MARITIMES SCANNING SITE

UHF Frequencies in use by Cruise Ships and other Deep Sea Ships

Last updated Dec 21, 2009

Information here that is attributed to Bill Dunn is courtesy of Bill Dunn, N1KUG, who is an aficionado of cruise ship and other marine listening.  He has his own website on the topic at http://scanmaritime.com

Bill also provides a live feed of the US Coast Guard in the Boston area via Team Speak:
info at http://scannewengland.net

There are a number of frequencies that may be of interest to listeners living close to the ports of Halifax, Sydney, Saint John, and possibly others.   These frequencies are not the VHF marine channels that they use for docking and intership purposes, but rather their own internal radio systems.  These systems are used for the administration of the ship and coordination of activities and may be repeater systems.  It is not known how these frequencies could possibly be coordinated with local authorities.  While the list does include some that are officially allocated to such uses in Canada, others are GMRS or FRS frequencies, or completely unauthorized. It is likely that in some cases or perhaps most, the use of some of these frequencies is in conflict with local usage.  Some of you may be interested in looking each of these up on TAFL and seeing what conflicts are likely.  The frequencies in the 457 MHz range seem to be the most common, but I do know that some of these are used in the Halifax area for drive-thru pick-up windows.   Each ship may have only a few of the frequencies assigned.    It is also known that on cruise ships it is now common for passengers to buy, rent or borrow GMRS/FRS radios, and therefore those bands might be monitored in the vicinity of such vessels.

Note that for Canadian ships, the officially allocated UHF frequencies shown are simplex only (no repeaters authorized) and are limited to 5 watts. 

Some frequencies of possible interest re ships in port.  "Bill D" indicates Bill Dunn's suggestions outside of regular allocations.  Others are FRS, GMRS or actual shipboard frequencies or have been gathered from other sources.

450.67500
457.02500
457.50000 Bill D suggests listening
457.52500 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
457.53750
457.55000 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
457.56250
457.57500 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
457.58750
457.60000 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
457.61250
457.62500 Bill D suggests listening
458.71250
462.55000 GMRS in Canada
462.56250 GMRS/FRS shared in Canada
462.57500 GMRS in Canada
462.58750 GMRS/FRS shared in Canada
462.60000 GMRS in Canada
462.61250 GMRS/FRS shared in Canada
462.62500 GMRS in Canada
462.63750 GMRS/FRS shared in Canada
462.65000 GMRS in Canada
462.66250 GMRS/FRS shared in Canada
462.67500 GMRS in Canada
462.68750 GMRS/FRS shared in Canada
462.70000 GMRS in Canada
462.71250 GMRS/FRS shared in Canada
462.72500 GMRS in Canada
464.27500
464.30000
464.32500
464.40000
467.01250
467.50000 Bill D suggests listening
467.52500 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
467.53750
467.55000 GMRS rptr input USA; Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
467.56250 FRS in Canada
467.57500 GMRS rptr input USA; Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
467.58750 FRS in Canada
467.60000 Bill D suggests listening (GMRS rptr input USA)
467.61250 FRS in Canada
467.62500 Bill D suggests listening (GMRS rptr input USA)
467.63750 FRS in Canada
467.65000 GMRS (rptr input in USA)
467.66250 FRS in Canada
467.67500 GMRS (rptr input in USA)
467.68750 FRS in Canada
467.70000 GMRS (rptr input in USA)
467.71250 FRS in Canada
467.72500 GMRS (rptr input in USA)
467.75000 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
467.77500 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
467.80000 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
467.82500 Officially allocated in Canada to shipboard operations
468.32500
469.95000