Freq. Suggestions For Receiver 25 miles West Of Boston Harbor Would Be Most Appreciated ?

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Sr. Citizen now, very, so please put up with a really basic question.

Live about 25 due West of Boston Harbor.

Simple 100 foot long wire ant. Balun at end, and then coax run to house.

Would really enjoy monitoring most any kind of maritime Comms, but realize
I'm pretty far from Harbor for most any VHF comms. True ?

Are there any other types of Maritime comms that I stand a chance of receiving ?

Freq's and modes for would be very appreciated.

Continuous, more or less, or how rare the transmissions are, info. on too if possible would be helpful.

Thanks, really appreciate the help,
Bob

 

[mmckenna]

A 100 foot long wire run horizontally across your yard is not going to perform well on VHF. If that is your area of interest, you would do better with a dedicated vertical VHF antenna mounted as high as you can safely get it.

For that antenna, you may have some luck on the HF marine band, but there isn't a lot of traffic to be heard there, much of the communications is done via satellite now. But there is some to listen to. You can try some of these: MF & HF Channel Information

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Thanks for help; appreciated
I did not do a very good, or complete, job explaining my setup.
That old age problem again, i guess.

Besides the long wire ant for the <30 MHz or so "stuff," I also have a fairly good vhf ant. in my attic, an older Scantenna ST-2 (or ST-3 ?)
It's still pretty good.

So VHF/UHF, if it can get this far, I might have a chance of hearing. Thoughts ?

Regards, thanks again, and stay well,
Bob

 

[ka3jjz]

I kinda have my doubts -- being indoors is going to cut your range down. However you won't lose anything by trying. We have the marine band frequencies in the database.

As for HF, while the voice traffic is all but gone, digital is quite another matter You have GMDSS/DSC, FAX and of course NAVTEX. While your random wire isn't nearly long enough to be efficient on 518 khz (which is where most of the stations are, there are a couple of alternates) you will likely hear some of it. Loops are a better bet on this frequency - and you don't have to get expensive on this. Some folks have had good luck using the el-cheapo MLA-30 which can he had for under USD100 from (fl)eBay. You wouldn't think a loop that uses a broad banded video amplifier would work all that well, but it's evidently good enough for many folks. So much so that there's even a Facebook group devoted to how to modify it for better performance.. And there's even a MLA30 plus now...see our Loops wiki for more...

Loops - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

For applications,

HF Software Decoders - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

You can find information on the modes on the SigIDWiki website. For NAVTEX, look up SITOR-B; the 2 share nearly identical protocols, so any app that covers SITOR-B will handle NAVTEX just fine.

Signal Identification Wiki

This wiki is intended to help identify radio signals through example sounds and waterfall images. Most signals are received and recorded using a software defined radio such as the RTL-SDR, Airspy, SDRPlay, HackRF, BladeRF, Funcube Dongle, USRP or others.

www.sigidwiki.com

I think you have a SDRPlay -remember to use their apps catalog to show you how to make the connections...Mike

 

[mmckenna]

Hi,

Thanks for help; appreciated
I did not do a very good, or complete, job explaining my setup.
That old age problem again, i guess.

Besides the long wire ant for the <30 MHz or so "stuff," I also have a fairly good vhf ant. in my attic, an older Scantenna ST-2 (or ST-3 ?)
It's still pretty good.

So VHF/UHF, if it can get this far, I might have a chance of hearing. Thoughts ?

Sure, maybe. Marine VHF traffic is going to be on the water, and other than some very large ships, the guys you want to listen to are going to have their antennas down really close to the water line. That's going to make reception 25 miles inland very difficult. Larger ships will have their VHF antennas up high on the mast, so they'll likely reach a bit further inland. USCG and other shore based VHF services often are on tall towers to extend their reach out to sea, so you may hear them.

So, the answer is "maybe".

About the only real option you have is to get your antenna up higher. That may not be possible.

Other options (unrealistic for most)
-Move closer to the water!
-Find a location closer to the water where you can site a remote receiver/scanner setup.
-P.F.M. = Pure Freakin' Magic. (not available at some locations)

Regards, thanks again, and stay well,
Bob

Yeah, you too Bob.

 

[zerg901]

Try listening to 156.80 or 157.10. You might be able to hear Boston Coast Guard making informational broadcasts if they are still using a high elevation transmitter. Can you hear Boston on 462.975, 460.45, 460.50, or 483.1625?

 

[BOBRR]

Hi thanks,

Appreciate suggestions. Very much.

Will try and see if i can pick up the Boston cg.
Hope their ant is high, and not directional in the sense that it is oriented/pointed outward to water side.

Will be fun to try. Thanks again for help.

Regards, and stay well,
Bob

 

[N1FKO]

Would really enjoy monitoring most any kind of maritime Comms, but realize
I'm pretty far from Harbor for most any VHF comms. True ?

Hi Bob,

I'm about ten miles west of the harbor and the only thing I've heard is the Coast Guard announcements. I can hear Boston PD just fine, but nothing from the water.

I'm using this discone setup as described by jonwienke, which works nicely, all things considered:

Indoor Discone Antenna Setup

For those who for whatever reason can't set up an outdoor antenna, this setup works quite a bit better than a ducky/whip. Antenna: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QVPGKHU/ Stand: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E0PPG0/ The stand tubing is the exact right size to fit the antenna...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Will try some of the suggested freq's.

Thanks for suggestions,
Bob