Chicagoland barge/boat frequencies?

[kennyschroeder]

Hi all. I found a thread from 2010 about something like this, but I'm sure its since been outdated. As the title says, does anyone have a list or such of active frequencies used by barges or boats on the rivers or even on the shores of Lake Michigan near Chicago? Thanks in advance.

 

[marksmith]

I would go with the vhf marine frequencies and expect very short range communications

 

[trentbob]

A very common frequency used around the country for River traffic is Marine Channel 13. I live on the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania and All Ships are required to monitor 16 and 13 at all times.

 

[ferryboat1]

These are all of the Marine band frequencies except for CH 70, AIS1 & AIS2. I put them into two banks, the second one has the duplex channels of which I get no activity on in my area. 100-138 are the main ones. If your in a busy area, they will probably use many of them. The comment above, "and expect very short range communications" is very true. You need to be close, otherwise you will miss much of it. You need to see the boats or have a really good antenna system up high & line of sight.

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Listed by frequency instead of CH#.

 

[CrabbyMilton]

Or just set up your scanner to search the marine band and you should hear something provided you're close enough. Also keep in mind that they could have FRS or standard business band radio's for internal coms.

 

[ferryboat1]

Or just set up your scanner to search the marine band and you should hear something provided you're close enough. Also keep in mind that they could have FRS or standard business band radio's for internal coms.

Where I am at, they use nearly all of the frequencies. The Mississippi River in St. Louis is very very busy. Yes maybe a handful are not used but I leave them in anyway. Most of the time when I'm monitoring, I have many of the boats in sight, part of the fun. Your completely right, you need to be close. These are mostly low power units except for CG on 16 and 22.