VHF Certificate – Part 1

As you may have read in the November 2021 article, Linde contains quite a bit of communications equipment. Besides a Radar, there is a VHF radio, SSB radio and EPIRB present.

To operate this equipment, or better to have this equipment on board, you need certificates. In the Netherlands we know 3 types of certificates: Basiscertificaat Marifonie, Marcom B and Marcom A.

The Basic Certificate allows you to operate and have a VHF on board, but it must only be able to be in the inland navigation mode. This means that you are only allowed to sail on inland waterways and a few miles from the coast at sea. Do you have Marcom B then you may next to the inland waterways also further at sea, and you may operate safety equipment such as the EPIRB. With Marcom A you may also operate an SSB radio. With the SSB radio you transmit over a very large distance at sea. In addition, Marcom A is primarily intended for professional/commercial navigation at sea.

We hesitated whether we wanted to get Marcom B immediately or first obtain the Basic Certificate through self-study. We finally decided on the latter so that, if the rest was too difficult, we could at least operate the VHF on the IJsselmeer and the lakes of Friesland.

We looked around and came across an online course from the Albatros sailing school. Here we can do the study ourselves with the help of a book and video. A large number of exam questions are also available and, as you may expect from Carla, there is a thorough plan for learning. I follow her schedule neatly and together we try to prepare for the exam as best we can. We choose to both do this, because you never know if 1 of us will be sailing alone with friends in the future without the other. If both have the right papers, it is never a problem. It is great fun to learn together and what is nice is that you also discuss theory together. We find it a pity that it is only a theoretical course, practicing aloud with a radio is not part of the course.

On Sunday, February 6, we drive to Nieuwegein to take the exam. Carla turns out to be a bit more nervous than I am. My reasoning is that if we’ve done a lot of practice tests and we’ve passed almost every one of them, we don’t need to worry. The only thing we both worry about is who has the most points. A few years ago, Carla passed the boating license with 2 points more after me…that won’t happen to me again, will it?

We walk into the building, a quick visit to the restroom because of the trip(no not because of nerves) and then into the room with tables pushed far apart. I had expected that there would be maybe 5 of us, but there weren’t. It was more like 15 to 20. It was more like 15 to 20. When it also turns out that the exams are held 3x a week and there are more training institutes, I can’t help but conclude that a lot of people want to operate a VHF radio right now.

When we are done, we hand in the answers and go home. Later in the day, we can log on to Albatros and see if we passed. The result, we both passed. How many points difference? I don’t think that’s so important… I won’t bully Carla the way she has bullied me the last few years with her two point difference from the boating license… ok… well…. Carla 46 points out of 50 correct and I….49!!!!! Yea THREE points more… THREE!!!!