Part 3B: Marine

Photo courtesy of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

The marine band is located between 156 to 158 MHz and again from 160 to 161 MHz. This band is used exclusively for ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship activity for both commercial and non-commercial vessels, including cruise ships. If you live near the Great Lakes, a navigable river, an ocean, or another large body of water, you will almost certainly hear activity in this band. Radio scanners in all Categories (1 though 6) will receive the marine radio band.  Scanners in categories 1 and 2 are usually the least expensive since they lack extra features for other listening topics. A scanner from Category 2 or higher is recommended if you would like to monitor more than a few channels at a time. The marine radio band, 156-158 MHz and 160-161 MHz, is part of the 150-162 MHz Land-Mobile radio band and is shown in dark green in the radio spectrum diagram below.

The VHF marine radio band contains channels numbered 1 through 88. They are spaced 25 kHz apart and are each designated for specific uses. Of particular interest is the Distress and Calling Channel, Channel 16 or 156.800 MHz, used for making contact with passing vessels and for communicating in times of distress. Almost all boats, with the exception of small recreational boats, are required to keep watch on this channel. Once contact has been made, both parties must switch to another appropriate channel. Both parties are required to use the minimum power necessary for the communication, so an outdoor antenna may be of particular help for base-station scanner listeners.

Public Correspondence frequencies (Marine Channels 24-28 and 84-86) are used to place telephone calls through VHF marine radio. The best way to monitor these calls is to listen to the shore station (the Ship Receive frequency), which is more powerful and broadcasts both sides of the telephone conversation. Unlike cellular phone calls, these calls are not private since they can be heard by anyone with another VHF marine radio or scanner.

The channel allocations for the marine band are shown below in the top table. The bottom table lists channel usage requirements in the United States.

Table Courtesy of United States Coast Guard.

The following table lists marine channels by usage.

This table is adapted from material published by the United States Federal Communications Commission.

In summary, all radio scanners in categories 1 through 6 listed on this website may be used to monitor the marine band. However, if you will be monitoring more than a few channels, or if you want to get a scanner with a search mode so you can search for exciting new transmissions, you should purchase a scanner from Category 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6.

Part 3A: Land-Mobile

Skip Ahead to Part 4:  Table of Listening Topics and Scanner Categories

Part 3C: Civilian Aircraft