Ham Radio scanners -- any recent experiences?

[Mary Ellen1]

Hi there,

 

I was thinking it might be fun to bring a handheld radio scanner with us on our upcoming B2B2B. Just to see what we can listen to... Ship communications, maritime chatter, port traffic... whatever!

 

DH, however, is convinced that it's impossible -- that all of these comms have moved to digital and/or encrypted frequencies, and there's no way to pick anything up with the scanners we've got.

 

Does anyone have any recent experience with this? Better yet, does anyone know which frequencies to listen to? Does anyone know what frequencies Carnival uses? Or if their channels are encrypted?

 

Thanks, cruisers. :)

Edited October 11, 2013 by Mary Ellen1
clarity

[HO HO]

Didn't find anything in the CCL FAQ's, so there may not be any restriction....but I'm leaning toward your DH's impression that everything has gone digital and perhaps even encrypted...however, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

[Flutie03]

Ham radio is alive and well. Its a hobby of my dads and he has had communications from all over

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

[Mary Ellen1]

Didn't find anything in the CCL FAQ's, so there may not be any restriction....but I'm leaning toward your DH's impression that everything has gone digital and perhaps even encrypted...however, nothing ventured, nothing gained...

 

Yes, I checked the CCL FAQ's too. No specific mention that it's restricted. But I saw a post on another board here that said it's now prohibited under the "household electrics" clause. But I think that refers to operating, transmitting, setting up an antenna, etc. Not what I had in mind...

 

Still trying to learn if the frequencies are all digital and/or encrypted...

 

Thanks.

[WLHyatt]

There are a couple of things here:

1. On-ship walkie talkie communications will not be digital, you should be able to pick them up between 100 and 200MHz, or 400 to 500MHz FM, maybe narrow band, but I doubt it.

2. Ship-to-ship radio is single sideband somewhere in the vicinity of 29 MHz, but could be as low as 1MHz to 50MHz. The down side of this is they mostly monitor this and only use it during maritime incidents or when communicating with ships in the area to find out if they intend to make any moves.

3. Ship-to-shore is probably mostly done on satellite now and will be digital and/or encrypted. They probably have an HF or MF radio on the ship that allows long distance communications for times when Satellite is either over the horizon or other impairments.

 

I know about #2 because I am a ham and during the behind the fun tour, while on the bridge I looked at the comminications station and made a mental note of what areas they had the radios set to. I do not remember exact frequencies, but I bet if you look up maritime sideband frequencies you will find them.

[BIG_Steve]

Here is a starting point found via google. Glad you brought this up. I don't use my scanner much, and never thought to bring it along.

 

http://scanmaritime.com/frequencies.htm

[Mary Ellen1]

There are a couple of things here:

1. On-ship walkie talkie communications will not be digital, you should be able to pick them up between 100 and 200MHz, or 400 to 500MHz FM, maybe narrow band, but I doubt it.

2. Ship-to-ship radio is single sideband somewhere in the vicinity of 29 MHz, but could be as low as 1MHz to 50MHz. The down side of this is they mostly monitor this and only use it during maritime incidents or when communicating with ships in the area to find out if they intend to make any moves.

3. Ship-to-shore is probably mostly done on satellite now and will be digital and/or encrypted. They probably have an HF or MF radio on the ship that allows long distance communications for times when Satellite is either over the horizon or other impairments.

 

I know about #2 because I am a ham and during the behind the fun tour, while on the bridge I looked at the comminications station and made a mental note of what areas they had the radios set to. I do not remember exact frequencies, but I bet if you look up maritime sideband frequencies you will find them.

 

Great info! And very specific. Thanks!

 

And great point about the satellite comms likely being encrypted (but not necessarily the other stuff). That makes sense.

 

Here is a starting point found via google. Glad you brought this up. I don't use my scanner much, and never thought to bring it along.

 

http://scanmaritime.com/frequencies.htm

 

Fabulous! I'll make a note of the frequencies listed for the Victory. Thank you!

[ecps92]

Hope you enjoy the info from the site :rolleyes:

 

Great info! And very specific. Thanks!

 

And great point about the satellite comms likely being encrypted (but not necessarily the other stuff). That makes sense.

 

 

 

Fabulous! I'll make a note of the frequencies listed for the Victory. Thank you!

[arush5268d]

A ham radio scanner will not get you very far. You will need a multi-band scanner.

[wilee]

Would a hand held VHF radio do the job?

[arush5268d]

Would a hand held VHF radio do the job?

 

 

If its set for the right band then you could hear other transmissions on that band IF you also have the ability to scan through unprogrammed freqs.

 

Your typical 2 way radio does not have the ability to scan all the possible frequencies in the band it is designed for.

 

Scanners do that. 2 way radios can scan the frequencies that have been programmed in them ahead of time (some models, not all)

 

 

Seriously though - this scanner idea is not a good idea for anyone unless you are comfortable with scanner procedures. If you are not then you need to figure out how to use a scanner and what they do first - before trying to use it on a cruise ship otherwise you'll just end up taking up room in your luggage.

[ecps92]

1.) Actually some have begun to use Non Analog modes (NXDN, TRBO) Some of the newer ships are already Narrowbanded.

2.) Ship-Ship can also be VHF Marine

3.) Ship back to home office is generally Internet (Data) and Satellite for Voice.

 

There are a couple of things here:

1. On-ship walkie talkie communications will not be digital, you should be able to pick them up between 100 and 200MHz, or 400 to 500MHz FM, maybe narrow band, but I doubt it.

2. Ship-to-ship radio is single sideband somewhere in the vicinity of 29 MHz, but could be as low as 1MHz to 50MHz. The down side of this is they mostly monitor this and only use it during maritime incidents or when communicating with ships in the area to find out if they intend to make any moves.

3. Ship-to-shore is probably mostly done on satellite now and will be digital and/or encrypted. They probably have an HF or MF radio on the ship that allows long distance communications for times when Satellite is either over the horizon or other impairments.

 

I know about #2 because I am a ham and during the behind the fun tour, while on the bridge I looked at the comminications station and made a mental note of what areas they had the radios set to. I do not remember exact frequencies, but I bet if you look up maritime sideband frequencies you will find them.

[WLHyatt]

1.) Actually some have begun to use Non Analog modes (NXDN, TRBO) Some of the newer ships are already Narrowbanded.

 

2.) Ship-Ship can also be VHF Marine

 

3.) Ship back to home office is generally Internet (Data) and Satellite for Voice.

 

 

Yep. Agreed. I was speaking on a high level, and the satellite/digital includes Internet VPNs and things like that.

[txcruzer53]

If you are interested in listening to staff/crew on board the ship I seem to remember someone posting a while back that most of this is done via the walkie talkie (or push to talk) function of the cell phone issued to the crew and as such cannot be monitored by a scanner. Long distance comms are likely via satellite as indicated by an earlier post. Short range (less than 15 miles or so) ship to ship comms are likely on a marine channel in the 156 MHz range. What you may hear in foreign ports will vary widely depending on the prevalence of radio comms in that country and the bands used for different type services such as public safety, business, etc and may or may not be in English. You could always listen to everyone running around on the ship with the blister pack family radios. Those are in the 460's range.

[oldrailfan]

There are a couple of things here:

1. On-ship walkie talkie communications will not be digital, you should be able to pick them up between 100 and 200MHz, or 400 to 500MHz FM, maybe narrow band, but I doubt it.

2. Ship-to-ship radio is single sideband somewhere in the vicinity of 29 MHz, but could be as low as 1MHz to 50MHz. The down side of this is they mostly monitor this and only use it during maritime incidents or when communicating with ships in the area to find out if they intend to make any moves.

3. Ship-to-shore is probably mostly done on satellite now and will be digital and/or encrypted. They probably have an HF or MF radio on the ship that allows long distance communications for times when Satellite is either over the horizon or other impairments.

 

I know about #2 because I am a ham and during the behind the fun tour, while on the bridge I looked at the comminications station and made a mental note of what areas they had the radios set to. I do not remember exact frequencies, but I bet if you look up maritime sideband frequencies you will find them.

 

On item 2 - don't forget Marine VHF-FM, in the 156-158 MHz range... however, those will mostly be used near the coast for tug/pilot traffic, communication with the Port Captain or other officials, drawbridge calls, and Marine radiotelephone. Ships do use certain VHF channels to communicate with each other while in the channels. try this: http://www.hf-antenna.com/docs/US_VHF_Marine_Frequency_List.pdf I would imagine the ships and tenders communicate on these channels also, at tendering ports.

 

You might also find some VHF or UHF traffic on the business band frequencies, as the crew members and shore-side line handlers moor the ship or get it under-way. I doubt they use digital communication for this...

 

ADDED: The SSB channels and frequeincies are listed at: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtHighFrequency

Edited December 18, 2013 by oldrailfan

[ecps92]

YMMV on this, however my experiences

http://scanmaritime.com has been much different. And the use of the VOIP phones has been limited as noted by the many confirmations at

http://scanmaritime.com/frequencies.htm

 

Generally Cruise Ships / Ocean Liners use UHF for internal Ship Ops

and VHF Marine for Ship/Ship, Ship-Shore, Port Control, CG etc

 

Cruise Ship Monitoring Part I

http://www.scannerdigest.com/sd60-newsletter.pdf

 

Cruise Ship Monitoring Part II

http://www.scannerdigest.com/sd63f_-_newsletter.pdf

 

If you are interested in listening to staff/crew on board the ship I seem to remember someone posting a while back that most of this is done via the walkie talkie (or push to talk) function of the cell phone issued to the crew and as such cannot be monitored by a scanner. Long distance comms are likely via satellite as indicated by an earlier post. Short range (less than 15 miles or so) ship to ship comms are likely on a marine channel in the 156 MHz range. What you may hear in foreign ports will vary widely depending on the prevalence of radio comms in that country and the bands used for different type services such as public safety, business, etc and may or may not be in English. You could always listen to everyone running around on the ship with the blister pack family radios. Those are in the 460's range.

[BallFour4]

Carnival changed the policy back to allowing HAM gear. For a while post 9/11 they would not allow them (at least in Galveston) to pass security.

 

I took my radio with me for both cruises this year and the Glory trip to Canada was really nice listening in on marine VHF. My HT has full range of reception, so it's really nice.

 

In the Port of Galveston the marine VHF is active for cruise ship communication between vessel and pilot, and once the pilot boards it's between pilot and other vessels. (well duh...)

 

Enjoy.

Edited December 18, 2013 by BallFour4