Monitoring USCG

Status
Not open for further replies.

trentbob

W3BUX- Bucks County, PA
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
5,605
Just to give you an idea in my area on the East Coast what kind of configuration you're probably using.

I live right on the Delaware River a little north of Philadelphia.

16 and 13 are the general channels used for ship to ship, ship to bridge, bridge to bridge Etc. Channel 14 is Port operations in Philadelphia.

As far as the Coast Guard goes. Forget about Channel 21 and 23 they are not used anymore at all as working channels for the Coast Guard here. Primary channel for sector Delaware Bay is CG121 digital $293... it is encrypted sometimes for sensitive stuff like interdiction but for routine buoy maintenance and other things it's in the clear. They also use Channel 81 regularly. Auxiliary Coast Guard uses channel 83. Of course Channel 16 and 22 are as they always were. Helo channels are all the standard 300 megahertz AM channels.

Just to give you an idea how it works around here. Not familiar with any trunking systems and although there are 400 megahertz digital channels listed as CG4xx in the list above and Philadelphia has one assigned to it, I never hear anything on it.
 

ecps92

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2002
Messages
14,360
Location
Taxachusetts
Those are not ASSIGNED channels, but actual OTA observations by users here.
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/United_States_Coast_Guard

In my experience, any channel could be active at anytime, depending on OP-Tempo and who is in-bound for a port visit

Just to give you an idea in my area on the East Coast what kind of configuration you're probably using.

I live right on the Delaware River a little north of Philadelphia.

16 and 13 are the general channels used for ship to ship, ship to bridge, bridge to bridge Etc. Channel 14 is Port operations in Philadelphia.

As far as the Coast Guard goes. Forget about Channel 21 and 23 they are not used anymore at all as working channels for the Coast Guard here. Primary channel for sector Delaware Bay is CG121 digital $293... it is encrypted sometimes for sensitive stuff like interdiction but for routine buoy maintenance and other things it's in the clear. They also use Channel 81 regularly. Auxiliary Coast Guard uses channel 83. Of course Channel 16 and 22 are as they always were. Helo channels are all the standard 300 megahertz AM channels.

Just to give you an idea how it works around here. Not familiar with any trunking systems and although there are 400 megahertz digital channels listed as CG4xx in the list above and Philadelphia has one assigned to it, I never hear anything on it.
 

trentbob

W3BUX- Bucks County, PA
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
5,605
Those are not ASSIGNED channels, but actual OTA observations by users here.
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/United_States_Coast_Guard

In my experience, any channel could be active at anytime, depending on OP-Tempo and who is in-bound for a port visit
I live right on the water on the Delaware River that is the dividing line between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It's quite a boating area, there is also a lot of large cargo ships going up to USS Steel in Fairless.

Believe it or not most marine rescue is done by the New Jersey State Police Marine units but the Coast Guard has a pretty active presence here. They are assigned CG121 and CG409 and any visiting Coast Guard vessels for example icebreakers in the winter go to those channels to contact sector Delaware Bay. Before the VHF digital channels the working channels were 21 and 23. And I was saying 81 is another working channel for the Philadelphia area. I guess what you're saying is that they could use any channel they want and of course I guess they could but this area has a set pattern of channels that are used by the Coast Guard.

That was the point I was trying to make to the o p that in his area there are probably a set pattern of frequencies that his sector uses. I guess assigned it's not a good word to use. I moved to this area about 35 years ago and have been monitoring the Coast Guard the whole time.

Every vessel on the river is required to monitor 16 and 13 at all times. 73s.
 

ecps92

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2002
Messages
14,360
Location
Taxachusetts
Understand, just some of the new folks think because it says Sector Boston etc that this is the one, the only channel to listen to.

And with todays Scanners of almost unlimited memory, it is not worth locking out anything or restricting your listening opportunities.

Generally Net-121 and Net-409 might get assigned, but many times visiting units tend to stay on their own [home area] channels :)
I live right on the water on the Delaware River that is the dividing line between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It's quite a boating area, there is also a lot of large cargo ships going up to USS Steel in Fairless.

Believe it or not most marine rescue is done by the New Jersey State Police Marine units but the Coast Guard has a pretty active presence here. They are assigned CG121 and CG409 and any visiting Coast Guard vessels for example icebreakers in the winter go to those channels to contact sector Delaware Bay. Before the VHF digital channels the working channels were 21 and 23. And I was saying 81 is another working channel for the Philadelphia area. I guess what you're saying is that they could use any channel they want and of course I guess they could but this area has a set pattern of channels that are used by the Coast Guard.

That was the point I was trying to make to the o p that in his area there are probably a set pattern of frequencies that his sector uses. I guess assigned it's not a good word to use. I moved to this area about 35 years ago and have been monitoring the Coast Guard the whole time.

Every vessel on the river is required to monitor 16 and 13 at all times. 73s.
 

AB9NN

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 11, 2017
Messages
270
Location
Beulah, MI
I hear the US Coast Guard station advising a ship or such to "Switch to primary..." and then nothing as I scan. What frequency(s) am I missing? I have Channel 16, etc.
 

ecps92

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2002
Messages
14,360
Location
Taxachusetts
If the exact phrase is "Switch to Primary" and they are talking to a USCG Vessel, then it is one of the VHF P25 LMR Channels.
https://wiki.radioreference.com/ind...VHF_Nationwide_Land_Mobile_.5BLMR.5D_Channels

IF it is a Civilian Vessel, what is the "..." are they indicating a channel # ?
if Civilian then it is one of the standard VHF Marine Channels.
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Marine_VHF_Channels

I hear the US Coast Guard station advising a ship or such to "Switch to primary..." and then nothing as I scan. What frequency(s) am I missing? I have Channel 16, etc.
 

trentbob

W3BUX- Bucks County, PA
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
5,605
Understand, just some of the new folks think because it says Sector Boston etc that this is the one, the only channel to listen to.

And with todays Scanners of almost unlimited memory, it is not worth locking out anything or restricting your listening opportunities.

Generally Net-121 and Net-409 might get assigned, but many times visiting units tend to stay on their own [home area] channels :)
Just to clarify I'm 65 years old and have been listening to marine radio since I was a kid. I've been on RR since the beginning like you on another account shared at work. I'm very familiar with how the Coast Guard works and was in the Coast Guard axillary when I was younger. Everybody has their own opinions but don't make assumptions.
 

KF4LMT

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
131
Location
Savannah and Brunswick, GA
413.000 ($293) is CG 410, Sector Charleston uses it to communicate with air assets including the MH-65Ds out of Air Station Savannah. A good place to start looking for the USCG vessels around Charleston is 171.2375 ($293), which is CG 127. The Station Tybee area uses 163.1375 ($293) - CG 113, and the Station Brunswick area uses 164.9000 ($293) - CG 118. I'm not familiar with what they might use up around Georgetown. Don't be surprised if you hear a lot of encryption; sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't. Keep the old Marine VHF frequencies like Ch. 21, etc. programmed in because they still get used, too. Down in Station Tybee's area, the USCG Auxiliary is very active on them. 345.000 is worth putting in as well, it's Air Station Savannah ops and if there are two of the MH-65s around, they'll use it for air-to-air as well.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT
Savannah/Brunswick, GA
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top