VHF Channels Usage and Designations

There are 104 VHF channels designated for marine service. Fifty-four of these are reserved exclusively for use in the waters of the United States; the rest are used in international waters near other countries.

Channel 16 is the Hail and Distress channel. It is reserved for Emergency Traffic and for contact calls. Once initial contact is made, both parties must switch to a working channel. A listening watch must be maintained on channel 16.

Channel 6 is required for inter-ship safety purposes such as search and rescue and contact with Coast Guard aircraft. It is to be used for Safety-Oriented communications only.

The remaining channels are grouped as to usage, with certain channels within each group being used primarily.

1.) U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Government channels are 21, 22, 23, 81, 82, 83 (ship-to-ship/ship to shore.)  Note: Channel 22 is the primary channel used by the Coast Guard to communicate with the marine community. It is also used to broadcast severe weather warnings, Notices to Mariners and other safety information.

2.) Noncommercial (recreational) channels are 9, 68, 69, 71, 78, 80 (ship to ship/ship to shore); and channels 67, 72 (ship-to-ship only).  Note: channel 68 is the primary “yacht” channel. And channels 68 and 9 are used by marinas as well.

3.) Marine Operators use channels 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, (ship-to-shore only).

4.) Commercial Vessel channels are 7, 9, 10, 11, 18, 19, 79, 80 (ship-to-ship/ship-to-shore). Channels 8 and 67 are ship-to-ship only, and channel 88 is ship-to-ship/ship-to-airplane.
The FCC has recently made channel 9 available for use as a hailing channel. This use has been adopted by some Coast Guard districts.

5.) Port Operations/Vessel Traffic Systems use channels 1, 5, 12, 14, 20, 63, 65, 66, 73, 74 (ship-to-ship/ship-to-shore).

6.) Digital Selective Calling uses channel 70 DSC tone traffic only. This is part of the new emergency calling network not totally on-line as yet. See Nick Hay’s article on MMSI numbers and its relation to DSC equipped VHF radios.

7.) Navigational -- channel 13 contact with locks and bridges (bridge-to-bridge). Navigational information only. Transmission is limited to 1 watt.

8.) Environmental -- channel 15 is used primarily for information such as sea conditions, weather and Notices to Mariners.

9.) State Control-- channel 17 (ship-to-ship/ship-to-shore) Communicating with state and local authorities on matters dealing with marine activities, regulations, control and assistance.

10.) WX 1 - 9 (receive only) Weather broadcasts by NOAA.

Note:  Shore stations such as those at marinas have limited licenses with restricted channel availability. They will generally use channel 9 or 68.

BSIBC monitors Channel 16 and Channel 72 on all club outings.  If you have a newer radio you should be able to set it to monitor both channels on a continuous basis.

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