Maritime HF

[n4nct]

I use to monitor River boats on the Mississippi and Ohio and Delaware rivers I would hear the captains talking to each other I would also hear the guys moving barges in the Norfolk area. These guys would always be from 4.100 to 4.800 USB. does anyone have any specific frequencies that they hear Maritime traffic on a regular basis ? I don't mean the HF Maritime list I can get that on here I am looking for active frequencies that you regularly monitor.I use to love to tune in to listen to these guys but I hardly ever hear anything in this area of the band anymore.
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[ka3jjz]

Just from looking in the logs of the UDXF (or lack thereof, at least for this topic), I think you'll conclude that a lot of this activity has likely gone to satellite and cell. I can't put my finger on it at the moment, but I read somewhere (a Spectrum Monitor article?) that the 2 Mhz band has seen activity out in the Great Lakes, but it's likely to be few and far between.

I used to listen in the 2 and 4 Mhz areas for this kind of traffic too, but it's pretty much gone....Mike

 

[n4nct]

Thanks Mike
I was reading through some older post last night and I saw here some were hearing such traffic in the 5 Mhz area so I will tune through for the next 4 or 5 days and see what I come up with. I hear some Coast Guard traffic in the 8 Mhz area once in a while and if there is a big strm in the Atlantic I will pick them up in the 2 Mhz area once in a while but they are few and far apart.

 

[ka3jjz]

Yeah, at times, the USCG 5696 and 8983 kHz freqs are active, but they too have been used less and less. Still good to keep those frequencies handy, though

Mike

 

[n4nct]

do you ever monitor any Maritime Beacons ? I have heard a few but not too many

 

[ka3jjz]

I'm too far inland - far too much noise to do something like that very well...Mike

 

[JWelk]

Missing Beacons

do you ever monitor any Maritime Beacons ? I have heard a few but not too many

Hopefully you're still around and interested. Most, if not all marine DF beacons have been taken down. DF equipment is hard to come by, The frequencies have been turned over to NAVTEX and GPS. LORAN could put you at the dock, GPS, the marina. In order to get the high accuracy needed, a correction system needed to be built. They first determined where the towers were needed for coverage, then really precise locations were created. They used LORAN, GPS, sextants etc over a period of weeks. I was at site on LINY, they would come out, take measurements, and move the marker several inches, Then repeat this process. Finally they built the tower. When the GPS satellites pass overhead they determine the position of the tower. The tower knows exactly where it is, therefore any error is due to the satellite. A correction signal is then generated broadcast over the old MF freqs. They also send out Notice to Mariners in text format and can be received by a NAVTEX receiver.

 

[Priority-One]

I have been doing work in New Haven, Connecticut and i am working in the Gateway terminal. I see the ships come in and out all day in the Long island sound. I was curious as well what they use for channels inbound and tugs in New Haven? I don't have an HF radio to find out.

 

[hill]

Ships and tugs in the local area would be on VHF and not HF. Search the VHF Marine band on a scanner to find local maritime action.

 

[ka3jjz]

We have the standard VHF marine channels defined here...

Maritime Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Many scanners have a dedicated set of searches predefined, and marine is sometimes one of them

Mike