Cruise Ship Monitoring

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fireboat61

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Due to the recent Costa Cruise Ship disaster in Italy, I'm positive some very important communications were spoken over their radios without the passengers knowledge. In the past I have never had the urge to take my handheld scanner on a vacation, however, that will change. In April I will be on the Crown Princess. I researched the ships frequencies and they appear to be UHF simplex and repeater. Does the ship actually have a repeater system on-board? If so, do you simply program in the repeater frequency to receive both sides of the conversation? I would certainly appreciate any advice provided. Tony
 

hpycmpr

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Yes, just program the Repeat and Simplex frequencies and you should be good to go. The ships commonly have repeater systems on board. Don't forget to program the marine frequencies as well for ship to ship and ship to shore. The marine frequencies can also be used as intra-ship comms if far enough away from other users. And hope the crew speaks English.
Have a great trip
Steve
 

ecps92

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Yes, You are likely correct. However we have no info on the Concordia radio system [no reports] so it's hard to tell if it would have been decoded by any hobbyists/scannists as some of the systems are MotoTRBO.

As for the Crown Princess they use a 5+ Channel radio System in the UHF Business Band or what is sometimes call the UHF Marine channels.

Yes, there is actually atleast 3 Rptrs on the CP

Yes, like listening to your Police or Fire, you only need to listen to the Output of the Repeater to hear both sides of the conversation

Don't ignore the VHF Channels too, many of the cruise lines also use VHF marine channels for the Shore Excursions and coordination with the Port Agent/Pilots etc

PM me with your Travel Date, and I can likely tell you what other ships you will encounter on your trip.

Also the best part is to listen when getting ready to depart a port, and they are announcing the folks who are LATE :) ;)

Due to the recent Costa Cruise Ship disaster in Italy, I'm positive some very important communications were spoken over their radios without the passengers knowledge. In the past I have never had the urge to take my handheld scanner on a vacation, however, that will change. In April I will be on the Crown Princess. I researched the ships frequencies and they appear to be UHF simplex and repeater. Does the ship actually have a repeater system on-board? If so, do you simply program in the repeater frequency to receive both sides of the conversation? I would certainly appreciate any advice provided. Tony
 

ecps92

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Jul 8, 2002
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Taxachusetts
English ? he he he
I've found it to be a 50/50 mix for the ships in the USA

Altho the Costa, Aida and Japan lines are [Italian, German and Japanese]

Yes, just program the Repeat and Simplex frequencies and you should be good to go. The ships commonly have repeater systems on board. Don't forget to program the marine frequencies as well for ship to ship and ship to shore. The marine frequencies can also be used as intra-ship comms if far enough away from other users. And hope the crew speaks English.
Have a great trip
Steve
 
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