VHF emergency freq for ships

[380]

Hi

Just read a story of a single engine flying over the sea; pic told pax to reort him every ship they spot. Pretty good idea, keeps pax a bit busy, makes them proud because they can assist the pilot and in case of an engine failure you know where to fly. But it would be nice if you could make radio contact with a ship if you have an engine failure. So is there a VHF emergency freq for ships? And do they monitor?

[Spitoon]

Not a sailor myself so I can't be sure but I think the answer is yes there is but it's not in the aeronautical VHF band. My understanding is that marine VHF uses channel numbers rather than frequencies and these are in a different part of the VHF band. Having said that, I know that some big boats (I think they call them ships) carry aeronautical radios for specific purposes.

I've just found this on a useful site (http://www.ac6v.com/frequencies.htm).

Emergency Communications Frequencies
The unit in distress, or a station that has been assigned controlling responsibility by the unit in distress, controls distress traffic. However, for cases involving international civil aviation, the station addressed by the distress message controls distress traffic. Once communications are
established with a distressed unit, they should be maintained on the same frequency. The following frequencies have been assigned as distress or emergency frequencies:

500kHz -- International CW/MCW distress & calling (Not guarded by USN ships). **Phasing out**
2182kHz -- International voice distress/safety/calling.
4125kHz -- International voice distress/safety/calling backup (not guarded).
6215.5kHz- International voice distress/safety/calling backup (not guarded).
8364kHz -- International CW/MCW lifeboat/survival craft & SAR forces.
27.065mHz -- Citizens' Band Radio emergency freq. CB Ch# 9.
121.5mHz -- International VHF voice aeronautical emergency & ELT/EPIRBs.
156.8mHz -- VHF-FM International voice distress/safety & calling. EPIRB alert tones. Marine channel 16.
156.75mHz-- Class C (marine) EPIRB 15 second homing signal.
243.0mHz -- Joint/Combined military UHF voice aeronautical emergency, international survival craft & ELTs.

So it looks like the freq you were after is 156.8.

[Captain Stable]

Marine radios work on VHF FM not AM like aeronautical radios.

[timzsta]

In the "Ship" world "Channel 16" is the VHF Emergency Channel and I believe Spitoon is correct with his technical splurge. I would expect military vessels will generally monitor 243.00 if operating with aircraft. Some military vessels may have equipment fitted to enable communication in the VHF aeronautical environment.

[criticalmass]

Maritime mobile stations use 156.800Mhz (aka Ch16) as their emergency frequency. Modulation method is frequency (or phase) modulation, unlike the aeronautical mobile service which uses amplitude modulation.

Most merchant ships do not have any means of mionitoring 121.5Mhz or 243.0Mhz. SAR authorities most emphatically DO NOT want ships liaising directly with searching aircraft.

[411A]

Yes indeed, and 2182 is generally NOT available with most aircraft HF sets. Sad to say that little help can be had from ships....communication wise.........UNLESS you are familiar with ham (for the Brits...amateur) radio. Many on ships are amateur radio operators and regularilly monitor the ham bands. Have talked half way 'round the world with ships from FL330, over the Indian Ocean.