Cruise Ship & Gulf of Mexico Monitoring

[Bentley]

Great, Thanks for the tip Bill !

 

[ecps92]

Part II

It depends on what list you are looking at.

VHF Marine? or UHF Marine?

I would always do both.

VHF Marine, could be a Repeater or just Duplex.
Duplex where the Ship Transmits on one frequency
and the Land Station Transmits on another.

In the UHF, since each ship, and each vendor, and each radio shop programs differently and interprets the rules differently, I would listen to both sides.

Also , some radios use the input to the Repeater as a Talk-Around with a Different CTCSS or DCS tone.

For ships....take a look at my web page for info.

We look forward to hearing your REPORTS upon your return

I am a little confused, there are two freq's listed for some of the marine channels, one is an output, one is an input. Which one should I be entering into my scanner?

Also, I am going to be on Royal Carribean's Voyager of the Seas in a few months. Does anyone know where I can find ship specific frequencies like the casino's / bridge ops / staff / engineers etc.

Lastly, and I hate to say what if's but.... " what if " I bring my gps and scanner and I am told they will not be permitted on board. What do I do with them? This is my first cruise if you couldnt tell.

Thanks!

 

[bigray246]

Also keep in mind you will have to be multi-linguil to monitor any ship comms. Most have crews from every part of the world and they do not all speak very good english.

 

[Coastie127]

Here's a website that has a list of VHF Marine channels and alot of LANT Channels for USCG, i know it has NY and Long Island on them but there still pretty much the same LANT Channels that many Coast Guard units use besides 1st District.



http://www.n2nov.net/nycmarine.html

 

[bassmkenk2508]

Looks like a Busy day on the 21st with Multiple ships in Cozumel

Carnival Legend Cozumel, Mexico 11-21-2007 9:00 AM 6:00 PM
Disney Magic Cozumel, Mexico 11-21-2007 10:30 AM 10:00 PM
Norwegian Majesty Cozumel, Mexico 11-21-2007 10:00 AM 6:00 PM
Norwegian Sun Cozumel, Mexico 11-21-2007 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
Grand Princess Cozumel, Mexico 11-21-2007 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

I believe the Holdiay may be creeping behind those by a day or so.
And, yes that looks mighty busy

 

[neonhomer]

I am going to be heading out on Navigator of the Seas through Royal Caribbean in two weeks. From Ft. Lauderdale to Cozumel. Scanner is a Pro-95.

Are there any lists for Navigator? I have seen a few Royal lists, but none of them include Navigator...

 

[ecps92]

Navigator of the Seas

Check out my web site, the Navigator is there.
http:///home.earthlink.net/~ecps92/cruise_ships.htm

However, as many of us list from Ports, not all radios [Casino, Shows etc] get used in Port, others are used a sea.

Put your radio into Close-Call mode, if you have one, but SEARCH.

The other option is to pre-program

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

Also some use splinter channels, GMRS, FRS when in foreign ports.

send me a private e-mail, and I can work up a list for you of the Other
ships you will run across in your ports-0f-call.

I am going to be heading out on Navigator of the Seas through Royal Caribbean in two weeks. From Ft. Lauderdale to Cozumel. Scanner is a Pro-95.

Are there any lists for Navigator? I have seen a few Royal lists, but none of them include Navigator...

 

[neonhomer]

Cool.. Now I have to figure out how to program PL info into my scanner... if it will accept it.

 

[Coastie127]

Cool.. Now I have to figure out how to program PL info into my scanner... if it will accept it.

I don't get the point of pl's, i use to do the same put in pl's but i found that it was a waste of time to do it and that i would rather listen to whatever frequencies had multiple usage, like i see that pl's would be great for someone who wants to listen on the same frequency but pl's the different towers on there, like by me i would like to EMS which is EMS 718 and comms would be on 153.860 but would put the pl's in for the different towers which were about 5-6 different towers. BTW i mean if you like to do it thats cool, my 2 cents i find it's a waste of time mostly the only thing i did with pl's was lock out agencies i did'nt want to listen to on the same frequncies.

 

[ecps92]

PL's

PL's can eliminate interference in a Large City. [Intermod]

Also image frequencies [usually have a different tone] can be eliminated so you only hear what you want to hear.

Tones also help many of us, who Sometimes run open squelch, to identify who we are hearing.

Seems odd that One EMS system would use different Tones on an OUTPUT channel.
I could see this on the input to select the various towers and use the same tone on the output, would elminate talk-over. Different tones, would cause talk-over.

I don't get the point of pl's, i use to do the same put in pl's but i found that it was a waste of time to do it and that i would rather listen to whatever frequencies had multiple usage, like i see that pl's would be great for someone who wants to listen on the same frequency but pl's the different towers on there, like by me i would like to EMS which is EMS 718 and comms would be on 153.860 but would put the pl's in for the different towers which were about 5-6 different towers. BTW i mean if you like to do it thats cool, my 2 cents i find it's a waste of time mostly the only thing i did with pl's was lock out agencies i did'nt want to listen to on the same frequncies.

 

[gcgrotz]

A PL tone will not eliminate intermod, it will only prevent you from hearing it. If your squelch opens with the correct PL tone, you will hear intermod as long as the decoder keeps the squelch open.

A PL tone allows multiple users on the same frequency to share without having to listen to each other. You should always listen with PL off before transmitting on top of someone. The fact that Motorola named it "Private Line" was, shall we say, off base. Nothing private about it.

One good example of this is in the EMS world where different hospitals on the same frequency (usually 155.340 or .400) have different PL tones for selective calling by the EMS units.

 

[ecps92]

Doubting Thomas

Gonna doubt you on the intermod issue. When my Scanner opens on 131.8 Hz, I only hear the 131.8 Hz traffic, not the intermod from the NWS or the Local Ambulance Repeater.

Until it happens to me,.....

Should and Do are two different issues. Too many Radios Shops by-pass the "off Hook - CSQ" on Mobiles and Who drops Tone on a Portable [Yea, Right]

EMS using CTCSS ?? when ? What happended to DTMF and Pulse Tone ")

A PL tone will not eliminate intermod, it will only prevent you from hearing it. If your squelch opens with the correct PL tone, you will hear intermod as long as the decoder keeps the squelch open.

A PL tone allows multiple users on the same frequency to share without having to listen to each other. You should always listen with PL off before transmitting on top of someone. The fact that Motorola named it "Private Line" was, shall we say, off base. Nothing private about it.

One good example of this is in the EMS world where different hospitals on the same frequency (usually 155.340 or .400) have different PL tones for selective calling by the EMS units.

 

[aensr]

Star Princess

We are flying to Rome next Saturday then boarding the Star Princess. I will have my Uniden scanner and monitor and report back to this board what I have found as I have done before.

Re taking scanner or other electronics on board a cruise, when I travel, my carryon usually has my lap top, my scanner, my handheld GPS and a lot of other electronic devices that I may want from tmie to time and I never have any problem. I also carry a multi outlet plug strip and cable TV splitter for my Hauppage TV receiver.

Re taking booze on board, we usally pack a plastic bottle of scotch in one of the checked bags, and in port I have carried on board with no question 24 cans of beer and six bottles of wine for personal consumption.

Alan

Sun City, AZ

 

[bpckty1]

If you plan on using any electronic equiment in Italy, make sure you have voltage converters and the appropriate plug converters. Italy uses 220v AC, 50 Hz, and round plugs. It's been more than a few years since I lived there, so I don't know if they are now using polarized circuits.

 

[scanrrman]

Anything I'm missing???

I'm going on the Carnival ship Inspiration on Dec. 1st. I'm bringing my 396 and my 97. I've been pouring over this thread and writing down all the freqs I've seen for the different carnival ships. Do I need to program all of both UHF and VHF marine channels? I don't really want to listen to everything on the water, just the ship and port/docking ops. Can someone help narrow both bands down to just a few freqs. that are involved with port/docking ops and the coast guard??? I don't have much time and I've never been near the ocean with a scanner. I feel comfortable with all freqs for the ship, I just need a little guidance as far as the marine channels. Thanks for any help and I will be SURE to report back.

 

[ecps92]

Programming

Put in all the UHF Channels you have found.

As for the VHF Marine Channels, your milage will vary, since each PORT handles traffic on different channels. USA Assignments are one thing, International Assignments are another, altho they do overlap

At Sea you won't catch much VHF, unless there is a Distress Call or a Medical Evac.

You can always lock them out, as you find them, then reset your lockouts at the end of the day.

Best of Luck and Good Crusing

I'm going on the Carnival ship Inspiration on Dec. 1st. I'm bringing my 396 and my 97. I've been pouring over this thread and writing down all the freqs I've seen for the different carnival ships. Do I need to program all of both UHF and VHF marine channels? I don't really want to listen to everything on the water, just the ship and port/docking ops. Can someone help narrow both bands down to just a few freqs. that are involved with port/docking ops and the coast guard??? I don't have much time and I've never been near the ocean with a scanner. I feel comfortable with all freqs for the ship, I just need a little guidance as far as the marine channels. Thanks for any help and I will be SURE to report back.

 

[neonhomer]

So what I am asking is do I have to have the PL code in to hear a communication on that frequency?

 

[scanrrman]

So what I am asking is do I have to have the PL code in to hear a communication on that frequency?

The pro95 does not handle pl/dpl tones. You will hear whoever's talking whether they have a pl/dpl or not. If you did have a scanner capable of decoding pl tones, you would only hear the radio with the pl tone that you have programmed or you could search for the pl tone. And you could also just leave it set to FM (like your scanner) and hear all traffic regardless of whether a pl tone is present or not.

 

[bassmkenk2508]

Was on the Carnival Holiday last week. Before pulling out of Cozumel I picked up a 800 band trunked system; I was at the front of the ship above the bridge, outside. Plain, good ol' Americans talking on it Saved the freq and made it a system on my 396T.

Later that night checked it, no CC detected and and nothing found in the trunked 800 band.

I doubt something that much "American" would be in Cozumel (mean this in the matter of the American voices on it). And if it is part of the ship, heh, very weak system.

Now, I don't know much about if maybe the ship shuts down some secondary comm systems when not docked (personally, I doubt it) or if maybe the repeater is a low power one that has its antenna mounted in way for use in only one part of the ship.

If anyone wants to look into this if they take the Carnival Holiday for a cruise or go to Cozumel (or both ), here is what I got.

856.9125 (control channel)
TGs found: 208, 336, 16, 176, 240

can not recall the system id though.

 

[bassmkenk2508]

PS: I heard they had a LTR system on most Carnival ships, but failed to get the info off the internet before departing. Did my best to locate the freqs on my scanner and tried Close Call occasionally with no luck but just FRS stuff.