@@johnmf6096Think he's just letting ppl know he's not mercenary with the subs he's built up. For many content is an afterthought. And, "coin is king?"
The ICOM IC-M94D comes with an AIS receiver which picks up digital information directly from the ship such as its name, position, heading, and velocity. It is also capable of plotting their positions on the screen. There is no need for cell-phone coverage for this information because it is receiving it directly from the ships.
I think the maritime content is always a winner. Ships slowly moving make for plenty of beautiful video opportunities. Lock operations are certainly a thing which catches a lot of eyes and dockside operations are like a sudden blend of chaos and ballet, albeit without many radio cues. The specifics of the rigs and antennas used on ships might be interesting to many as well.
Indeed! Looking at a oil tankers. Or even a large cruise ships. Ten's of stories higher than home's in their foreground are such an abstract juxtaposition. That the brain, (mine anyway), almost baulks at what it's trying to perceive. And monitoring like you said. Can sometimes turn you around even more so. It's still a lot of fun nonetheless. 👍
Gratitude for posting this type of content Lewis. I live less than 1/2 mile from Grange mouth dock's in Scotland. So at certain times i get a decent bit of action monitoring. You helped me in the past with good reference points. 👍
Lewis, I live a few meters from the Halifax Narrows, the site of the Halifax explosion. Too bad they didn’t have radios back then. There’s lots to hear whether Navy, Harbour Ferry service, cruise vessels and all manner of freight and container traffic.
Lewis, I'd love to see more ship videos, also the pictures of the canal would be great. I live so far inland here across the pond, the only stuff I can see is barge and tug traffic. Try doing an SDR for your home radio, rtl-sdr or an airspy. I run one on my ham rig IF output and one on my Raspberry Pi 4 , it really works a treat!
I use an ex-coastguard Icom M71. Bought decommissioned from a dealer. Obtained the cable and software and added in some “other” channels rx only and EU wide marina channels. Used quite frequently, including to Gibraltar, which is a marine band radio mecca!
Love the maritime videos Lewis, I never get any joy when I try and listen to them down in Cornwall, I reckon a lot of the pleasure boat ppl use PMR for boat to boat and mobile phones, I'll try again next time I'm down that way, super video and they do look good those sets.
The MCA discourage the use of marine VHF for purposes other than distress and safety and so most yachtsmen/motor cruisers tend to use PMR 446 as its cheap and effective over a sea path.
I was at home in Bristol (in a valley) with A Yupiteru scanner. Was suprised to hear "Swansea Coastguard" calling .. It was when a ship collided with a Severn Bridge pier.
maritime radio is allays fun to listen to. love the video's so far. would like to see more. I use my BC 125 scanner that has pre set marine band and many more. runs all day on 2 AA NiMh battery and charge USB . not water proof. I put long multi bant antenna in it and receives great .love your handhelds . you can get longer VHF rubber antenna with more gain for them. Nagoya has some. you can try a 2 meter ham antenna . just RX may be better then stock antenna. give it a try . 73's
Thanks Lewis. Interesting video of which I hope there are more. I tend to use both a scanner and a range of Yaesu ham radio handhelds to monitor similar channels to those you mention.
Great video Lewis, think it might be worth mentioning about Licensing and Rules around the use of Marine VHF for anyone who isn't aware. Anyone can buy and listen to Marine VHF no problem. They CAN'T be used to transmit on land and to legally transmit at sea the user must have obtained their Short Range certificate (SRC) after completion of the RYA VHF radio course and exam ether online or in a classroom (all exams are classroom only). They also must sign a "Declaration of Secrecy" basically agreeing they won't divulge information received on Marine VHF. Some channels are designated for use e.g 16 Distress and Calling. Others for Port Control (VTS), HM Coastguard, NCI, Bridge to Bridge, Marinas, Yacht clubs ect. So its important when transmitting at sea to understand what channel you need to be on.
I live in Derbyshire so couldn't be much further from the sea, although there is a tiny amount of traffic from the canals. I do however have the marine frequencies programmed in my Icom 5100 for my occasional visits to the coast. These are programmed to one of the memory banks making them easier to scan.
Boats are the last real life action analogue band left worth listening to. Civil aircraft are OK up to a point, but essentially, pilots are just airbourne bus drivers. I'm so glad to be a coastie.
Eastbourne and Worthing are god's waiting rooms. They beckon you as you approach your twilight years. The Solent radio traffic is always busy, it's good here.@@knoxieman
Then theres cctv listen to things going on, in towns and cities following shop lifters, even police on there at times but u need a dmr radio as many are dmr, fof nd like farms as well lots active at moment
No - if you have a radio that has the MMSI feature and corresponding red emergency button, these will prompt you to enter your MMSI (free and comes with the licence) - Usually one shot entry. So be careful. You can clear the prompt with CLR but it asks every switch on. The basic VHF hand-helds don't have the emergency features - they're just a handheld - very simple, using the pre-programmed channels. If you enter 123456 on MMSI capable radios, the prompt goes away, but you need the software to reset it on most radios - although a few use a keypress combination to reset it. You won't get MMSI capability on cheaper radios, but it's pointless for non marine use like we are talking here - as you don't want to transmit and emergency call with your identifier in it!
@@pauljohnson4590 Thanks for the detailed explanations. I thought all maritime radios have this feature, and also had heard that you likely need the software to reset it.
I have one of these Retevis hand helds. Its a nice little unit and when visiting Aberdeen I use it to listen to harbour traffic. However I live 40 miles inland. Can you suggest a way of extending the antenna to increase the reception range, how long an antenna would be needed to be compatible with Marine Band frequencies? I realise this might be a bit of a push but I think the harbour control tower should be powerful enough to receive here. This would be receive only as I realise I need a licence to transmit. Many thanks. Jim
If your high up you can get external antenna maybe a dipole cut to the correct frequency failing that a single whip cut to the right length! It's worth a try, baofeng uv5r is a cheap radio with a very sensitive crystal it's very good for the price and receives stuff I can't get on more expensive radios
I like to set up, 153 to 163 25 khz why 153, well servo tugs at Portsmouth and prob other areas use sone mod channels, and I search whole band upto 163 mhz because there's channels private maritime business, on boards handy marine at 161 mhz, and channel zero coastgusrd which now seems to be 158.500 ch50 in southern UK which was a private rescue channels used by many on South Coast but recently had nothing on 156.000 but only 158.500 in use
Great channel and great videos…love the links with Auto Shenanigans! Anyway possible topic for another video…tuning into comms with the ISS? Would love to see a video about options for just listening and tuning in to things, e.g airband, local amateur radio, marine and ISS related stuff is that possible with one set up?
🎶 *_"That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed when the gales of November came early..."_* 🎶 *-- THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD by Gordon Lightfoot* {As I started watching this video that line from the song popped into my head.}
The RM21 is receive only? - Im looking to get a radio to listen only and NOT transmit. Is this the one you would recommend I get? I don't want to have to do a licence just to listen
I opted for a Icom ID-52 and have it programmed to do it all. With the CPS and USB cable it really just take an hour to set everything up and one is good to go.
quick question , do you need too be near a marina or river too receive stuff , im new too marine vhf , and im only using it too listen too not transmit , whilst im fishing on the rivers near me , i know u cant use em without having a licence , thanx in advance ringway
No - was used a little back in 80s but with the SOLAS requirement to monitor 16 when at sea it was never encouraged by the Marine and Coastguard Agency or the Royal Yachting Association who represent leisure marine activities.
We don't have anything like the US style weather reporting system, The best we do is the coastguard who broadcast marine weather and information messages once every few hours - local weather, sea state and gale and navigation warnings. These are done on channels in the 60's - but announced on 16. Typically cover a coastal region of around 100 miles.
The BBC also put out a detailed shipping forecast several times a day as part of their regular broadcast programme on BBC4, 198kHz/1500mtrs Long Wave. It covers the North Sea and a huge chunk of the NE Atlantic, divided up into sectors from Jutland in the East, North to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, South as far as Southern Portugal and way out to the West, past Ireland. That said, despite the extended 'reach' offered by LW, without 'pro', top - of - the - range equipment, I'm not sure I'd count on picking up the signal reliably much beyond 2 or 300 miles from the British Coast. I'm very definitely no mariner, but I suspect that particularly in this day and age, the service is more for the benefit of the hobbyist "messing about in boats" - type, and possibly trawlers, rather than for your bulk carriers, container ships, tankers, etc - though I'm open to correction on this. They also have very detailed general forecasts, detailing the figures from the various weather stations around the country, as well as from coastal buoys. The BBC, the 'Last Man Standing' on LW, give or take, plan on pulling the plug on their LW transmitters next year, so what will happen then to the shipping forecast, much loved by an enormous number of listeners who've never had anything to do with the sea beyond making sand castles at the beach, well, I'm afraid I couldn't tell you...
There is a move to phase out Navtex as a critical part of GMDSS as the vast majority of commercial vessels use the Inmasat satellite system and leisure users just get forecasts via Coastguard Maritime Safety Information broadcasts - or more likely on line with their phones!
Other than maybe some inshore fishermen, commercial vessels don't tend to use the old Shipping Forecast any more. Reason for LW closure is lack of availability of PA valves. The far Eastern broadcasters who still use LW have solid state output stages.
Nowhere has that been suggested by OFCOM - like aviation, it is a safety system, so any changes have to be backwards compatible - many boat people have large sums tied up in them, and making changing radios compulsory would need to be subsidised. The last change was a doubling of the channels, squeezing new ones between the old ones - it took around ten years for everyone to change over.
Very unlikely as it would require International agreement under the SOLAS convention. Given the international nature of shipping the Coastguard and VTS services will be on VHF for the foresable future. However for on ship communications or on vessels regularly using a specific port a change might be made to reduce traffic on 16 and the port ops frequencies.
"I'll leave non-affiliate links below" Legend!
Why? It's not like it costs the buyer more. Seems silly.
@@johnmf6096Think he's just letting ppl know he's not mercenary with the subs he's built up.
For many content is an afterthought. And, "coin is king?"
The ICOM IC-M94D comes with an AIS receiver which picks up digital information directly from the ship such as its name, position, heading, and velocity. It is also capable of plotting their positions on the screen. There is no need for cell-phone coverage for this information because it is receiving it directly from the ships.
I think the maritime content is always a winner. Ships slowly moving make for plenty of beautiful video opportunities. Lock operations are certainly a thing which catches a lot of eyes and dockside operations are like a sudden blend of chaos and ballet, albeit without many radio cues. The specifics of the rigs and antennas used on ships might be interesting to many as well.
Indeed!
Looking at a oil tankers. Or even a large cruise ships. Ten's of stories higher than home's in their foreground are such an abstract juxtaposition. That the brain, (mine anyway), almost baulks at what it's trying to perceive.
And monitoring like you said. Can sometimes turn you around even more so. It's still a lot of fun nonetheless. 👍
I live near Denbigh up in the hills, I use an old beofang and regularly listen to marine traffic in Holyhead about 50 miles away as the crow fly's
nice / any vids on your radios
Gratitude for posting this type of content Lewis. I live less than 1/2 mile from Grange mouth dock's in Scotland. So at certain times i get a decent bit of action monitoring. You helped me in the past with good reference points. 👍
Lewis, I live a few meters from the Halifax Narrows, the site of the Halifax explosion. Too bad they didn’t have radios back then. There’s lots to hear whether Navy, Harbour Ferry service, cruise vessels and all manner of freight and container traffic.
Lewis, I'd love to see more ship videos, also the pictures of the canal would be great. I live so far inland here across the pond, the only stuff I can see is barge and tug traffic. Try doing an SDR for your home radio, rtl-sdr or an airspy. I run one on my ham rig IF output and one on my Raspberry Pi 4 , it really works a treat!
Awesome! I've been needing this information. Thank you, ringway!
ships, trains, antennas, and drum 'n bass works for me..keep up the awesome work!
I use an ex-coastguard Icom M71. Bought decommissioned from a dealer.
Obtained the cable and software and added in some “other” channels rx only and EU wide marina channels.
Used quite frequently, including to Gibraltar, which is a marine band radio mecca!
Love the maritime videos Lewis, I never get any joy when I try and listen to them down in Cornwall, I reckon a lot of the pleasure boat ppl use PMR for boat to boat and mobile phones, I'll try again next time I'm down that way, super video and they do look good those sets.
The MCA discourage the use of marine VHF for purposes other than distress and safety and so most yachtsmen/motor cruisers tend to use PMR 446 as its cheap and effective over a sea path.
I was at home in Bristol (in a valley) with A Yupiteru scanner. Was suprised to hear "Swansea Coastguard" calling .. It was when a ship collided with a Severn Bridge pier.
maritime radio is allays fun to listen to. love the video's so far. would like to see more. I use my BC 125 scanner that has pre set marine band and many more. runs all day on 2 AA NiMh battery and charge USB . not water proof. I put long multi bant antenna in it and receives great .love your handhelds . you can get longer VHF rubber antenna with more gain for them. Nagoya has some. you can try a 2 meter ham antenna . just RX may be better then stock antenna. give it a try . 73's
Live near dock's. And the 2metre antenna does a good job right enough. 👍
Very little activity on VHF in Southampton docks area. The port authorities now use DMR.
Thanks Lewis. Interesting video of which I hope there are more. I tend to use both a scanner and a range of Yaesu ham radio handhelds to monitor similar channels to those you mention.
Great video Lewis, think it might be worth mentioning about Licensing and Rules around the use of Marine VHF for anyone who isn't aware.
Anyone can buy and listen to Marine VHF no problem. They CAN'T be used to transmit on land and to legally transmit at sea the user must have obtained their Short Range certificate (SRC) after completion of the RYA VHF radio course and exam ether online or in a classroom (all exams are classroom only). They also must sign a "Declaration of Secrecy" basically agreeing they won't divulge information received on Marine VHF.
Some channels are designated for use e.g 16 Distress and Calling. Others for Port Control (VTS), HM Coastguard, NCI, Bridge to Bridge, Marinas, Yacht clubs ect. So its important when transmitting at sea to understand what channel you need to be on.
Excellent cheers mate 🍻
I live in Derbyshire so couldn't be much further from the sea, although there is a tiny amount of traffic from the canals.
I do however have the marine frequencies programmed in my Icom 5100 for my occasional visits to the coast. These are programmed to one of the memory banks making them easier to scan.
really enjoyed the video.
Yes more marine traffic please. I'm in SE.Irl and there's plenty of chatter.
You get to some exotic locations. Manchester ship canal..... go for it
My family is making the transition to being boat people. This is very helpful ❤👍
Boats are the last real life action analogue band left worth listening to. Civil aircraft are OK up to a point, but essentially, pilots are just airbourne bus drivers.
I'm so glad to be a coastie.
Yes maybe I'll go to the cost when I retire, your right aircraft are boring to listen to.
Eastbourne and Worthing are god's waiting rooms. They beckon you as you approach your twilight years. The Solent radio traffic is always busy, it's good here.@@knoxieman
Why not listen to mil airband lots there and some on the 137 to 155.975 am 25 khz as well as 225 to 399.975
Then theres cctv listen to things going on, in towns and cities following shop lifters, even police on there at times but u need a dmr radio as many are dmr, fof nd like farms as well lots active at moment
@@mpol701 All of the interesting stuff has moved to DMR, not only that, but encrypted DMR
Doesn't it ask you to enter an identifier before you can use it ? So do you enter some random number and just don't transmit anything ?
No - if you have a radio that has the MMSI feature and corresponding red emergency button, these will prompt you to enter your MMSI (free and comes with the licence) - Usually one shot entry. So be careful. You can clear the prompt with CLR but it asks every switch on. The basic VHF hand-helds don't have the emergency features - they're just a handheld - very simple, using the pre-programmed channels. If you enter 123456 on MMSI capable radios, the prompt goes away, but you need the software to reset it on most radios - although a few use a keypress combination to reset it. You won't get MMSI capability on cheaper radios, but it's pointless for non marine use like we are talking here - as you don't want to transmit and emergency call with your identifier in it!
@@pauljohnson4590 Thanks for the detailed explanations. I thought all maritime radios have this feature, and also had heard that you likely need the software to reset it.
I have one of these Retevis hand helds.
Its a nice little unit and when visiting Aberdeen I use it to listen to harbour traffic.
However I live 40 miles inland.
Can you suggest a way of extending the antenna to increase the reception range, how long an antenna would be needed to be compatible with Marine Band frequencies?
I realise this might be a bit of a push but I think the harbour control tower should be powerful enough to receive here.
This would be receive only as I realise I need a licence to transmit.
Many thanks.
Jim
If your high up you can get external antenna maybe a dipole cut to the correct frequency failing that a single whip cut to the right length! It's worth a try, baofeng uv5r is a cheap radio with a very sensitive crystal it's very good for the price and receives stuff I can't get on more expensive radios
@@c3pno Thanks for your help.
I like to set up, 153 to 163 25 khz why 153, well servo tugs at Portsmouth and prob other areas use sone mod channels, and I search whole band upto 163 mhz because there's channels private maritime business, on boards handy marine at 161 mhz, and channel zero coastgusrd which now seems to be 158.500 ch50 in southern UK which was a private rescue channels used by many on South Coast but recently had nothing on 156.000 but only 158.500 in use
Is there still any marine traffic on the HF bands?
Do you have to have a licence for these 2 radios
Is there even one boat a day on the MSC? I did see a cruise ship on it once and it was quite a shock.
Great channel and great videos…love the links with Auto Shenanigans! Anyway possible topic for another video…tuning into comms with the ISS? Would love to see a video about options for just listening and tuning in to things, e.g airband, local amateur radio, marine and ISS related stuff is that possible with one set up?
🎶 *_"That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed when the gales of November came early..."_* 🎶
*-- THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD by Gordon Lightfoot*
{As I started watching this video that line from the song popped into my head.}
What I'D like to know is what device can we listen to police channels on?
The RM21 is receive only? - Im looking to get a radio to listen only and NOT transmit. Is this the one you would recommend I get? I don't want to have to do a licence just to listen
I opted for a Icom ID-52 and have it programmed to do it all. With the CPS and USB cable it really just take an hour to set everything up and one is good to go.
quick question , do you need too be near a marina or river too receive stuff , im new too marine vhf , and im only using it too listen too not transmit , whilst im fishing on the rivers near me , i know u cant use em without having a licence , thanx in advance ringway
Does the UK use the 27 MHz marine band at all?
No - was used a little back in 80s but with the SOLAS requirement to monitor 16 when at sea it was never encouraged by the Marine and Coastguard Agency or the Royal Yachting Association who represent leisure marine activities.
Are you able to communicate directly with your handset? Im just curious if it would work.
What do you across the pond use as a WX system??? Like our National Weather Service???
DE N2JYG
Commercial ships are required to carry a navtex receiver
We don't have anything like the US style weather reporting system, The best we do is the coastguard who broadcast marine weather and information messages once every few hours - local weather, sea state and gale and navigation warnings. These are done on channels in the 60's - but announced on 16. Typically cover a coastal region of around 100 miles.
The BBC also put out a detailed shipping forecast several times a day as part of their regular broadcast programme on BBC4, 198kHz/1500mtrs Long Wave. It covers the North Sea and a huge chunk of the NE Atlantic, divided up into sectors from Jutland in the East, North to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, South as far as Southern Portugal and way out to the West, past Ireland. That said, despite the extended 'reach' offered by LW, without 'pro', top - of - the - range equipment, I'm not sure I'd count on picking up the signal reliably much beyond 2 or 300 miles from the British Coast. I'm very definitely no mariner, but I suspect that particularly in this day and age, the service is more for the benefit of the hobbyist "messing about in boats" - type, and possibly trawlers, rather than for your bulk carriers, container ships, tankers, etc - though I'm open to correction on this. They also have very detailed general forecasts, detailing the figures from the various weather stations around the country, as well as from coastal buoys. The BBC, the 'Last Man Standing' on LW, give or take, plan on pulling the plug on their LW transmitters next year, so what will happen then to the shipping forecast, much loved by an enormous number of listeners who've never had anything to do with the sea beyond making sand castles at the beach, well, I'm afraid I couldn't tell you...
There is a move to phase out Navtex as a critical part of GMDSS as the vast majority of commercial vessels use the Inmasat satellite system and leisure users just get forecasts via Coastguard Maritime Safety Information broadcasts - or more likely on line with their phones!
Other than maybe some inshore fishermen, commercial vessels don't tend to use the old Shipping Forecast any more. Reason for LW closure is lack of availability of PA valves. The far Eastern broadcasters who still use LW have solid state output stages.
You can’t beat using a marine handheld. I have one made by WEST MARINE, I picked up at a Hamfest. think I paid $10!
West Marine would OEM and rebadge all their complex items. That's likely a decent bit of receiver inside the case.
Lewis, my wife and I like to listen to marine traffic which we currently do on a Baofeng UV5R. Is buying a dedicated marine radio worth it?
Definitely! :)
Can you lock out the transmit on these radios? 73 DE W8LV BILL
Hi, could you do a video on the Retevis rt23 please
I have 2 marine radios with the SOS emergency button
It is very good
I did hear that the Marine Band will be switching to dPMR
Nowhere has that been suggested by OFCOM - like aviation, it is a safety system, so any changes have to be backwards compatible - many boat people have large sums tied up in them, and making changing radios compulsory would need to be subsidised. The last change was a doubling of the channels, squeezing new ones between the old ones - it took around ten years for everyone to change over.
@@pauljohnson4590 Just what I've heard.
Very unlikely as it would require International agreement under the SOLAS convention. Given the international nature of shipping the Coastguard and VTS services will be on VHF for the foresable future. However for on ship communications or on vessels regularly using a specific port a change might be made to reduce traffic on 16 and the port ops frequencies.
Dpmr is only 446 mhz in uk and 149 is allocated as well there's no dpmr on marine as its not pmr licence free
Do u mean dmr? Dpmr is pmr446 digital
Just use a baofeng and chirp to program it .....job done ✅
True but much slower scan speed, you miss everything. Not waterproof either.
@@RingwayManchester ch 16 on A , then scan rest on B .....very enlightening on trips to Dover!
Agreed, I've had little joy using cheap Chinese radios to monitor marine.