Cape May fish spotter planes. Freqs?

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kb2kmm

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Anyone have freqs used by the fish spotter planes I've seen in the Cape May area? Interested in what they're using to communicate with the fishing vessels. Are they using VHF marine channels, VHF aviation or business freqs? Any tips/info on where to do a search scan for this. Thanks.
 

a417

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Considering how competitive that field is, I'd be surprised if they were 1) using something that was published anywhere, and 2) was legal.
 

kb2kmm

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Considering how competitive that field is, I'd be surprised if they were 1) using something that was published anywhere, and 2) was legal.
This is true. I'm heading down there for a few days. I guess I'll just do some search scanning. Needle in haystack kinda stuff, but maybe I'll get lucky.
 

TerryPavlick

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The aircraft are in support of Omega Protein fishing fleet.

The aircraft communicate air / air on 123.175 AM and they communicate with the fishing vessels on the following two frequencies.

Channel 1 158.280 PL 156.7
Channel 2 158.310 PL 156.7

While the air/air frequency provides more listening range - the pilots have a tendency to spend most of the day chatting away about everything. Probably can get boring at times for them - but you miss a lot of the real action on the 158 frequencies if you stay on it or have a delay on the air band freq. The 158 channels are the best as you can hear them steering the fishing vessels and the smaller support boats as they work to encircle the fish in their capture nets. When the boats are close to shore (or if you are on the beach) you can hear the two way conversation as the fish spotters in the plane tell them to "turn to port" etc as they get close the the main schools of fish.

Since the Omega fleet is basically harvesting the Menhaden for various human and animal health purposes - they are not in competition with the rest of the fishing fleets. A lot of good information about the company at their web site Omega Protein- Home

Enjoy the listening.

Terry
Villas NJ
 

kb2kmm

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Terry. Excellent info. Thank you. They also help out the dolphin/whale watching boat tours. The captain on our tour mentioned getting info from one of the planes.
 
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kb2kmm

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Found their FCC licence. KEM205. Several other freqs listed. Gonna plug them all in.
 

TerryPavlick

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Found their FCC licence. KEM205. Several other freqs listed. Gonna plug them all in.

I already monitor all of the frequencies listed. It appears the business band ones l listed are the only ones used off the East Coast. They may use the other ones in different areas. That is how I found the active ones.....you throw them all in and see which ones talk.

Yes - they do assist in other ways - not much else to do when they fly for hours on end looking for the fish schools. They propably see a lot more than they report as well. The air/air freq is good for the other tidbits of whales, dolphins, sharks and other marine stuff.

Terry
 
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