Is personal FM transmitters allowed on board??

[RealFrancislitan]

 

I read some prohibited items via Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines that "HAM RADIOS" are prohibited on board, and "FM TRANSMITTERS" are not on the prohibited list. I might want to use that FM transmitters with my MP3 player or any phones, through my Portable radio receiver(s) [DEGEN DE1103, Tecsun R-909T, etc..]

 

Are there any advice regarding those items to be brought on board?? thanks.

 

 

 

[jlp20]

I would say all this would get by security. Once on the ship would there be some type of conflict with ship equipment????? But it sounds like your trying to reinvent the wheel. The idea is to pare down the packing list, not make it longer. Our current list is iPod with buds and laptop with compact Bluetooth speaker. That being said, if your thinking using like awalkie talkie, all that steel will kill most transmissions. Unless you know what ship crew uses and you can piggyback on their repeater system

[SRF]

Also, use in other countries waters may be illegal.

 

And has been said, all the walls, doors, floors and ceilings are sheet steel.  

[BDRebel]

8 hours ago, jlp20 said:

Unless you know what ship crew uses and you can piggyback on their repeater system

This would not be a good idea, and would probably result in your being thrown off the ship.

I agree with the above - would a bluetooth speaker or earbuds not serve just as well? Remember that your neighbors may not share your taste in music.

[donaldsc]

 

Just put a really big SIM card in your cell phone and use your cell phone to listen to your music.  I have I believe a 256 GIG SIM card in my phone and have about 60 GIG of music on the card.   Just make sure that you have your phone in airplane mode whe you use it.

 

DON

[RealFrancislitan]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

Just put a really big SIM card in your cell phone and use your cell phone to listen to your music.  I have I believe a 256 GIG SIM card in my phone and have about 60 GIG of music on the card.   Just make sure that you have your phone in airplane mode whe you use it.

 

DON

Why put on airplane mode while in cruise? Most airlines are strictly turn off all electronic devices while boarding on the plane to prevent any interference on pilot's communications( including shortwave radios, Portable TVs, FM transmitters, walkie talkies, MP3 players, Phones without any airplane mode, etc.. ). Including walkie talkies are strictly not allowed to use in flight. 

 

Operating any portable TV and radios on cruise ships, do may interfere marine communications? 

[RealFrancislitan]

14 hours ago, jlp20 said:

I would say all this would get by security. Once on the ship would there be some type of conflict with ship equipment????? But it sounds like your trying to reinvent the wheel. The idea is to pare down the packing list, not make it longer. Our current list is iPod with buds and laptop with compact Bluetooth speaker. That being said, if your thinking using like awalkie talkie, all that steel will kill most transmissions. Unless you know what ship crew uses and you can piggyback on their repeater system

 

How about this one??

 

[Essiesmom]

You put it in airplane mode so you are not constantly using data and going home to a multi thousand dollar cellphone bill.  EM

[RealFrancislitan]

Just now, Essiesmom said:

You put it in airplane mode so you are not constantly using data and going home to a multi thousand dollar cellphone bill.  EM

or how about removing sim card?

 

[BDRebel]

It is easier to simply put it in airplane mode, and you don't run the risk of losing the sim card.

[zqvol]

I don't know of any reason to say you can't bring those devices, but don't expect them to transmit outside of your cabin. On the open decks you will get some more distance, but not enough to make it worthwhile. Bluetooth is almost as effective.

 

The reason to put a device in airplane mode is because the ship has a cell tower, and data that come through that tower costs a ridiculous amount, even if you have an unlimited plan at home.

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, RealFrancislitan said:

 

I read some prohibited items via Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines that "HAM RADIOS" are prohibited on board, and "FM TRANSMITTERS" are not on the prohibited list. I might want to use that FM transmitters with my MP3 player or any phones, through my Portable radio receiver(s) [DEGEN DE1103, Tecsun R-909T, etc..]

 

Are there any advice regarding those items to be brought on board?? thanks.

 

 

Whether any transmitter is permitted on board depends on the frequency band(s) and power. I highly doubt these have much power, so you should not have any regulatory issues.

 

However the previous comments are relevant. 

[BDRebel]

It appears that you do not yet have one.

If you are thinking about this simply because it looks cool, take my advice -- run away.

I have used these in the past (before bluetooth was borne). They are extremely low power and do not reproduce the music very well. Bluetooth is far superior.

[SRF]

18 hours ago, RealFrancislitan said:

Why put on airplane mode while in cruise? Most airlines are strictly turn off all electronic devices while boarding on the plane to prevent any interference on pilot's communications( including shortwave radios, Portable TVs, FM transmitters, walkie talkies, MP3 players, Phones without any airplane mode, etc.. ). Including walkie talkies are strictly not allowed to use in flight. 

 

Operating any portable TV and radios on cruise ships, do may interfere marine communications? 

 

1)  If you leave your cell phone on and not in airplane mode on the ship, you will connect to the Cellular at Sea service, and if someone calls you, you will get billed at several dollars per minute.  And if you receive any emails, you will be billed (at a high rate) for the data.

 

2)  Virtually NO airline requires that you turn off electronic devices for flight.  A few do request turning them off for take off and landing.  And it due to interference with aircraft navigation, not with communications.    But BlueTooth and Wifi use are acceptable on board.  In fact, many flights now have inflight wifi.

 

3)  Portable radios and TVs on a cruise ship will only be possible when close to land.  No TV or broadcast radio towers at sea.

[SRF]

16 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Whether any transmitter is permitted on board depends on the frequency band(s) and power. I highly doubt these have much power, so you should not have any regulatory issues.

 

However the previous comments are relevant. 

 

For ALL countries???

 

Once you enter the waters of a country, you are bound by their laws.

[SRF]

18 hours ago, RealFrancislitan said:

or how about removing sim card?

 

 

Why not just use Airplane mode?   That is what it is there for.

 

But yes, you could remove the SIM card.  Just don't lose it. 😄

[Hlitner]

I am pretty naïve because it is hard for me to see the need for low powered FM transmitters on cruises (or most anywhere).  The rapid dissemination of Bluetooth (which operates on ISM frequencies) has swept the world spurred on by accepted International standards and frequencies.  Cruise ships are also notorious places to use most kinds of transmitters (accept for near range things like Bluetooth and IR) because of the structure of the ship.  Even the radio/phone systems utilized by the crew are supplemented by booster systems and multiple antennas (scattered around the ship) to minimize issues with all the metal bulkheads.  There are a few professional mariners on this board and perhaps one of them will see this thread and provide even more detail.

 

Regarding Cell Phones on ships, just putting them in Airplane mode and turning on WiFi if one wants to use the ship's WiFi system, will provide protection from getting nailed with possible charges that can happen if you connect to the ship's Cell Tower.  I cannot imagine why one would want to remove a SIM card...which can easily get lost or damaged.  As to using cell phones around the world. the simple solution for those of us in the USA is to get T-Mobile Plans which include service in over 200 countries for no additional fees other then a small 25cent per minute charge for cell phone calls (using land based cells).  T-Mobile has no additional charge for data or text in those 200+ countries although some folks do complain that their data service is sometimes metered to 2G speeds (LTE is available but can involve additional monthly fees).  Our own experience with T-Mobile is that it "just works" almost anywhere on land.  On the ship we only connect via WiFi (keeping our phone in airplane mode so it cannot connect to the onboard cell).   On ships that have decent WiFi we can make (and receive) WiFi phone calls and even Facetime.

 

Hank

[donaldsc]

4 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Why not just use Airplane mode?   That is what it is there for.

 

But yes, you could remove the SIM card.  Just don't lose it. 😄

 

One should add that the SIM card is really really tiny.  It is is 0.04 x 0.59 x 0.43 in.  

 

DON

[Heidi13]

13 hours ago, SRF said:

 

For ALL countries???

 

Once you enter the waters of a country, you are bound by their laws.

Not knowing which countries he is visiting, it is hard to comment. However, even with minimal knowledge of foreign radio laws, I can guess at least a couple of countries where they would not be permitted.

 

However, I still remember many of the marine regulations and onboard ship, in International waters, there should not be regulatory issues. Being low power, how well it would work is a different story.

 

If my 5 W portable radio didn't work without a repeater system, wouldn't give much chance of this working over any distance.

[SRF]

17 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Not knowing which countries he is visiting, it is hard to comment. However, even with minimal knowledge of foreign radio laws, I can guess at least a couple of countries where they would not be permitted.

 

However, I still remember many of the marine regulations and onboard ship, in International waters, there should not be regulatory issues. Being low power, how well it would work is a different story.

 

If my 5 W portable radio didn't work without a repeater system, wouldn't give much chance of this working over any distance.

 

 

Agreed.  The reason I questioned what you said, as you originally stated:

 

 I highly doubt these have much power, so you should not have any regulatory issues.

 

5 watt portable?  Ham?

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, SRF said:

5 watt portable?  Ham?

Negative, the radios I used were the ship radios, since I worked aboard the ships. 

[RealFrancislitan]

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 5:05 PM, Heidi13 said:

Whether any transmitter is permitted on board depends on the frequency band(s) and power. I highly doubt these have much power, so you should not have any regulatory issues.

 

However the previous comments are relevant. 

That FM transmitter that I 

 

On ‎1‎/‎18‎/‎2019 at 11:04 PM, Heidi13 said:

Not knowing which countries he is visiting, it is hard to comment. However, even with minimal knowledge of foreign radio laws, I can guess at least a couple of countries where they would not be permitted.

 

However, I still remember many of the marine regulations and onboard ship, in International waters, there should not be regulatory issues. Being low power, how well it would work is a different story.

 

If my 5 W portable radio didn't work without a repeater system, wouldn't give much chance of this working over any distance.

FM transmitters that I post above are less than 200 mw or 0.2W.

[SRF]

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Negative, the radios I used were the ship radios, since I worked aboard the ships. 

 

OK

 

[SRF]

6 hours ago, RealFrancislitan said:

That FM transmitter that I 

 

FM transmitters that I post above are less than 200 mw or 0.2W.

 

Again, you would have to research the laws of each country you will be visiting.  Even if you do not take the device off the ship, you have to comply with that countries laws once the ship enters their waters.

 

While those devices may be legal in the US, the use or even possession of them, in another country, may not be legal.

 

And, other than within your cabin or close by the device, they will not work on the ship due to all the metal walls and floor.  Metal blocks radio waves.

[chengkp75]

I don't really understand the question.  You want to go from an MP3 or phone to an FM transmitter to an FM receiver, just to listen to music?  Why not just the MP3 or phone and bluetooth speakers?  If you're walking around, just the MP3 or phone?  Why do 3 steps when 1 will do?