Radio signal list - E Pacific

[roland stockham]

Hi All
Updating my lists of radio signals before heading out. I have all the CG stations, Wfax and shipCom channels but does anyone know of any radio nets operating on the MARINE bands for the sea area from Panama to Alaska and out to Hawaii? Has to be marine band as I don't have a ham set. Big ocean and nice to have a friendly voice plus maybe some extra weather info. Either that or is anyone heading N in April/May and fancy doing a radio scheduled, if it's more than one we can set up our own net!

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

Hi All
Updating my lists of radio signals before heading out. I have all the CG stations, Wfax and shipCom channels but does anyone know of any radio nets operating on the MARINE bands for the sea area from Panama to Alaska and out to Hawaii? Has to be marine band as I don't have a ham set. Big ocean and nice to have a friendly voice plus maybe some extra weather info. Either that or is anyone heading N in April/May and fancy doing a radio scheduled, if it's more than one we can set up our own net!

Hi Roland,

It sounds like a fun excursion you have planned.

I took a quick peek at Noonsite's Pacific Radio Net listings and see a listing you may already know about:

British Columbia Boaters' Net - BC Boater's Net Home Page
The BCBN operates daily during the summer months from 1700 PDT using the Vancouver Island Trunk System. The starting date for 2014 was June 21. The purpose of this net is to provide information to mariners, and to facilitate communications between boaters and with friends and family back home. Methods of contacting the BDBN are shown on their website.

The above includes a list of HF/SSB nets as well...

I don't have any personal experience with any of these radio nets.

There may be others listed that could be useful for your stated needs as well.

Safe travels.

Cheers!

Bill

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

Hi All
Updating my lists of radio signals before heading out. I have all the CG stations, Wfax and shipCom channels but does anyone know of any radio nets operating on the MARINE bands for the sea area from Panama to Alaska and out to Hawaii? Has to be marine band as I don't have a ham set. Big ocean and nice to have a friendly voice plus maybe some extra weather info. Either that or is anyone heading N in April/May and fancy doing a radio scheduled, if it's more than one we can set up our own net!

Roland,

Another thought is if you have a DSC capable SSB radio [e.g., ICOM M802] you might want to consider setting it up for non-emergency DSC communications. [Just as you may already do with your VHF radio...]

That way those you are staying in touch with could attempt to 'hail' you without adhering to a strict schedule, and visa-versa since they would have to set their radios up the same way...

John KA4WJA on this forum is to be credited with this approach.

In case this is useful.

Cheers!

Bill

[ka4wja]

Roland,
In addition to what you have already programmed, the most up-to-date list of West Coast / E. Pac cruising nets that I know of is from Gary at Dockside radio...
Have a look!

West Coast Nets


Assuming you do not have MF/HF-DSC capability...
Please be aware of the GMDSS SSB Voice channels/frequencies, that are the ones needed to contact / talk to the USCG, NOT their "working" channels (where they broadcast weather info/forecasts)...

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=cgcommsCall

4125.0, 6215.0, 8291.0, 12290.0, and 16420.0khz...all USB...



I hope this helps.

fair winds..

John

[donradcliffe]

You can still listen to the Pacific Seafarers net 14300 Net Information

Your marine SSB should transmit on 14.300 mhz, and the net operators will talk to you if you have an emergency. They have relays around the Pacific with powerful radios and antennas.

There are also some loosely organized marine frequency nets--talk to your fellow sailors when you get to Panama--but licensing restrictions make it very difficult to run shoreside installations with big radios on these frequencies.

[wrwakefield]

Here is another good list of nets for the area as maintained by Terry Sparks [author of the Made Simple for Cruisers series of books.]

Cheers!

Bill

[ve7mdl]

Bill,

A couple of corrections to the list:

1. Item 11 Frequency is 3870 and is active 365 days/year (OK, 366 this year)

2. Item 29 should be W/C Canada/ US is active summer, only

I am the occasional netcontrol on both those nets during the summer.

Cheers, ....Erik. (VE0MDL)
Home

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by ve7mdl

Bill,

A couple of corrections to the list:

1. Item 11 Frequency is 3870 and is active 365 days/year (OK, 366 this year)

2. Item 29 should be W/C Canada/ US is active summer, only

I am the occasional netcontrol on both those nets during the summer.

Cheers, ....Erik. (VE0MDL)
Home

Thank you, Eric,

I will forward your updates to your fellow author Terry Sparks so he can add them to that list which he maintains.

Thanks for what you do.

Cheers!

Bill

[TLSparks]

Originally Posted by ve7mdl

Bill,

A couple of corrections to the list:

1. Item 11 Frequency is 3870 and is active 365 days/year (OK, 366 this year)

2. Item 29 should be W/C Canada/ US is active summer, only

I am the occasional netcontrol on both those nets during the summer.

Cheers, ....Erik. (VE0MDL)
Home

HI Erik
I looked at the tag for your books. Look good. I will have to check them out when I get back to the US. Based on your books I thought you may want to be aware of an initiative myself and others have been working on with the IMO, USCG, and many country MRCCs. If you have not heard of it, we ended up calling it Worldwide Group numbers. This is a set of 21 numbers one for each GMDSS Navareas. Ideally everyone would load the group number for the Navarea they are in to provide an additional level of help for Cruisers. e.g. Cruisers helping Cruisers. The USCG had very positive comments on the concept and the graphics when have provided. Feel free to use anything on my site or the sites links are provided for to define the system.

At the bottom of this page: http://www.made-simplefor-cruisers.com/icm802

Also there are downloadable graphics as well as a procedure to increase the HF SSB DSC calling capabilities. Please spread the world.

[ve7mdl]

Hi Terry,

Your books look very interesting. I do not have an M802 myself, but many of my friends do, so I will point them in your direction.

I am not sure I understand the group numbers. Is the idea that we should add them to the radio's directory and people would call the group if in an area and needed help?

In Canada we have a pretty good VHF coverage, but no A2 and A3 on the west coast. The group call would work fine there, if enough people program them in. But in practice, there are enough ships in the area that monitor DSC on 2 & 4 MHz that can relay a distress call, if VHF does not get through.

How are these group numbers registered? In some countries you can pick your own, but in Canada they must be registered with Industry Canada.

Are you aware of the GMDSS forum (www.gmdssforum.net)? Perhaps the idea should be put before them since many members are active in standards bodies.

Cheers, ....Erik.
Home

[TLSparks]

Originally Posted by ve7mdl

Hi Terry,

Your books look very interesting. I do not have an M802 myself, but many of my friends do, so I will point them in your direction.

I am not sure I understand the group numbers. Is the idea that we should add them to the radio's directory and people would call the group if in an area and needed help?

In Canada we have a pretty good VHF coverage, but no A2 and A3 on the west coast. The group call would work fine there, if enough people program them in. But in practice, there are enough ships in the area that monitor DSC on 2 & 4 MHz that can relay a distress call, if VHF does not get through.

How are these group numbers registered? In some countries you can pick your own, but in Canada they must be registered with Industry Canada.

Are you aware of the GMDSS forum (www.gmdssforum.net)? Perhaps the idea should be put before them since many members are active in standards bodies.

Cheers, ....Erik.
Home

Hi again Erik,

Yes you have the idea on the Group numbers. It took a long time to get agreement out of the various entities involved. Originally we were going country by country, but the UK objected for the same reason, they want to be in control of group numbers. While that makes no sense, it is like being in charge of which fiber optic line a phone call is made via, we complied. So we went with the 21 GMDSS Navareas and used the MID for the nations responsible for the area and the area number. We discussed with key contacts around the world and they discussed with their regional MRCCs. I discussed with the key US representatives for GMDSS. They like the concept a lot and hope it encourages people to start using DSC for all hailing. That is very consistant with the IMO guidelines.

We did leave off the area that the UK is responsible for and hopefully the folks in UK are working that issue.

Is Canada also trying to issue numbers? If so having the number for area 12 programmed may not be an issue, but it would be good to get them to issue, acknowledge, or record based on their system the numbers for the west and east coast.

In the US and Canada we have very good VHF coverage on the coast. I am sure you know that is not the case in the Western Pacific. They are really planning on using the VHF DSC Group calls, but primarily the HF DSC.

I will take a look at the Forum.

[JoeRuncer]

Roland,
Did you take this trip? How did everything go, and what net did you get onto to find a friendly voice, how did it all work out for you?

regards,
Joe