Maritime (United States)

Last Updated: August 21, 2022, 13:17 pm UTC

Some major ports utilize Vessel Traffic Service (VTS); this is maritime traffic control similar to air traffic control around an airport. Frequencies used for this purpose in those areas are 01A, 05A, 11, 12, 14, 63A

Several channels are "duplex" and not repeated. Those channels are represented by a "TX" (Ship Transmit/Shore Receive) or "RX" (Ship Receive/Shore Transmit) after the channel number and both must be monitored to hear the entire conversation.

 

Frequencies

Maritime Operations

Marine VHF 1A-88A

Channels listed here are the US recognized 25kHz spaced channels from 1A to 88A, and are the most widely used. Some channels are not available in all areas or regions and are noted as such in the description field.

As of September 2018, channels with the A suffix now have newly designated 10xx channel numbers; Channel 01A is now Channel 1001, Channel 05A is now Channel 1005 and so on.

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtvhf

 

FrequencyLicenseTypeToneAlpha TagDescriptionModeTag
156.050 BM Marine 01A/1001 01A - Port Operations and Commercial - New Orleans / Lower Mississippi FM Transportation
156.250 BM Marine 05A/1005 05A - Port Operations - Houston / New Orleans / Seattle FM Transportation
156.300 BM Marine 06 06 - Intership Safety FM Transportation
156.350 BM Marine 07A/1007 07A - Commercial FM Transportation
156.400 BM Marine 08 08 - Commercial Intership FM Transportation
156.450 BM Marine 09 09 - Boater Calling FM Transportation
156.500 BM Marine 10 10 - Commercial FM Transportation
156.550 BM Marine 11 11 - Commerical FM Transportation
156.600 BM Marine 12 12 - Port Operations FM Transportation
156.650 BM Marine 13 13 - Intership Navigation Safety (Bridges) FM Transportation
156.700 BM Marine 14 14 - Port Operations FM Transportation
156.750 M Marine 15 15 - Environmental / Class C EPIRB FM Transportation
156.800 BM Marine 16 16 - Hailing / Calling / Distress FM Transportation
156.850 BM Marine 17 17 - State/local government maritime FM Transportation
156.900 BM Marine 18A/1018 18A - Commercial FM Transportation
156.950 BM Marine 19A/1019 19A - Commercial FM Transportation
157.000 BM Marine 20A/1020 20A - Port Operations FM Transportation
157.000 M Marine 20 TX 20TX - Port Operations FM Transportation
161.600 B Marine 20 RX 20RX - Port Operations FM Transportation
157.050 BM Marine 21A/1021 21A - Coast Guard FM Federal
157.100 BM Marine 22A/1022 22A - Coast Guard Liaison/Maritime Safety Information Broadcasts FM Federal
157.150 BM Marine 23A/1023 23A - Coast Guard FM Federal
157.200 M Marine 24 TX 24TX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
161.800 B Marine 24 RX 24RX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
157.250 M Marine 25 TX 25TX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
161.850 B Marine 25 RX 25RX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
157.300 M Marine 26 TX 26TX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
161.900 B Marine 26 RX 26RX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
157.350 M Marine 27 TX 27TX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
161.950 B Marine 27 RX 27RX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
157.400 M Marine 28 TX 28TX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
162.000 B Marine 28 RX 28RX - Marine Operator FM Transportation
156.175 BM Marine 63A/1063 63A - Port Operations / Commercial - New Orleans / Lower Mississippi FM Transportation
156.275 BM Marine 65A/1065 65A - Port Operations FM Transportation
156.325 BM Marine 66A/1066 66A - Port Operations FM Transportation
156.375 M Marine 67 67 - Commercial intership (bridge-to-bridge) FM Transportation
156.425 BM Marine 68 68 - Non-Commercial FM Transportation
156.475 BM Marine 69 69 - Non-Commercial FM Transportation
156.525 BM Marine 70 70 - Digital Selective Calling (no voice) FM Data
156.575 BM Marine 71 71 - Non-Commercial FM Transportation
156.625 M Marine 72 72 - Non-Commercial (Intership only) FM Transportation
156.675 BM Marine 73 73 - Port Operations FM Transportation
156.725 BM Marine 74 74 - Port Operations FM Transportation
156.875 M Marine 77 77 - Port Operations (Intership only) FM Transportation
156.925 BM Marine 78A/1078 78A - Non-Commercial FM Transportation
156.975 BM Marine 79A/1079 79A - Commercial (Non-Commercial in Great Lakes only) FM Transportation
157.025 BM Marine 80A/1080 80A - Commercial (Non-Commercial in Great Lakes only) FM Transportation
157.075 BM Marine 81A/1081 81A - U.S. Government environmental protection FM Federal
157.125 BM Marine 82A/1082 82A - U.S. Government only FM Federal
157.175 BM Marine 83A/1083 83A - U.S. Coast Guard only FM Federal
157.225 M Marine 84 TX 84TX - Ship/shore (telephone) FM Other
161.825 B Marine 84 RX 84RX - Ship/shore (telephone) FM Other
157.275 M Marine 85 TX 85TX - Ship/shore (telephone) FM Other
161.875 B Marine 85 RX 85RX - Ship/shore (telephone) FM Other
157.325 M Marine 86 TX 86TX - Ship/shore (telephone) FM Other
161.925 B Marine 86 RX 86RX - Ship/shore (telephone) FM Other
157.375 BM Marine 87 87 - Ship/shore (telephone) FM Other
157.425 M Marine 88 88 - Commercial intership (bridge-to-bridge) FM Other
Marine VHF 201-287
Channels 201-287 are 12.5kHz spaced channels that are interleaved between the 01A-88A plan and are limited in operation

National Oil Spill Response
FrequencyLicenseTypeToneAlpha TagDescriptionModeTag
454.000WPCE555 RM Nat Oil Sipll Portable Operations FMN Federal
Marine Data
AIS and other data technologies are listed here. AIS 1/2 are 25 wide and AIS 3/4 are 12.5 narrow

FrequencyLicenseTypeToneAlpha TagDescriptionModeTag
161.975 M Marine-AIS 1 Automatic Identification System 1 Telm Data
162.025 M Marine-AIS 2 Automatic Identification System 2 Telm Data
157.4125 M Marine-AIS 3 Automatic Identification System 3 - Ship Telm Data
162.0125 B Marine-AIS 4 Automatic Identification System 4 - Shore Telm Data