Disney Magic in San Pedro

[b52hbuff]

The Disney Magic is returning to the LA area. It is arriving/departing Sundays, through August. If you want to get a rare opportunity to scan the ship while she is in port, she berths at Berth #93 in San Pedro.

Information on their UHF radio usage is here:
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108930

The ship also uses an 800MHz TRS to support housekeeping, foods, and other recreational activities:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2715

During my recent visit, the 800MHz configuration was fairly well aligned with actual usage.

 

[zz0468]

I took a cruise on the Disney Magic a couple of years ago. I didn't take any radios, because that's one of the things I wanted to get away from. It's a beautiful ship, in and out. It might be fun to go down and take a look...

 

[ecps92]

Disney also applied for and was Granted an STA by the FCC for the 800 Trunk to
operate in California during the Pacific travel and some of the Frequencies used in Florida
and the Caribbean Ports have been modified for the Pacific/California visits.

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=2996023 [FCC STA]

The Disney Magic is returning to the LA area. It is arriving/departing Sundays, through August. If you want to get a rare opportunity to scan the ship while she is in port, she berths at Berth #93 in San Pedro.

Information on their UHF radio usage is here:
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108930

The ship also uses an 800MHz TRS to support housekeeping, foods, and other recreational activities:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2715

During my recent visit, the 800MHz configuration was fairly well aligned with actual usage.

 

[b52hbuff]

Disney also applied for and was Granted an STA by the FCC for the 800 Trunk to
operate in California during the Pacific travel and some of the Frequencies used in Florida
and the Caribbean Ports have been modified for the Pacific/California visits.
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=2996023 [FCC STA]

You are an awesome resource! How did you know about the STA?

Also, I'm a bit confused by your second comment. What frequencies have been modified? The 800MHz TRS was monitored using a profile I had used for a FL cruise.

 

[ecps92]

Radio Reference vs FCC STA [Sorry had to edit, it was not formatting correctly]
855.7875 - 855.7875
Not listed - 856.7875
856.9125 - Not listed
857.7875 - 857.7875
Not listed - 857.8875
858.8125 - Not listed
859.7875 - 859.7875


You'll note 856.9125 and 858.8125 are not part of the San Pedro License
and 856.7875 and 857.8875 were not part of the Cape Canaveral Info

The Information was passed along from a Southern California Source, who
has contributed in the past during his cruises.

As I have always said, more info is needed, as there are plenty of Cruisers with Scanners
and those who live/work/travel in/around the USA Ports, but never SEARCH out the frequencies.

Since the UHF Maritime Channels are not licensed it's hard to build profiles on each Ship.
And even worse when they abandon agreed upon Radio Conventions and use anything.

One ship in Boston was using a 440 Amateur as the input to the 450 [News/Broadcast] Output for their Repeater on the ship.

Last time I was at San Pedro, I got a few ships, but am still missing much of the West Coast Cruise Ships
for any info or even making them curren.

You are an awesome resource! How did you know about the STA?

Also, I'm a bit confused by your second comment. What frequencies have been modified? The 800MHz TRS was monitored using a profile I had used for a FL cruise.

 

[b52hbuff]

You'll note 856.9125 and 858.8125 are not part of the San Pedro License
and 856.7875 and 857.8875 were not part of the Cape Canaveral Info

As I have always said, more info is needed, as there are plenty of Cruisers with Scanners
and those who live/work/travel in/around the USA Ports, but never SEARCH out the frequencies.

I'll go back and compare, but they must have kept the control channels the same, or it would be a big PITA to reprogram all of the radios.

One challenge I've observed is that it is very difficult to localize which ship is using which frequency. It is much easier while the ship is underway to localize frequencies, since there isn't so much background RF. It turns out that USA ports have LOTS of RF, so harder to figure out who is who in port.

One suggestion is to start with the Maritime bandplan from the FCC. It will at least get you in the ballpark.

 

[ecps92]

Not really. As long as they had One Control Channel it would still work.

For a Single Site Trunk you only need One Control Channel. They get programmed for Two to plan for failure and originally many had 4, so the transmitter was not broadcasting 24/7 and they could rotate.

Many of them now [Public Safety] in New England have moved to only two [One Primary and the other as a Back-up] Control channels.

Yup, best time is Arrival / Departure. Along with VHF Marine as the Pilot arrives, or they have a drill [Lifeboat] and ask the USCG for permission to run a Lifeboat drill. Manytime this is the only way you will
find the Emergency Channels.

Arrival is best, as they announce how close to the dock. Even with the Official Band Plan , it will depend on the home country [not registered, but Built]

I have found leaving the following works well [and yes, some are GMRS] for the basics

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

Any can be the Repeater. Don't forget the 12.5 Khz splits in-between as well.
Reports from Europe indicate a lot of the splinters being paired into repeaters as well.

It's been awhile since the following were found [San Pedro regulars]

RCCL Vision of the Seas [Sundays as well]
RCCL Monarch of the Seas

I'll go back and compare, but they must have kept the control channels the same, or it would be a big PITA to reprogram all of the radios.

One challenge I've observed is that it is very difficult to localize which ship is using which frequency. It is much easier while the ship is underway to localize frequencies, since there isn't so much background RF. It turns out that USA ports have LOTS of RF, so harder to figure out who is who in port.

One suggestion is to start with the Maritime bandplan from the FCC. It will at least get you in the ballpark.

 

[b52hbuff]

Not really. As long as they had One Control Channel it would still work.

For a Single Site Trunk you only need One Control Channel. They get programmed for Two to plan for failure and originally many had 4, so the transmitter was not broadcasting 24/7 and they could rotate.

It's been awhile since the following were found [San Pedro regulars]

RCCL Vision of the Seas [Sundays as well]
RCCL Monarch of the Seas

We are in violent agreement, but just to be clear... The radios can be programmed for four control channels to look for. So as long as they keep a CC on one of those preprogrammed frequencies, they can manipulate which voice channels are used from the central controller.

I have one frequency/tone for the Vision.

I also have a log of some of the control channels used during the Magic cruise. All of this information is in my notebook at home. I'll post it later tonight or this weekend.

 

[ecps92]

Yes we are. Wanted to clarify it for others reading, as there has been some misconceptions
on the 1-4 control channels for trunking in the past.

Added your info to my pages this am. Thanks

We are in violent agreement, but just to be clear... The radios can be programmed for four control channels to look for. So as long as they keep a CC on one of those preprogrammed frequencies, they can manipulate which voice channels are used from the central controller.

I have one frequency/tone for the Vision.

I also have a log of some of the control channels used during the Magic cruise. All of this information is in my notebook at home. I'll post it later tonight or this weekend.