After several Carnival cruises I've gathered that they appear to use Linked Capacity Plus. I'm not sure if there is multiple sites on the ship or if it is set up with multiple sites to roam to other ships...it seems others are seeing multiple sites on a single ship; this would make sense with how large and how much metal there is. The majority of radios I have seen are XPR7550s. Aquatic uses EVX-S24 that have analog and digital channels. The dining room uses bubble pack Motorola radios. The casino has a mix of radios, but must be in analog because I saw old CP200s being used. I have also seen a few R7s, XPR3300e, and XPR7550 IS radios. I saw a channel layout on a base station that had 14 repeater channels and two simplex channels for 16 total. The 14 channels I remember consisted of Security, Engineering, Hospitality, Medical, Fire Patrol, and Embankment.
What Radio Systems Should I Expect On The Carnival Celebration?
- Thread starter JASII
- Start date
Robertsez
Member
The four channels you mentioned are used for onboard repeaters for crew communication on cruise ships. They are specifically reserved for tgat use by the FCC (domestically) and the ITU (internationally). Carnival appears to be using them fir digital communication, specifically DMR. I tried to monitor using a Tytera MD-380, however apparently the flavor of DMR is different than MotoTRBO Tier I and II, which is this radio’s limitation.My wife, I and two other couples are going to be on the Carnival Celebration the first full week of February 2023. I will likely being something to monitor with. It looks like the traditional 457.525 (467.750) , 457.550 (467.775), 457.575 (467.800) and 457.600 (467.825) are authorized repeater outputs.
If 457.5375, 457.5625, 467.5375 and 467.5625 are is use, are they likely to be simplex?
Also, based on past Carnival cruises, I am expecting MOTO TRBO (DMR) mode to be in use. Should I expect them to be Capacity Plus?
Also, are the likely channel/talkgroup names (usages) usually:
-Bridge Ops
-Security
-Maintenance
-Engineering
-Hotel Operations
-Excursions
Would there be much value in me trying to look up the FCC licenses for these? I haven't looked up the Carnival FRN or the radio service code for that, yet.
Carnival's Newest Cruise Ship Departs on Maiden Voyage
Carnival Cruise Line's newest ship, Carnival Celebration, departed on her maiden voyage today. The 14 night cruise started in Southampton and will end incruisefever.net
On Carnival Cruise Lines, three distinct bands are used for crew communications: VHF-FM Marine, the four aforementioned UHF channels, and the onboard 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi system. The latter is used primarily by the stewards and housekeepers. If you call the extension on the card they give you with your stateroom phone, it will also connect to their Wi-Fi phone.
The VHF-FM Marine channels are used for safety, communication with nearby vessels, onboard communication, and in many cases communication on shore, as in the case of Half Moon Cay.
The UHF and Wi-Fi systems are used for hotel and restaurant operations.
Ubbe
Member
It's probably standard Cap+ as all cruising ships I have monitored use standard DMR. But the problem are that some ships use a super narrow modulation bandwidth, like it is a 6,25KHz channel, and perhaps it is, because when using something like SDR# where you can set the bandwidth and adjust the audio level it decodes just fine as Cap+ but using a scanner or MD380 it does not have enough demodulated audio level to be able to be decoded when the scanner or radio can not be set to a 6,25KHz channels modulation level.
/Ubbe
ecps92
Member
Yes, based on prior reports it is a Cap+ with likely two+ Sites
Site 1 457.5250 / 457.5500 - CC:08 LCN 1/2 and LCN 3/4
Site 2 457.5375 / 457.5875 - CC:07 LCN 3/4 and LCN 1/2
Site 3? 457.5750 - CC:10 unk LCN
Robertsez
Member
Ah, that may be the problem. My Tytera MD-380 is only able to decode DMR Tier I and Tier II, but not Capacity Plus.
Can anyone confirm?
Ubbe
Member
My MD380 decodes standard Cap+ just fine, as well as DMR T3. You can't trunk track and only scan the frequencies as conventional, but program all frequencies and their individual slots and you should hear all conversations, if it is a standard 12,5KHz modulation level.
/Ubbe
/Ubbe
Robertsez
Member
Okay, so what you’re telling me is that I should have no problem decoding DMR traffic on Carnival Cruise Line ships with my Tytera MD-380 even though the specifications state it is only compatible with Tier I and Tier II?
BC_Scan
Member
the radio (not scanner) will decode it if its not ENC , a scanner say uniden will trunk track a convo , as there could be multiple channels at any given time active with multiple convo's , with the KNOWN LCN's of a RPTR system the scanner could hold onto a convo say SECURITY tg otherwise radio (not scanner) only decodes what it hears , I dont like wasting my time trying to figure out user (if its not previously known)
so i only bring scanner (NOT RADIO) then once LCN is discovered can take 5-10 mins under ANALYZE function of Scanner then programmed accordingly (last night I went thru airport and by the time I went thru screening LCN were discovered on a 3 fx CON system) easy peasy other systems can take longer (dependant on traffic)