Marine VHF

[GreggInFL]

For those of you remotely interested in why a cell phone may not be enough when on the water:

https://www.bostonwhaler.com/navigator-blog/fishing/vhf-cell-phone.html?utm_content=&emid=$emid&mkt_tok=MTYyLUtVRi01MjkAAAGafbxL2QyGoJPbJBjrLcJ-lbHanNwDmjZT6SoK0grQSvstFrCTqPzXllh_ap9aNedhZReMJcOrEMsdI4P_voDV8RNoOJSC3lpPcxIkS3oKBJHUcA

[Socalgmrs]

That’s the same reasons why cell phones are not enough on land.  

[WRUE951]

3 hours ago, GreggInFL said:

For those of you remotely interested in why a cell phone may not be enough when on the water:

https://www.bostonwhaler.com/navigator-blog/fishing/vhf-cell-phone.html?utm_content=&emid=$emid&mkt_tok=MTYyLUtVRi01MjkAAAGafbxL2QyGoJPbJBjrLcJ-lbHanNwDmjZT6SoK0grQSvstFrCTqPzXllh_ap9aNedhZReMJcOrEMsdI4P_voDV8RNoOJSC3lpPcxIkS3oKBJHUcA

remember the days when we watched TV off Antennas..  One could easly pick up VHF signals 100's mile away and it didn't always requrie line of site..  The same broadcast and from the same site in UHF never faired as well.  UHF reception always required line of site and distance was drastically cut short.  Marnie Radio is VHF, where cell is UHF..   VHF signals tend to work bounce back and forth between the earth and the ionosphere where UHF signals don't under most conditions making VHF a lot more reliable in the water   

[GreggInFL]

24 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

remember the days when we watched TV off Antennas..  One could easly pick up VHF signals 100's mile away and it didn't always requrie line of site..  The same broadcast and from the same site in UHF never faired as well.  UHF reception always required line of site and distance was drastically cut short.  Marnie Radio is VHF, where cell is UHF..   VHF signals tend to work bounce back and forth between the earth and the ionosphere where UHF signals don't under most conditions making VHF a lot more reliable in the water   

A fixed-mount marine radio with a big antenna mounted on the top (third?) deck at max power (25W IIRC) transmits many farz when the only obstacle is the earth's curvature.

Another good reference for those new to the subject: https://www.boatingworld.com/articles/boating/vhf-radio-your-ultimate-guide/

[WRUU653]

 I was aware that you are required to monitor 16 while out on the water and why. The info of recommended channels for “chatting” was new to me. My dad had a commercial fishing boat. Sadly I get pretty sea sick so I’ve kept my boating to the bay, lakes and streams. Still I liked the info.

[Lscott]

There is movement, international so far, to go digital voice on the VHF marine band. Then it will likely happen here sooner or later.

 

Implementation of digital voice radio telephony in the VHF maritime mobile band.pdf

[GreggInFL]

16 hours ago, WRUU653 said:

 I was aware that you are required to monitor 16 while out on the water and why. The info of recommended channels for “chatting” was new to me. My dad had a commercial fishing boat. Sadly I get pretty sea sick so I’ve kept my boating to the bay, lakes and streams. Still I liked the info.

Here is the USCG page for channel/freq assignments: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/us-vhf-channel-information. Even though I'm just a recreational boater, it's still fun to monitor some of these channels, especially when overseas.

[WRCZ387]

19 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

Remember the days when we watched TV off Antennas? One could easily pick up VHF signals 100's of miles away and it didn't always require line of sight. The same broadcast and from the same site in UHF never fared as well. UHF reception always required line of sight and distance was drastically cut short. VHF signals tend to work bounce back and forth between the earth and the ionosphere where UHF signals don't under most conditions making VHF a lot more reliable

That explains why I could pick up VHF stations from Buffalo [2, 4, sometimes 7] & Syracuse [3, 5, never 9] when I lived in Rochester, NY, I couldn't get any UHF from Syracuse [24. 68] at all, & only once from Buffalo [29, never could get 17], & I think that was because of a band opening

I probably would have needed a very tall tower to improve my reception chances

There was a house just outside the city limits on the NW side that had vertically stacked TV antennas, I'm sorry that I never knocked on the door to ask what they were able to pick up