ship Movement Service, the Maritime Fixed Service, and the Maritime Radiodetermination Service. These services classify the different types of marine radio communications, but they are less important for regulatory purposes than the two classifications of marine radio stations:
Together, shipboard and land stations in the marine services are meant to serve the needs of the entire maritime community. The FCC regulates these services both for ships of U.S. registry that sail in international and foreign waters and for all marine activities in U.S. territory. For this and other reasons, the rules make a distinction between compulsory users of marine radio for safety at sea, and noncompulsory uses for purposes other than safety. In addition, rules concerning domestic marine communications are matched to requirements of the U.S. Coast Guard, which monitors marine distress frequencies continuously to protect life and property in U.S. waters.