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The Coast Guard in this Press Release point out that they do pursue prosecution of persons responsible for fake calls. Marine radio users should never make false distress calls or make fake calls by telephone.
This U.S. Coast Guard approved 2-Way Radio Life Vest features dual, 14-channel two-way radios that are integrated into the chest area of the life vest, with another unit located on a boat or on shore for instant communication purposes no matter the situation.
(Click read more below to read the article referred to.)
(PopWireless: This radio escaped the radar of this magazine since the advertisement makes no mention whatsoever of the radio service in which these devices operate. We suspect this an FRS radio being sold to the public as a save-your-life radio.
At the magazine we have a problem with this device. There is no emergency frequency in the Family Radio Service that we know of but we suspect this is indeed a Family Radio Service radio. The Family Radio Service is now cluttered with levels of radio interference so high in some urban, park, and recreational areas that controlling that interference in order to monitor and find a person gone over board would probably result in tragic circumstances. It is absolutely bizarre that any clear-thinking company or the Coast Guard would would suggest this radio is good for, “instant communication purposes no matter the situation.” A tragic suggestion.
The maritime enthusiast should always have a marine VHF radio on board to signal the Coast Guard in an emergency. We suspect that the Coast Guard’s radio-direction finding resources are focused in the marine VHF service. We do not know for sure how they would respond to a person missing wearing an FRS radio. The person gone over board would be far more likely to attract attention if they broadcast for help on Marine Channel 16 than if they broadcast on a Family Radio Service channel. This radio is all about marine rescue on the cheap. We feel differently about the value of your life.
Where we see this vest having some utility is for skier to boat communication. Any situation where you can see and wave to someone wearing this vest is a great place to use a radio to also hear them. “We’re coming around to pick you up, or Are you OK after that wipe out,” are likely scenarios. In each case you can get immediately back to the swimmer. What an FRS radio is not is a radio to make up for lack of planning or to use in lieu of common sense an acceptable practice or out of visual range!
Explore the use of this vest but be careful how you choose to use it. We would also love to know why the advertisers of this life-saving device failed to disclosed the frequencies on which the device operated. Odd indeed.)
“Unfortunately, the infrastructure necessary to provide these services has exceeded its life expectancy. The equipment is no longer manufactured, repairs are difficult to accomplish, and spare parts are generally not available.” With new technologies like WLO
’s internet services…. is a traditional HF system necessary? (Click read more below to read the original article.)
(PopWireless: This is unfortunately old news. Comments were due the Coast Guard on August 24. It is something worth following however. Another major change in marine radio just like the end of Morse Code could be the demise of SSB.)
(Plum Point, MD) A GMRS pirate with several radio users operating as an unlicensed ineligible entity was identified by the Personal Radio Association on the evening of Friday, September 28, 2007. The pirate was operating a GMRS repeater located in the vicinity of Cambridge, MD on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. As of Saturday morning the same organization is operating the illegal radio system despite having been warned that they are operating without a license and may cause serious interference to GMRS licensees. Radio operation is occurring at a park on the Choptank River.
An organizer of the Chesapeake Man Triathlon event in Cambridge, MD was contacted on his cellular telephone. He identified the Race Director as Robert Vigarito. A law enforcement agency on the Eastern Shore provided the telephone number. The contact the PRA spoke with refused to shut down the radio system or to call the radio company that rented them the system citing safety concerns as their event was already well underway and would continue on Saturday, September 29.
GMRS licensees in the DelMarVa area including other unlicensed persons using GMRS are requested to avoid interfering with the event’s communications on 462.675 MHz. The Columbia Triathlon Association, Inc, appears to be the victim of their radio provider as is the case with most instances like this one. The United States Coast Guard is providing law enforcement support on the river and the the Cambridge Police on land near Great Marsh Park. This is a large event. The pirate repeater may only be in operation one more day.
The PRA has filed an FCC complaint form regarding unlicensed use of GMRS by an organization ineligible to license in the GMRS naming the Columbia Triathlon Association and the radio company that rented the repeater to them. The radio company information was provided by the association organizer contacted by the PRA.
A GMRS Pirate is a person, organization, or business that operates two-way radios on the General Mobile Radio Service without having first obtained the required license from the Federal Communications Commission. Organizations and businesses have not been allowed to obtain GMRS licenses since 1989. Only a few grandfathered business users remain that have since renewed licenses obtained prior to 1989. The General Mobile Radio Service is regulated by Part 95 of the FCC Rules and Regulations. Individuals are permitted to obtain GMRS licenses for their personal business and that of their family.
An all too common GMRS piracy problem has existed across the United States for years. Radio companies seeking to avoid paying license fees and performing frequency coordination filings put temporary and even full-time customers on GMRS frequencies hoping no one will ever notice. This fraudulent practice was pernicious enough to encourage GMRS licensees across the United States to form the Personal Radio Association Inc., a Maryland not-for profit corporation. The PRA actively reports GMRS rules violations and unlicensed users to the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau.
GMRS licensees authorized to use GMRS channels pay a license fee and observe radio regulations designed to facilitate channel sharing of the eight repeater frequency pairs allocated to the service. The business radio services have hundreds of channels to choose from but also have specific rules to follow under FCC Rules Part 90. It is not uncommon for a GMRS licensee to have spent thousands of dollars on their own repeater system that they in turn share with other area families. GMRS licensees are forbidden by rule to rent or to take any renumeration other than actual operating costs to/from others.
The unscrupulous radio companies rent radios on channels they are ineligible to use at the expense of those licensed to use the channels. When a local radio shop breaks the rules to put a pirate on the air the pirate is often uncooperative with GMRS licensees pretty much clueless and unaware of any rules or licensing regulations. Pirates typically operate with unacceptable radio practices causing harmful interference to licensed users of the same channels. Pirates are a persistent nuisance in the GMRS. More information on this topic can be found using our blogroll in the Bubble-Pack Pirate FAQ and GMRS Intruder Help. The PRA website is http://www.praweb.org
When you live in or near a maritime community scanning the marine
VHF channels can be as entertaining as listening to police, fire, and medical calls. It can also be quite a bit cheaper when you stop to consider that a newer model digital scanner from RadioShack can cost you $399 on sale. The RadioShack PRO-96 hand-held scanner like it’s base/mobile cousin the PRO-2096 scanner are excellent scanners for digital public safety systems and even have marine VHF search capabilities built in. The PRO-96 is one of my favorites since I own one myself; however, you don’t need this super scanner to enjoy listening to marine VHF frequencies.
Several manufacturers, including RadioShack make inexpensive scanning receivers capable of scanning what the 
scanning enthusiasts call conventional radio systems. Many so-called conventional scanners are often not capable of scanning trunked public safety radio systems whether digital or analog. You don’t buy a conventional scanner to scan a trunked radio system but you might if you wanted to hear what was going on in the water surrounding your home. An example of a good low-cost conventional scanner is the RadioShack PRO-2018 desk-top scanner priced currently at $99. Also available is the low-priced PRO-82 hand-held scanner. Each scanner holds up to two-hundred user programmed frequencies.
How do I listen?
Programming conventional radio systems into a scanner is still much easier than programming trunked public safety systems. Don’t be afraid of making a scanner purchase to scan marine frequencies if your primary worry is that you will never figure out how to do it! It is not rocket science. Besides your local radio store will probably program the scanner for you if you ask.
Probably one of the easiest ways to listen to marine VHF channels is to use the grouped search function available on most scanners. On scanners like the RadioShack PRO-95, PRO-96 and others you can press the pre-programmed search button for marine channels and then start scanning all of the known VHF channels. It just takes seconds to enter the keystrokes. But if you have just a handful of of favorite channels you want to listen to you would enter those into a bank. Read your scanner documentation for instructions.
Where can I find my list of favorites?
Start by listening to channels that should produce some interesting radio listening right away. You will soon develop a list of channels for your area. These are the channels I suggest to start:
As you scan these channels listen for ships talking about other marine channels. You will quickly learn the working channels for maritime towing services, harbors, bridges, and pilots. Add those frequencies as you find them. In the Marin Links section of this website you will find a complete frequency list of marine channels.
Do I need a special antenna?
Not necessarily. It can depend how far away your listening point is from the waterway of interest. Simple VHF antennas for scanners are not expensive. Any outdoor antenna is preferable but if you are near the water chances are the antenna on the scanner will provide adequate results for with local signals.
Around 4AM this morning I heard a large passenger ship and a cargo ship talking about a much smaller vessel in the deep water shipping lane of the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Choptank River. This smaller boat was actually in some peril because both big boats were converging upon the smaller boat at about the same time. In order to avoid a collision, the big boats had to determine how to pass each other and then guess how the smaller boat would react. They needed to know the intentions of the smaller craft. This maritime radio-ballet is heard many times during the day at all hours. The dance is however a lot more successful if all parties on the dance floor are aware of each other or more accurately on the same radio channel so they can enjoy the dance together.
There was some real life drama to this event. Why isn’t the operator of the little boat listening? Why isn’t he responding? Is he intentionally causing a problem or is he just an inexperienced boater? Is something big about to happen and am I listening a fateful event about to unravel. Leaning into the radio I turned up the volume.
Both big boats hailed the operator (I hesitate to use the word captain) of the smaller boat for a good twenty minutes on VHF marine channels 16, 13, and 9. In the Bay, large vessels have to monitor channel 13 for navigation purposes. Finally the smaller boat answered up on channel 16. One big boat heard the smaller boat and the other big boat did not. The first big ship asked the small boat to move out of the way off to the west immediately and to stay out of the shipping lane as the big boats passed. The Master of the second big ship was more firm. He told the small boat operator to PAY ATTENTION to and to MONITOR the correct channels on his VHF marine radio if he was going to sailing in the real world and to better yet stay the heck out of the deep water shipping lanes with his tiny vessel! It was a classic butt chewing for an amateur seaman that made everyone else’s life more dangerous.
The little boat got out of the way and the big ships sailed on. Thank you captains!
Failing to keep a proper watch on VHF marine radio really is a big problem on our waterways here, and one problem the Coast Guard and local law enforcement should worry about more. It is, in my view, an obvious security vulnerability as well as a threat to basic safety and the continued safety of maritime commerce. The local mariners that do not understand navigation or how to use a VHF marine radio for navigation safety should be back in boaters school learning what they need to know before being allowed back on the water.
It is incredulous to hear on our water ways that the policing of bad habits is predominantly self policing. The Masters of larger ships, some from foreign countries, are educating local residents in smaller boats on the finer points of inland navigation and boating safety. Local law enforcement officials remain mysteriously absent. We see the Coast Guard aircraft patrolling the Bay on weekends. Occasionally we hear the Coast Guard boarding pleasure craft conducting inspections. You don’t often hear officials chasing down the errant sailor that put the lives of everyone aboard two large ships at risk by failing to keep a radio watch.
FCC Part 80 Rules do say that a VHF marine radio is not required on pleasure craft of a certain size but if the vessel is equipped and the radio is on the operator MUST maintain a watch. Perhaps the rules should read if you plan to play with the big dogs you best be ready to chat with them at a moment’s notice!
Do you live in a marine community? Are you listening to marine VHF radio to find out how safe your waters are? Are you a boater? Are you teaching everyone in your family how to maintain a radio watch? Do they know the purposes of the various marine channels? Are you the master of your vessel or just a local nuisance? Good questions.
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A call to the on-duty security officer at the LNG facility succeeded in the ship moving to 467.600 MHz. That frequency is also not mentioned in any foreign treaty as authorized for use in the
This particular night, tropospheric ducting was evident. The transmissions from the ship, using CTCSS encoding, brought up a repeater hundreds of miles away.
The captain of the vessel registered on the
The LNG facility is conducting an inquiry and Riley Hollingsworth was notified by email. The PRA knows the name of the ship and will ask the FCC to write the shipping company upon conclusion of the LNG facility investigation. That facility remained steadfast in its support of the local GMRS community. The PRA and Popular Wireless Magazine are dumbfounded that the promised assistance of the Coast Guard is having no apparent effect on the problem in ANY
The acronym FSI was coined at PopularWireless Magazine to mean Foreign Shipping Interference or GMRS radio interference from foreign vessels improperly using GMRS repeater input or output channels while in US waters.
(
In the first week of May 2007 foreign ships were heard operating on 467.600, 467.675, 467.550, and 467.575. Add this activity up with the crane operator in
Only a very small part of the problem remains under control. One local industrial port managed by Dominion Inc. routinely works with local licensees to mitigate interference from ships docked at their facility. Dominion takes facility security and community security very seriously. Local licensees appreciate Dominion’s continued responsiveness. In today’s world getting and keeping the attention of a big company on a local problem is not always easy. Dominion remains a great neighbor.
FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth, at the direction of Kris Montieth FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief wrote the Coast Guard an inter-agency memo asking Coast Guard’s help in this matter. To date on the
PopularWireless does know that ITU Regulations clearly state that governments have the RIGHT to specify which radio frequencies are used by foreign ships visiting their ports. In the United States our NTIA specifies those frequencies as 457.525 and 457.575 MHz. Those same ITU regulations clearly state that foreign ships may NOT interfere with communications when visiting foreign ports and must identify their transmitters. Not one ship this weekend has identified with a call sign and none of them is doing their part to avoid interference to GMRS repeater operations in
Nationwide this has been a problem for twenty plus years. It was first written about at this magazine in the year 2000. (See the previous link for information updated in 2007.) The Personal Radio Association, Inc. still wants to hear from every victim of foreign shipping interference - FSI. In late 2006 a repeater owner in the
Obtaining the cooperation of shipping companies, boat captains, and boat radio officers has not been easy. Routinely, attempts to communicate with vessels on the air are ignored. Sometimes the ships change frequencies but often they just change to another GMRS input. In
It remains a busy weekend on GMRS repeater inputs in
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