The snow plowing has been going on around here for over 20 years so i guess the fcc hasnt caught up with them yet...
Deer hunters on VHF marine
- Thread starter wbswetnam
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For years, there was a problem with deer swimming between Plum Island and Long Island in New York. It was fine for the deer to swim to Plum Island, but the Coast Guard flew patrols and shot any deer trying to swim from the island. The reason, the Department of Agriculture had a bio-safety level 3 facility on the island that tested diseases on animals. They didn't want to risk the possibility of the deer bringing something "distasteful" back to Long Island. Plum Gut and the adjoining waters (Long Island Sound, Atlantic Ocean) are most definitely places where you would need a VHF marine radio.
But as I said that isn't in the backwoods. Or in areas with small lakes and rivers. As is the theme of this post, hunters using VHF marine radio. In my area, some of the VHF marine radio frequencies are allocated to licensed users in land, thus there is again the risk of interference with licensed users.
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stingray327
Member
I have seen handheld walkie talkie marine band radios. They cost a lot more than a CB radio. Why don't they just use CB radios instead?
Cbs do not have access to the Coast Guard or Gps features and Marine radios do. :wink: 73, n9zas
stingray327
Member
So those guys playing music and using profane language have a better chance of getting caught.
the are not water proofe.
. Yep, that's a good point, too. :wink: I'm surprised I never hear those bootlegged around here. 73, n9zas
K4APR
Member
Hear! Hear!
dmckean44
Member
Handheld AM CBs have a range of about 150 yards in the woods and there's a lot of chatter on them in some areas. Plus radio design on handheld CBs is stuck in the 70s. If someone made a good, weather resistant handheld CB with SSB and all the features of a Uniden 980 and a powerful Lithium Ion battery, more people would use CB in the woods.
MURS would be the most useful legally available radios for hunters in the woods but they cost more than VHS Marine radios and they only have 5 channels. Plus they'll go crazy with activity every time they drive near a Walmart.
Buying VHF, UHF or Dual-Band business radios that use licensed channels would probably be better than using the Marine band. These radios tend to be powerful, weather resistant, have good range and plenty of channels, but they're not sold in Bass Pro shops.
FRS is completely useless for their needs and the extra power in a GMRS radio would only help a little with range. There's no repeaters to help out in the boonies either and most operators of repeaters wouldn't want their traffic anyway.
I'm not even sure the Coast Guard cares about radio misuse. I'm only 14 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and I regularly hear a truck dispatch (base station) on marine channel 69, which is supposed to be for noncommercial boaters, loud and clear. The USCG is in Mobile which is only about 25 air miles away so there's no way they wouldn't hear this. It's been going on for months and months, although I just thought to ask about it today on the Alabama forum.
dmckean44
Member
The USCG is only going to monitor it's working channels and the emergency channel. Same thing with other gov't and commercial channels. If people buying these radios to hunt with knew to stay on 68, 69, 71, 72 and 78, they probably would never run into an issue. That's obviously not what's happening.
lol jibber jabbering haven't heard that in years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V_d6RrW-qs
Anyways back to the topic. I have never heard anybody on marine, being so far from water. There are dear hunters around maybe I should listen more
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Darkstar350
Member
The Coast Guard absolutley keeps a close watch on marine channels - particularly channel 16 which is the distress channel and a couple other channels(one of them being "22 alpha" i think its called) that are more or less exclusive to the Coast Guard and they will let you know if you are misusing whatever the channel in question is intended for
They also use some frequencies in the military/govt band as well
Im surrounded by water so i hear plenty of activity on the marine channels but yes some of the channels can be used for "Joe schmo and John schmo's" boats to talk to each other while fishing, etc
But i suppose in areas where there really is no waterfront nearby such as the mid west for example then i guess it wouldnt really be a problem if some hunters did decide to use marine radios
"Clean and legal"? I doubt it but given theres no water nearby then at least they wouldnt be interfering with anyone elses fishing operations and whatnot
GMRS is popular with hunters from what i understand
Theres plenty of decent GMRS radios on the market geared to hunters waterproof, camofloged, etc so its kind of pointless for hunters to bother with marine radios but i guess hunting and fishing somewhat goes hand and hand...
They also use some frequencies in the military/govt band as well
Im surrounded by water so i hear plenty of activity on the marine channels but yes some of the channels can be used for "Joe schmo and John schmo's" boats to talk to each other while fishing, etc
But i suppose in areas where there really is no waterfront nearby such as the mid west for example then i guess it wouldnt really be a problem if some hunters did decide to use marine radios
"Clean and legal"? I doubt it but given theres no water nearby then at least they wouldnt be interfering with anyone elses fishing operations and whatnot
GMRS is popular with hunters from what i understand
Theres plenty of decent GMRS radios on the market geared to hunters waterproof, camofloged, etc so its kind of pointless for hunters to bother with marine radios but i guess hunting and fishing somewhat goes hand and hand...
toastycookies
Member
Up here (Coast of Maine) Marine VHF is more popular than CB's, in trucks.
Fishermen, Hunters, Snowplow drivers are the most popular I hear operating from their trucks.
No one cares. They stay off the channels for USCG / the ones boats/ships are legally required to monitor.
They're not really hurting anything so I don't see any problems with it.
Marine VHF used to be much more valuable to seamen before cell phones came along.
I remember the huge towers lining the coast that the Marine Operators used to phone patch people's calls.
All the duplex channels are long dead now and are being given out for experimental use last time I checked.
Fishermen, Hunters, Snowplow drivers are the most popular I hear operating from their trucks.
No one cares. They stay off the channels for USCG / the ones boats/ships are legally required to monitor.
They're not really hurting anything so I don't see any problems with it.
Marine VHF used to be much more valuable to seamen before cell phones came along.
I remember the huge towers lining the coast that the Marine Operators used to phone patch people's calls.
All the duplex channels are long dead now and are being given out for experimental use last time I checked.
nd5y
Member
I don't know where you checked but it was wrong. They were not "given out for experimental use". The VHF Public Coast Service frequencies were auctioned in 1998 and 2001. Some of the spectrum in non-coastal and non-inland waterway market areas was sold by the auction winners and is used by various licensees.
FCC Auctions: Summary: Auction 20
FCC Auctions: Summary: Auction 39
stingray327
Member
Why are marine radios more popular in trucks th an CB radios? Is it the range?
SteveC0625
Order of the Golden Dino since 1972
They are FM so no annoying skip for the most part. Better audio. Marine radios are inexpensive and readily available. For those that have Part 90 applications, it's easy to add a couple of marine channels to an existing VHF radio.
dmckean44
Member
Plus you don't need a nine foot antenna and won't have local idiots running 10,000 watts butting in on private conversations and drowning you out.
I had a CB in the car for a couple decades but it was only really useful for traffic reports. I have an app on my phone now that does a pretty good job of that and recommends alternate routes and automatically maps them.
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