2182 kHz weirdness
 

Heard at the Shack on the Bayou in southeast Texas:

2182 kHz USB
0330, August 9, 2003 UTC
Background noise of a motor and probable marine VHF

So why's that weird?
It's probably just a tugboat in the ICW with an open mike.
Or maybe it's a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

It's weird because I heard it a day or two ago.
Have they had an open mike for that long?

Can anybody else in Texas or Louisiana hear it?

---------------------------
Registered Monitor BR549
The Shack on the Bayou www.ghg.net/cliffwatts/

Drake R8, Grundig YB-400, Heathkit GR-64 (retired)
Realistic Pro-2006, Bearcat BC-245XLT

I thought that frequency wasn't used anymore as an emergency call freq.

??

jw
wb9uai

It's still monitored by the Coast Guard

Barry
N4IJN

"J999w" wrote in message
...
I thought that frequency wasn't used anymore as an emergency call freq.

??

jw
wb9uai

I don't know about now, because I've been retired for over ten years, but back
in the 1980s, the international Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) treaty began
requiring commercial vessels to have radiotelephone capability in the 2-3 MHz
band. This was to accommodate all the sea going vessels that weren't large
enough to be required to have a radiotelegraph station.

For emergency calls, the transmitter (usually a transmitter-receiver unit) had
to be able to send a two-tone -- fast hi-lo -- transmission on 2182 at the push
of a button. The receiver had to be on watch (constantly monitor) on 2182 to
receive a two-tone transmission.

At least one working channel was required, too, pretty much like in the old
days before the advent of marine VHF.

Bill, K5BY
T2GB0040061

I'm close to Galveston Bay. My ham antenna, which I use for SW, doesn't work
well below 5 MHz. But I did try, using my DX-392, and heard nothing, not even
with the BFO on and rocking the BFO's variable.

Because I noticed my eTR7 received 3210 better, using the grounded dining room
chandelier -- LOL -- as an antenna, than my 392 did on the outside ham antenna,
I moved the 392 to the dining room and listened on 2182. Still nothing. But
that doesn't mean it's not there. And this was done between 1300 and 1330 CDT.

I'm surprised it hadn't been reported to the FCC and taken care of by now. Of
course, trying to get in touch with the FCC these days is near impossible by
phone. The hot line numbers I had no longer work, either, not to the Houston
office, not to the Kingsville monitoring station.

Bill, K5BY