[FedCom] marine VHF frequencies

Thu May 7 13:49:42 EDT 2009

There are more than 16 channels. Most inexpensive radios have all the channels.  Beware of the USA channels vs International channels setting as some of the later are allocated to public safety in the USA.  Some radios also have "extra" channels which in my part of the country end up as pirate frequencies for fishermen.

These are the channels.

01A 156.050 156.050 Port Operations and Commercial, VTS.  Available only in New Orleans / Lower Mississippi area. 
05A 156.250 156.250 Port Operations or VTS in the Houston, New Orleans and Seattle areas. 
06 156.300 156.300 Intership Safety 
07A 156.350  156.350 Commercial 
08 156.400 156.400 Commercial (Intership only) 
09 156.450 156.450 Boater Calling.  Commercial and Non-Commercial. 
10 156.500 156.500 Commercial 
11 156.550 156.550 Commercial.  VTS in selected areas. 
12 156.600  156.600  Port Operations.  VTS in selected areas. 
13 156.650 156.650 Intership Navigation Safety (Bridge-to-bridge).  Ships >20m length maintain a listening watch on this channel in US waters. 
14 156.700 156.700  Port Operations.  VTS in selected areas. 
15 -- 156.750 Environmental (Receive only).  Used by Class C EPIRBs. 
16 156.800 156.800 International Distress, Safety and Calling.  Ships required to carry radio, USCG, and most coast stations maintain a listening watch on this channel. 
17 156.850 156.850 State Control 
18A 156.900 156.900 Commercial 
19A 156.950 156.950 Commercial 
20 157.000 161.600 Port Operations (duplex) 
20A 157.000 157.000 Port Operations 
21A 157.050 157.050 U.S. Coast Guard only 
22A 157.100 157.100 Coast Guard Liaison and Maritime Safety Information Broadcasts.   Broadcasts announced on channel 16. 
23A 157.150 157.150 U.S. Coast Guard only 
24 157.200  161.800 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
25 157.250 161.850 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
26 157.300 161.900 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
27 157.350 161.950 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
28 157.400 162.000 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
63A 156.175 156.175 Port Operations and Commercial, VTS.  Available only in New Orleans / Lower Mississippi  area. 
65A 156.275  156.275 Port Operations 
66A 156.325  156.325 Port Operations 
67 156.375  156.375  Commercial.  Used for Bridge-to-bridge communications in lower Mississippi River.  Intership only. 
68 156.425 156.425 Non-Commercial 
69 156.475   156.475 Non-Commercial 
70 156.525  156.525 Digital Selective Calling (voice communications not allowed) 
71 156.575 156.575   Non-Commercial 
72 156.625 156.625 Non-Commercial (Intership only) 
73 156.675 156.675 Port Operations 
74 156.725  156.725  Port Operations 
77 156.875 156.875 Port Operations (Intership only) 
78A 156.925 156.925 Non-Commercial 
79A 156.975 156.975 Commercial.  Non-Commercial in Great Lakes only 
80A 157.025 157.025 Commercial.  Non-Commercial in Great Lakes only 
81A 157.075 157.075 U.S. Government only - Environmental protection operations. 
82A 157.125 157.125 U.S. Government only 
83A 157.175 157.175 U.S. Coast Guard only 
84 157.225 161.825 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
85 157.275  161.875 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
86 157.325 161.925 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
87A 157.375 157.375 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 
88A 157.425 157.425 Commercial, Intership only. 
AIS 1 161.975 161.975 Automatic Identification System (AIS) 
AIS 2 162.025 162.025 Automatic Identification System (AIS) 

Tom

--- On Thu, 5/7/09, baycomm at earthlink.net <baycomm at earthlink.net> wrote:

> From: baycomm at earthlink.net <baycomm at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [FedCom] marine VHF frequencies
> To: "fedcom" <fedcom at mailman.qth.net>
> Date: Thursday, May 7, 2009, 12:21 PM
> Call your West Marine store. They can
> give you the channel numbers then you can look up the
> frequencies
> ------Original Message------
> From: Jonathan Thawley
> Sender: fedcom-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> To: fedcom
> To: scanner at mailman.qth.net
> ReplyTo: fedcom
> Sent: May 7, 2009 10:08
> Subject: [FedCom] marine VHF frequencies
> 
> This may not be the right list to ask this question, but I
> would like to
> know something...
> 
> What are the frequencies for the 16 channel VHF Marine
> radios that are so
> readily available?
> 
> I did a google search and come up with this
> http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/vhf.htm but I'm at
> a total loss as to
> which ones are the 16....
> 
> Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Jonathan
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