Captain's Log May 2019 Caribbean V-Blog

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TailGator911

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We are all set to go to Florida tomorrow for 8-day Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Magic out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL on the 11th. I am taking 2 radios with - my Whistler TRX-1 scanner and my Yaesu FT2-DR HT, as well as some dot band radios (H777s) that my in-laws purchased. I researched as much as possible and made 6 new Scan Lists with frequency information for Saint Maarten, St Kitts, Grand Turk, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as Ft Lauderdale Port Authority and local LEOs, and a SL for USCG down there. I will post here with my frequency findings when I can. Wifi can be spotty on cruise ships sometimes. I am hoping to nail down some current frequencies for the Carnival Magic cruise ship. I suspect that they, like many other cruise lines, have made the big jump to DMR, but we'll see. A friend in Calif suggested that even tho they might have made the switch, they might still be using their older radios on analog frequencies as an alternative or backup. See what happens. I will try to check in from the Caribbean but I won't promise anything. Wife has booked just about all the excursions so we will be busy. I'll see about checking in while enduring a bad movie on the Lido Deck at the Dive-In one of those nights lol. 73s and cya!

Bon voyage, keep it safe, and be nice to each other!

JD
kf4anc - out
 

MtnBiker2005

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Carnival Magic - Web Cameras.
Link: Magic web cam.

Carnival Magic Itinerary - May 11th.
(You only going to see about two other cruise ships)
Link: CruiseCal.com... Itinerary

Carnival Magic - AIS
Link: Carnival Magic AIS MarineTraffic.com
Link: CARNIVAL MAGIC MyShipTracking.com
Carnival Magic - AIS DUAL TRACKING
Link: CARNIVAL MAGIC Current Position ( - DUAL TRACKING - )

All Cruise Ships -ShipTrackingAIS page
Link: ShipTrackingAIS: CruiseShipsTrackingAIS

Carnival Magic in the news.
Link: https://www.cruiselawnews.com/?s=Carnival+magic

Google News when Carnival Magic ship makes the news due to sinking or missing person overboard, etc... ;)
Link: carnival magic - Google Search
 
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TailGator911

Silent Key/KF4ANC
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Fairborn, OH
Wow! Thanks for that info! I am copying it onto my phone and will surf that stuff later today and tonight while sitting around at the airport. Have a 2-hr delay in ATL so I'll have something interesting to do :)
 

TailGator911

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It's good to be back home! Where do I begin...ok, didn't win the $100K Carnival Blackjack Tournament, bombed on the 2nd series. Let's not discuss the overall casino outcome... ugh

The H777 HTs my bro-in-law acquired would only work if the conversation was on the same deck. Different decks of the ship were pure static. Worthless unless we used them in the casino with each other. Half the family didn't even carry them with, so it was a total waste of almost $300 for him. The Uniden SX-327s my wife and I used with each other performed flawlessly throughout the ship, no matter where we were. So, 100% on those, and a big thanks to UPMan for the recommendation. We will definitely be using those this summer at flea markets and festivals. Bummed that I missed Hamvention but I live here in Dayton and hit it every year so there's always the next one.

As I figured, my TRX-1 performed like a champ on the Carnival Magic. The crew radios were DMR, the busiest frequency being 433.450, then 446.075, and 441.450, all simplex. There was also crew chatter on 151.500 and 152.450 vhf. The deckhands used maritime channel 5 when docking the ship. I did not take the scanner with me on excursions, but I did monitor a couple of San Juan Puerto Rico trunked systems while in port that were listed here on RR. Lots of activity on the 460 band in PR but no idea who it was as they were speaking Spanish. Some crew members on the Magic were speaking Filipino I think, so I was in the dark half the time.

Lots of chatter on dot radio freqs in port, some of those security and St Maarten police. The hurricane damage on that island was incredible.

The TRX-1 worked great on the DMR simplex frequencies. I did not have to deal with any simulcast systems on the go, so it was the perfect radio to take on the trip. I CC'd the aero frequencies while on the plane and listened to the cockpit conversations while on the flights. We hit major turbulence last night over Tennessee and it was quite scary - I am a seasoned flyer and that one skeered me, sounded like the fuselage was coming apart and like we were hitting a brick wall a few times there. Just served refreshments so there were a lot of spilled drinks.

Overall it was a good vacay, but I came home with a terrible sunburn from snorkeling in St Kitt on Reggae Beach. We met Jack Hanna in Atlanta on our return flight to Columbus and had a nice conversation with him. He was returning from an Orlando thing he did @ SeaWorld. Interesting guy. (we flew out of Columbus as it was cheaper than Dayton)

So, it's good to be back home and just veg today and catch up on RR and emails and other stuff. 8 days on a cruise ship is exhausting, but it was lots of fun!

JD
kf4anc
 

ecps92

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Not the first time, a Cruise ship has been found out of band, however this would be a First for Carnival with those Amateur Radio channels
and Carnival has been very strict in their Radio Ops.

My Opinion on them is
a. Default channels that the crew found, that the Radio Techs never reprogrammed to not allow use
or
b. Images from the normal UHF 457/467 that Carnival has used for Years

The last true Magic info I had was 2012 and was Analog


It's good to be back home! Where do I begin...ok, didn't win the $100K Carnival Blackjack Tournament, bombed on the 2nd series. Let's not discuss the overall casino outcome... ugh

The H777 HTs my bro-in-law acquired would only work if the conversation was on the same deck. Different decks of the ship were pure static. Worthless unless we used them in the casino with each other. Half the family didn't even carry them with, so it was a total waste of almost $300 for him. The Uniden SX-327s my wife and I used with each other performed flawlessly throughout the ship, no matter where we were. So, 100% on those, and a big thanks to UPMan for the recommendation. We will definitely be using those this summer at flea markets and festivals. Bummed that I missed Hamvention but I live here in Dayton and hit it every year so there's always the next one.

As I figured, my TRX-1 performed like a champ on the Carnival Magic. The crew radios were DMR, the busiest frequency being 433.450, then 446.075, and 441.450, all simplex. There was also crew chatter on 151.500 and 152.450 vhf. The deckhands used maritime channel 5 when docking the ship. I did not take the scanner with me on excursions, but I did monitor a couple of San Juan Puerto Rico trunked systems while in port that were listed here on RR. Lots of activity on the 460 band in PR but no idea who it was as they were speaking Spanish. Some crew members on the Magic were speaking Filipino I think, so I was in the dark half the time.

Lots of chatter on dot radio freqs in port, some of those security and St Maarten police. The hurricane damage on that island was incredible.

The TRX-1 worked great on the DMR simplex frequencies. I did not have to deal with any simulcast systems on the go, so it was the perfect radio to take on the trip. I CC'd the aero frequencies while on the plane and listened to the ****pit conversations while on the flights. We hit major turbulence last night over Tennessee and it was quite scary - I am a seasoned flyer and that one skeered me, sounded like the fuselage was coming apart and like we were hitting a brick wall a few times there. Just served refreshments so there were a lot of spilled drinks.

Overall it was a good vacay, but I came home with a terrible sunburn from snorkeling in St Kitt on Reggae Beach. We met Jack Hanna in Atlanta on our return flight to Columbus and had a nice conversation with him. He was returning from an Orlando thing he did @ SeaWorld. Interesting guy. (we flew out of Columbus as it was cheaper than Dayton)

So, it's good to be back home and just veg today and catch up on RR and emails and other stuff. 8 days on a cruise ship is exhausting, but it was lots of fun!

JD
kf4anc
 

BC_Scan

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Messages
664
Location
Vancouver BC
I'm going to say that the use of ham band was restricted to certain crew members whom are likely Filipino in origin, many are ham operators a I have seen first hand aboard numerous cruises. I hear out of band comm's typically uhf as we are a major port on the west coast including 430-450 mhz. I often hear tagalog and or their distinctive accent.
 
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