Open/Keyed Mic

tcg said:

Hi Guys,

I operate a feed of marine channels. For the last 18 hours that I know of channel 16 156.8000 has what appears to be a keyed mic.

That means my scanner is stuck on channel 16. I can lock it out but channel 16 is where a lot of traffic normally is.

I'm getting this on 2 different scanners with 2 different antennas. This is a new development as both scanners have been working well with the current antenna so I don't believe it's my equipment.

Is there any type of interference or condition that would cause this other than someone's vhf radio being defective?

And is there anything I can do to resolve the situation?

Thanks

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ecps92 said:

IS there really that much traffic (in your area) on 16 now that 9 is the Calling/Hailing, leaving 16 for emergencies ??

Weekend Warriors with the occasional stuck mic are common from time-time

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tcg said:

Sure is especially on the weekends. I'm in Michigan and the radio covers Lake St. Clair and the sorounding area. It is a huge boating area. There is not much law enforcement any more on the marine channels but recreational and Coast Guard is pretty active.

If 9 is now the calling hailing channel, trust me, the recreational boaters did not get that memo.

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ecps92 said:

Guess they don't RTFM when they buy a radio
Radio Information For Boaters

Been that way since the 90's ? maybe even late 80's

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tcg said:

You know what the hailing channel is and I know what it is but the boaters do not. They use 16 all the time as a hailing channel and an emergency channel. So I like to scan it because it is very active. The Coast Guard will chime in now and again when people are using 16 to converse and try to move them to channel 9.

Now back to my problem. I stopped by the Coast Guard station this morning and they were on it. They said they believed it was a trailer boat parked on land because the signal was pretty far inland. It's still keyed up. I would think a battery would be dead by now unless the boat is plugged in to a charger.

I hope it ends before the 4th. That is a very busy week and fun to listen to.

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