In general, any vessel equipped with a VHF marine radiotelephone (whether voluntarily or required to) must maintain a watch on channel 16 (156.800 MHz) whenever the radiotelephone is not being used to communicate.
Source: FCC 47 CFR §§ 80.148, 80.310, NTIA Manual 8.2.29.6.c(2)(e), ITU RR 31.17, 33.18, AP13 §25.2
Some of the strongest lines are the American made mono and braid. A good reason not to buy the foreign lines like Suffix. Good information about the fake lines on Ebay also.
Hermit summed it up himself, but that's what he believes. He said he probably wouldn't check replies. I'm crushed, looks like we lost another one. Sounds like my mother-in-law.
You have up to 90 days before it needs to be registered in with the dmv. Its only illegal if you get caught.
https://www.boat-ed.com/abc/abc_specific_images/pdfs/ny_law.pdf