USCG P25 channels

[GROL]

Does anyone have experience monitoring the VHF and UHF P25 channels of the USCG, to know if I would be missing much activity on a trip up the US north east coast, if I decided to travel light with an analog only scanner I prefer for Marine and Mil Air?

The Signal Stalker of the PRO-164 does a much better job than Close Call on the Uniden's, and performs better for Mil Air bands which the USCG also use.

 

[montana1975]

in san francisco i heard dispatch unencrypted occasional announcements with everything else encrypted

 

[GROL]

in san francisco i heard dispatch unencrypted occasional announcements with everything else encrypted

Encrypted makes sense. I have heard very little while in Florida. I don't recall encryption, but I may have not noticed it. Thx. I think I will just be taking the Pro-164.

 

[northzone]

In Hawaii I hear P25 clear traffic everyday on NET 13 & Net 409. Ships on 13, aircraft on 409. Main comms channels.

 

[ecps92]

ENC and activity will vary by Sector, District, Station and sometimes Vessel

Does anyone have experience monitoring the VHF and UHF P25 channels of the USCG, to know if I would be missing much activity on a trip up the US north east coast, if I decided to travel light with an analog only scanner I prefer for Marine and Mil Air?

The Signal Stalker of the PRO-164 does a much better job than Close Call on the Uniden's, and performs better for Mil Air bands which the USCG also use.

 

[GROL]

ENC and activity will vary by Sector, District, Station and sometimes Vessel

I suppose ENC depends upon the type of activity common in some sectors. Maybe some sectors are much more involved in drug interdiction and other law enforcement than others. Drug interdiction is what caused my cousin to decide he had enough of the Coast Guard. Where he was it was a daily occurrence

It seems it will be a crap shoot whether or not security will allow a scanner on the cruise. Some report no problems getting on Royal Caribbean, while others say their scanner was held until the end of the cruise.

Has anyone monitored the P25 channels for District 1? Boston, Cape Cod, etc? Did you hear much on P25?

 

[ecps92]

50/50 on my experience for Boston - others can better answer for Southern NE and Northern NE

Helo's are generally CLR and have been known to come up on odd CG/Nets than what is common in the District

As for the Cruise-lines, it varies and I've experienced all three aspects
Denied - returned upon return to port
Questioned about them in my room
No problems at all

I suppose ENC depends upon the type of activity common in some sectors. Maybe some sectors are much more involved in drug interdiction and other law enforcement than others. Drug interdiction is what caused my cousin to decide he had enough of the Coast Guard. Where he was it was a daily occurrence

It seems it will be a crap shoot whether or not security will allow a scanner on the cruise. Some report no problems getting on Royal Caribbean, while others say their scanner was held until the end of the cruise.

Has anyone monitored the P25 channels for District 1? Boston, Cape Cod, etc? Did you hear much on P25?

 

[GROL]

50/50 on my experience for Boston - others can better answer for Southern NE and Northern NE

Helo's are generally CLR and have been known to come up on odd CG/Nets than what is common in the District

As for the Cruise-lines, it varies and I've experienced all three aspects
Denied - returned upon return to port
Questioned about them in my room
No problems at all

I may have to reconsider taking a digital scanner since you have heard Helos in the clear.. I have an older BCD396XT I would risk putting in my baggage instead of carrying it on-board.

I can never figure out the logic with some of these security measures. Such as Air Shows not allowing scanners, but cell phones are ok. Do they not realize someone just off base can monitor communications and relay back to someone inside the Air Show via cell phone? Very puzzling.

This thread has been helpful. Thanks to all.

 

[fireboat61]

USCG P25 DelMarVa monitoring

I live on the DelMarVa Peninsula. This is the body land between The Chesapeake Bay MD and Atlantic Ocean, although I do reside in Delaware. We are sandwiched in between multiple US Coast Guard Units. I am able to hear USCG Sta Indian River DE on CG 115, USCG Sta.Ocean City MD on CG 111 and USCG Sta Cape May NJ on CG121. I work in Maryland for a county fire dept. For years I was assigned to marine Operations where we always monitored USCG Sta Annapolis on CG122 and USCG Sta.Curtis Bay ( Baltimore) on CG111. All Air Operations in my region are heard CG 409 Delaware Bay and CG 410 Baltimore Area. I provided this info just for basic area knowledge. The original question of clarity is great. I do believe the receiver and terrain play into the clarity. Where i live is flat so very little issues with the frequencies being blocked. The second thing is the receiver. I use Motorola radios to monitor. My xts5000vhf for the CG 1** frequencies and an XTS2500 UHF for CG4** frequencies. These radio's receive that signal excellent. I also programmed the VHF P25 frequencies in my Unication G5 with no issues at all. For its size it is an excellent receiver on P25 conventional. Lastly I sometimes have luck using my GRECOM PSR500 with an extural antenna with marginal reception. The Stations use the digital frequencies for daily operations. They do have the ability to go secure to encrypt comm's if necessary.

 

[GROL]

I live on the DelMarVa Peninsula. This is the body land between The Chesapeake Bay MD and Atlantic Ocean, although I do reside in Delaware. We are sandwiched in between multiple US Coast Guard Units. I am able to hear USCG Sta Indian River DE on CG 115, USCG Sta.Ocean City MD on CG 111 and USCG Sta Cape May NJ on CG121. I work in Maryland for a county fire dept. For years I was assigned to marine Operations where we always monitored USCG Sta Annapolis on CG122 and USCG Sta.Curtis Bay ( Baltimore) on CG111. All Air Operations in my region are heard CG 409 Delaware Bay and CG 410 Baltimore Area. I provided this info just for basic area knowledge. The original question of clarity is great. I do believe the receiver and terrain play into the clarity. Where i live is flat so very little issues with the frequencies being blocked. The second thing is the receiver. I use Motorola radios to monitor. My xts5000vhf for the CG 1** frequencies and an XTS2500 UHF for CG4** frequencies. These radio's receive that signal excellent. I also programmed the VHF P25 frequencies in my Unication G5 with no issues at all. For its size it is an excellent receiver on P25 conventional. Lastly I sometimes have luck using my GRECOM PSR500 with an extural antenna with marginal reception. The Stations use the digital frequencies for daily operations. They do have the ability to go secure to encrypt comm's if necessary.

Thanks! Very good info. The cruise starts in Baltimore, so I will be near all of what you just mentioned.

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

I live on the DelMarVa Peninsula. This is the body land between The Chesapeake Bay MD and Atlantic Ocean, although I do reside in Delaware. We are sandwiched in between multiple US Coast Guard Units. I am able to hear USCG Sta Indian River DE on CG 115, USCG Sta.Ocean City MD on CG 111 and USCG Sta Cape May NJ on CG121. I work in Maryland for a county fire dept. For years I was assigned to marine Operations where we always monitored USCG Sta Annapolis on CG122 and USCG Sta.Curtis Bay ( Baltimore) on CG111. All Air Operations in my region are heard CG 409 Delaware Bay and CG 410 Baltimore Area. I provided this info just for basic area knowledge. The original question of clarity is great. I do believe the receiver and terrain play into the clarity. Where i live is flat so very little issues with the frequencies being blocked. The second thing is the receiver. I use Motorola radios to monitor. My xts5000vhf for the CG 1** frequencies and an XTS2500 UHF for CG4** frequencies. These radio's receive that signal excellent. I also programmed the VHF P25 frequencies in my Unication G5 with no issues at all. For its size it is an excellent receiver on P25 conventional. Lastly I sometimes have luck using my GRECOM PSR500 with an extural antenna with marginal reception. The Stations use the digital frequencies for daily operations. They do have the ability to go secure to encrypt comm's if necessary.

Thanks for the information. I have heard activity on CG 111, CG 112, CG 409 in the Baltimore Area. I will have to add CG 122 and CG 410 to radio.

 

[jcardani]

Don't count out the 157 MHz channels. While in Ocean City NJ I heard lift training nightly on 157.175 and some small boat stations still operate on 157.05 and a few others.

 

[fireboat61]

Thanks for the information. I have heard activity on CG 111, CG 112, CG 409 in the Baltimore Area. I will have to add CG 122 and CG 410 to radio.

I made a mistake in my information. I apologize. Sta. Annapolis does operate on CG112. You were correct in hearing the traffic on that Channel. The two most used and most common digital USCG frequencies are CG 111 and CG 121. The second common Channels are CG112 and CG122. If you had those 4 frequencies programmed you should hear traffic somewhere on average. The odd balls are like Indian River Inlet near Bethany Beach DE. They operate on CG115 or Sta Manasquan NJ which uses CG114. As I made mention earlier Sta. OCMD use CG111 and Sta Cape May NJ use CG121 which are the common frequencies. I do believe that CG 111 and 121 are also assigned to the high sight like VHF 16. Its a more powerful transmitter and is at high point like a bridge or very tall structure.

Standard Marine VHF 22A for boater to USCG and 21A ,23A, and 83A ( aviation ) are still used for USCG boat to USCG Station when a SAR case involves local fire and police who do not have access to the digital CG Channels.

Sorry about the incorrect info earlier.

 

[ecps92]

Since most current-Day scanners can handle the endless amount of information, I find it best to put in ALL the CG/NET-1xx and CG/NET-4xx channels, you never know what you will find/hear outside of the commonly used

As to the retired naming "High Sites", all of the USCG sites are part of Rescue 21 and can be commonly found at sites
such as https://www.marinetraffic.com/ such as https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ai...d:25554/mmsi:3660610/imo:0/vessel:VTS_3660610
labled as VTS [Vessel Traffic Service]

Generic Maps can be seen at
https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtNds
with Coverage for each RFF site

I made a mistake in my information. I apologize. Sta. Annapolis does operate on CG112. You were correct in hearing the traffic on that Channel. The two most used and most common digital USCG frequencies are CG 111 and CG 121. The second common Channels are CG112 and CG122. If you had those 4 frequencies programmed you should hear traffic somewhere on average. The odd balls are like Indian River Inlet near Bethany Beach DE. They operate on CG115 or Sta Manasquan NJ which uses CG114. As I made mention earlier Sta. OCMD use CG111 and Sta Cape May NJ use CG121 which are the common frequencies. I do believe that CG 111 and 121 are also assigned to the high sight like VHF 16. Its a more powerful transmitter and is at high point like a bridge or very tall structure.

Standard Marine VHF 22A for boater to USCG and 21A ,23A, and 83A ( aviation ) are still used for USCG boat to USCG Station when a SAR case involves local fire and police who do not have access to the digital CG Channels.

Sorry about the incorrect info earlier.

 

[GROL]

Thanks, everyone!

I am not at the coast often enough to get much experience about exactly what to monitor to hear USCG activities, other than the obvious VHF Marine channels.

 

[devicelab]

Does anyone have experience monitoring the VHF and UHF P25 channels of the USCG, to know if I would be missing much activity on a trip up the US north east coast, if I decided to travel light with an analog only scanner I prefer for Marine and Mil Air?

The Signal Stalker of the PRO-164 does a much better job than Close Call on the Uniden's, and performs better for Mil Air bands which the USCG also use.

Don't bother if you don't have a digital P25 scanner. You won't hear much with USCG these days.

 

[GROL]

Don't bother if you don't have a digital P25 scanner. You won't hear much with USCG these days.

I was trying to decide about taking my Pro-164 for Mil Air plus either my Bcd396XT or Bcd436 HP. I may just take the 396, but the 164 is much better for Mil Air, especially the
the Signal Stalker catching unknown Mil Air. I have time to decide.

 

[captainmax1]

Here in the Keys they use analog & Digital and turn encryption off and on as they need. Mostly Encrypted.

 

[devicelab]

Here in the Keys they use analog & Digital and turn encryption off and on as they need. Mostly Encrypted.

About 98% encrypted here. Analog is only used on marine VHF freqs.

 

[n4jri]

About 98% encrypted here. Analog is only used on marine VHF freqs.

P25 freqs are definitely working in VA. Much encryption.

Not hearing any USCG on marine channels in Norfolk area visits except Ch-22A 157.100.

Have heard tugs and seagoing ships use 157.075, 157.125 and even 157.175 for onboard comms within spitting distance of District 5 HQ. Some CG Aux aircraft on 157.15 and 157.175.

73/Allen (N4JRI)


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