Batboard

Can anyone tell me if it is legal to program a Motorola HT-1250
on the VHF marine band as a backup radio ?
I know it will work, but not sure of the Type acceptance

I believe that as long as you program channel to be used on low power if needed, you won't have a problem. Marine VHF radios are suppose to be able to xmit 1 watt of power if needed I believe, and that's what helps get them type accepted.

As far as I have read, the type acceptance is pretty much the same as a commerical radio, but they must be able to xmit 1 watt on low power. I don't think that the FCC police is going to come after you unless you are doing something your not suppose to be doing with it..

Hello.

Actually, there is a different TA for marine radios.
The HT-1250 could be made to meet most of the requirements.
1 No CTCSS/DCS, every radio must do carrier, but can do marine DCS.
http://wireless.fcc.gov/marine/fctsht14.html
2 you do not need a license, if the radio is not required under SOLAS.
3 the radio must have a 1 watt, or less position, maximum on high is 25 watts.
4 channel 6, 156.3Mhz, and channel 16, 156.8MHz must be present, must be in display as 6/16, and must be in order, i.e. you can have whatever channels you want, but 6 and 16 must be around the bottom, and default.
That is it, the part 90 TA is otherwise valid for marine TX, part 15 is same.

THe USCG uses a ton of "special" MXC1000 mobile radios for the MARINE and GOV freqs. Its just a regular MXC1000 with a hi-lo power switch and SP RSS that's it otherwise its a Part 90/15 type radio.

Your HT1250 is much more type acceptable than a lot of socalled Marine radios available.
Just make sure of the one watt rule in harbor, that is what gets people into truble.