Cruise Ship Frequencies

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RayAir

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Those are good references. I have noticed Carnival sells FRS radios in the gift shop , but NCL frowns upon radio use. It can be interesting to listen to FRS on cruise ships.
 

ecps92

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FRS/GMRS vs Cruise Ships

Amazing on the Frowning, its $$ in their pockets, yet ILLEGAL to use them outside of the USA. :) Maybe Carnival got caught? or they found interference to the Ships Radios and stopped selling them.


Ray_Air said:
Those are good references. I have noticed Carnival sells FRS radios in the gift shop , but NCL frowns upon radio use. It can be interesting to listen to FRS on cruise ships.
 

Rover

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I was just on Disney recently and have scanned Disiney and Carnival. I found the FRS/GRS frequencies full of tourist coms. The ships can be interesting but like scanning a Hotel. But the most fun was on the ship in Nassau the bahamas...on the top deck, heard al sorts of comms in the 900 mhz bands, wireless mics from other ships? in the 180 - 200 mghz band and lots of interesting stuff by searching areas of spectrum....180 - 220 mhz, 800 - 950 mhz as an example. I was up on the top decks and overlooking the city. Now maybe my cheapo alinco Dj X3 was having a intemod or IF... heart attack... from close RF, Nassua was full of antennas.. but I heard lots of cool stuff. Wish I had more than a few hours too listen and take notes... Just a few thoughts...searching can prove intersting....73 Ray
 
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silverbk

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I sailed Carnival in 2005 and we brought our own frs radios. They were useless because literally hundreds of other passengers had the same idea. Plus they only punch through one maybe two decks.

It was good scanning.

When we sailed Princess in 2006 there were also lots of frs rigs in use.
 

ecps92

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How true, found 2 new Ship channels [NCL Majesty] during a Fire Drill the other day.

Amazing they were found in the 460 Airport Band using CSQ.
Lots of interference from Logan Airport across the Water.


Rover said:
I was just on Disney recently and have scanned Disiney and Carnival. I found the FRS/GRS frequencies full of tourist coms. The ships can be interesting but like scanning a Hotel. But the most fun was on the ship in Nassau the bahamas...on the top deck, heard al sorts of comms in the 900 mhz bands, wireless mics from other ships? in the 180 - 200 mghz band and lots of interesting stuff by searching areas of spectrum....180 - 220 mhz, 800 - 950 mhz as an example. I was up on the top decks and overlooking the city. Now maybe my cheapo alinco Dj X3 was having a intemod or IF... heart attack... from close RF, Nassua was full of antennas.. but I heard lots of cool stuff. Wish I had more than a few hours too listen and take notes... Just a few thoughts...searching can prove intersting....73 Ray
 

mlindler

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Is It Even Worth It??

silverbk said:
They were useless because literally hundreds of other passengers had the same idea. Plus they only punch through one maybe two decks.

So is it even worth it to bring a UHF radio(FRS/GMRS) on a cruise? Would it be better take radios on another band (MURS? 42mhz??). I was considering going P25 on my upcoming cruise to keep interference down.

:confused:
 

silverbk

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mlindler said:
So is it even worth it to bring a UHF radio(FRS/GMRS) on a cruise? Would it be better take radios on another band (MURS? 42mhz??). I was considering going P25 on my upcoming cruise to keep interference down.

:confused:

My VX-5 and VX-6 served me well. On 70 cm at 4 watts, they cover the entire ship. Plus you can work repeaters in ports and monitor the ship itself.

I wouldn't bother with any 1/2 watt blister pack radios.
 

ecps92

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IF your looking for No Interference [to you and to your CREW] I would go VHF High MURS.

P-25 might cause problems to other [Countries] other than maybe P-25 on amateur.

What band were you going to use P-25 on ?

mlindler said:
So is it even worth it to bring a UHF radio(FRS/GMRS) on a cruise? Would it be better take radios on another band (MURS? 42mhz??). I was considering going P25 on my upcoming cruise to keep interference down.

:confused:
 

mlindler

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p25

ecps92 said:
IF your looking for No Interference [to you and to your CREW] I would go VHF High MURS.

P-25 might cause problems to other [Countries] other than maybe P-25 on amateur.

What band were you going to use P-25 on ?


For me it doesn't really matter..... I can go P25 on UHF or VHF or 800 for that matter. The cheapest radios I have are my UHF ones (XTS1500's) and I would prefer to take those. I was thinking of going 5k off of a standard channel to cut down on interference. Then again I could use a DPL (which most cheap FRS/GMRS radios don't have).

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I am a totally new cruiser and as the communications officer :wink: for my "CREW" i want to make sure i'm on top of my game.
 

ecps92

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Nothing has been reported, you will likely be the FIRST One :D

I always recommend [outside of Close Call] and VHF Marine

457.5000, 457.5250, 457.5500, 457.5750, 457.6000, 457.6250
467.5000, 467.5250, 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250
467.7500, 467.7750, 467.8000, 467.8250

Along with FRS/GMRS as some of the FRS Channels seem to be in-use
by the Cruise ships [outside of the normal FRS users too]

Carnival seems to use the following Channel Plan,
which might help as well.

457.5250 R Ch.01
457.5500 R Ch.02
457.5750 R Ch.03
468.3250 S Ch.04
469.9500 S Ch.05
464.2750 S Ch.06
464.3000 S Ch.07
464.3250 S Ch.08

PL's have varied with each Ship.

What Date in Galveston, have you checked some of the other web sites to see what other Cruise Ships might be in Port at the same time?

Does anyone have any frequencies for the Carnival Conquest.
Sailing out of Galveston, TX in Jan 2010

Cruise Ship & Maritime Frequencies <-- Has nothing
 

gcgrotz

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I always take a radio, and scan FRS, business, and especially the Marine band. Holland America uses marine channels for port and excursion ops, sometimes very entertaining. Even my wife likes to listen. I've seen other people with scanners and Marine HTs as well.

I've also use VHF/UHF ham radio in ports and made a few contacts. Just be sure of your licensing status outside the US.
 

RayAir

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FYI, if you're looking for reliable on ship 2-way communications I highly recommend the Motorola DTR radios. We recently had entire ship interference-free coverage on the Carnival Sensation. These DTR's were the generation 2 models with the longer removable 900MHz whip antennas. Most of Carnival's ships are the same. I have been on the Paradise, Triumph and Sensation and they were all similar. I was really impressed with the DTR. If you want to spend less money on radios you could try the TriSquare eXRS radios. They use somewhat similar technology, but are less rugged, use analog voice, and have very small non-removable antennas so I don't know how coverage would be. In any case, I am willing to bet they would still be better than using FRS.
 

Matt9529

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Scanning for beginers!

Hi all!

I just need some help with something!

I will be going on board the cruise ship Thomson Destiny of Thomson Cruises around the Mediterranean.

And all i want in simple terms please some answers to some questions!

1. Will i be able to listen to onboard coms including bridge (I will have a cabin directly above the bridge)
2. What type of scanner will i need (not to expensive!)
3.what chanel do i tune into to listen to the operations?

Many kind regards,

Matthew Brown :)
 

james07731

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I guess this is an old conversation, but I thought I would share this anyway...

The last cruise ship I was on, I brought a set a Motorola Spirit radios. I set them up using a privacy code. They worked great. I was in Casino & wife was in cabin 3 floors away & oposite end of ship & we talked no problem.

On the cruise before that I brought the family radios with crappy reception & lost signals once we were 1 floor apart.
 
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