VHF radio listening from home?

joeyleggz

Well-Known Member
Jan 15, 2013
878
long island
Boat Info
current boat: 1997 sea ray 330 express cruiser
Engines
twin 454's efi
Have any of you ever hooked up a VHF radio from your home to listen in on your favorite marine channels? Just curious if that’s a possibility not sure if I would have to go out and get a ham radio etc. but I would love to be able to listen to my favorite fishing marine channels to determine what the reports are out there. I am 9 or 10 miles give or take from the areas that I would want to tune in to any thoughts?
 
Have any of you ever hooked up a VHF radio from your home to listen in on your favorite marine channels? Just curious if that’s a possibility not sure if I would have to go out and get a ham radio etc. but I would love to be able to listen to my favorite fishing marine channels to determine what the reports are out there. I am 9 or 10 miles give or take from the areas that I would want to tune in to any thoughts?

I am going to propose that you are being limited by line-of-sight range depending on your antenna location. A typical line of sight for a person with eye level at 5 foot is about 3 miles. So putting the antenna higher up will certainly help but there will also be other contributing factors in the environment (ie trees, land structure, other buildings etc).

That's why the ham operators always used repeaters on the towers. Some bands like short-wave and AM can also get extended range due to "skipping" or reflection off the atmosphere.

-Kevin
 
When we used to rent a condo in Ft Lauderdale I used to listen to Channel 16 on my hand held.
Really interesting, especially the distress calls and Coast Guard asking about guns when boarding.
 
Check out the 5-0 app for your smartphone. It's a scanner app, but covers a lot of marine applications.
 
I am going to propose that you are being limited by line-of-sight range depending on your antenna location. A typical line of sight for a person with eye level at 5 foot is about 3 miles. So putting the antenna higher up will certainly help but there will also be other contributing factors in the environment (ie trees, land structure, other buildings etc).

That's why the ham operators always used repeaters on the towers. Some bands like short-wave and AM can also get extended range due to "skipping" or reflection off the atmosphere.

-Kevin
Understood ,in my Marina I easily pick up people three or 4 miles offshore at fire Island inlet which is about 15+ miles or so and occasionally I hear people talking on the North Shore of Long Island which is 20+ so I figure if I can get an antenna on my roof 35+ feet hoping to pick up the area I’m looking for I’m assuming a ham radio should easily be able to grab 156 MHz no?
 
Have any of you ever hooked up a VHF radio from your home to listen in on your favorite marine channels? Just curious if that’s a possibility not sure if I would have to go out and get a ham radio etc. but I would love to be able to listen to my favorite fishing marine channels to determine what the reports are out there. I am 9 or 10 miles give or take from the areas that I would want to tune in to any thoughts?
I have a scanner app on my phone, and there are some channels that broadcast channel 16 from some specific geographies, but not widespread. Given the thread above about VHF on land, you could use a police scanner to pick up the marine frequencies.
https://www.amazon.com/Uniden-BC75XLT-300-Channel-Handheld-Emergency/dp/B00A1VSO9M
https://www.amazon.com/Uniden-BC355...n+scanner&qid=1607024463&s=electronics&sr=1-3
You could probably add a decent antenna to the base station, and accomplish what you want.
 
i did it back in the late 80s before cell phones when everyone on the water was always on the vhf. live about 5 miles inland from the bay, had a 3 story townhouse, mounted antenna HIGH up on the house. got good range. biggest issue was keeping a car battery on the desk. and a charger. FCC never came looking for me so i wouldnt worry about legals too much.
 
Yup, marinas are set up like that some times. I married a fisherman’s daughter and she talked to her dad that way when he was heading back to port. I do think you can transmit when doing so with a boat on the water.
 
There is no law that prevents you from listening to any radio signal you can pickup off the air.
There are some laws that prevent you from benefiting from information that was not directed at you or passing such information to a party not present when it was received.
But these are all intended to just pile on charges like listening to a police scanner while committing a crime.

Neither the CG nor the FCC care what you listen to. And they aren’t going to care if you transmit unless you get stupid and annoying.

Listening to your fishing buddies and even if you called them to check on them is not going to matter. As long as you use channel 9 to call, switch to a proper working channel, use proper procedures, and keep it short.

The rules are to prevent there use as a glorified CB or unlicensed business radio because they are cheaper then commercial vhf gear and easily purchased.
 
And they aren’t going to care if you transmit unless you get stupid and annoying.

Listening to your fishing buddies and even if you called them to check on them is not going to matter. As long as you use channel 9 to call, switch to a proper working channel, use proper procedures, and keep it short.

Not necessarily true. The rules are also there to prevent frequency congestion and interference with maritime communications and if the feds wanted to make an example out of you, they could.

However, there’s a single solution. CYA. Get an fixed base radio license and a Restricted Radiotelephone Operators Permit. Both are easily obtained and are either cheap or free.

https://www.fcc.gov/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/ship-radio-stations

There are some practical reasons to get a Restricted Radiotelephone Operators Permit. If you are close to a US boarder and going international (Canada Bahamas), technically you need a RTOP. Those are good for life. I can remember but I think the application fee was about $15 in 1990.

If boat over 20m need a licensed ship radio.

I think if your using AIS, you need a licensed VHF. (I d have to read up on that).
 
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I understand it is technically against the regulations. I think we all get that.

But I can assure you having dealt with both the USCG and the FCC they do not have the resources nor the desire to track down every normal properly conducted radio conversation just to see if it is coming from a ship or shore station. They operate on a complaint basis, no one complains about your behavior, they do not care. So just operate properly as tho you are on your boat. Use it like a CB or for your shore side mobile business and someone will complain and then the FCC will take the time to track you down.

I can also assure you unless you prove you run a marine related business you will NOT be approved for a private coast station in the marine radio service. It is an explicit requirement in the regulations.

I had a Commercial Third Class Operators ticket.
I have an RTOP, a ship station license, an FCC issued MMSI, a registered EPIRB, two VHF, and a HF-SSB.
And it cost well over $200 last year to get all that.
But as you pointed out, international operations require the full documentation and formalities. I am rigged to cruise the Bahamas next year or so.
 
Garwood 003.jpg

My handheld picks up the local traffic from home. We are just a quarter of a mile from Lake Michigan. We used to live on Spring Lake so just a 100 feet from boat traffic. Other than the weather channel there is not much worth listening to. Occasionally there is Coast Guard traffic that its interesting but not often. VHF has gotten to be a little like the CB channels as time goes by. Traffic used to be professional, but now, not so much.
 

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