Fishermen QRM (was Energy FM 6230 kHz)

[The Ether Hacker]

Seems ok at the moment the SSB idiots have gone away some time ago. Why don't they QSY off to the amateur bands. They shouldn't be there

They were probably swearing Irish fishermen.... it is after all the Maritime band


(split and renamed by moderator Ray)

[fox558]

So just because you have a boat and are out fishing then you can operate outside the amateur bands. I'd guess that the fisherman don't even need to have passed any technical exam or demonstrate any technical competency like hams have to do.
Strikes me as very strange, especially in this day and age of communications. For sure they will have internet at sea these days. They are CB pirates in my eyes

[Jock Wilson]

Having been a fisherman myself, I can recall several occasions when I swore out loud when a big fish managed to exasperate me by either getting away or rejecting one of my flies at the last minute.

For example, I was a member of the Scottish international fly fishing team which took part in a competition in the spring of 1984 on Lough Conn against teams from Ireland (included some anglers from NI), Wales and England.

The match began at 10 in the morning and concluded at 6 in the evening. At around 4 in the afternoon a very large fish was attracted to and followed my orange tail fly for about 3 feet in choppy water off a skerry - causing a bow wave directly behind my artificial offering.  Alas, the fish eventually lost interest and turned away, so I cursed it to the heavens in front of my boat partner, an Irishman, and our appointed boatman.

Therefore, I can empathise with swearing fishermen afloat, be they in trawlers/drifters at sea, or in rowing boats fitted with/without outboard/inboard motors on freshwater lochs.

Just for the record, the Irish team members each received gold medals as match winners, whereas my team was awarded the wooden spoon for finishing in last place. 

[Harmony]

So just because you have a boat and are out fishing then you can operate outside the amateur bands. I'd guess that the fisherman don't even need to have passed any technical exam or demonstrate any technical competency like hams have to do.
Strikes me as very strange, especially in this day and age of communications. For sure they will have internet at sea these days. They are CB pirates in my eyes

Fishermen don't use the amateur bands, they use the marine bands. And 48m has some marine allocations.

[R4002]

Fishermen are well-known to use the marine bands (the 6 MHz marine allocation is 6200 kHz to 6525 kHz, worldwide) and other out of band frequencies, including the fixed/mobile bands and aeronautical bands.  Sometimes they pop up in the ham bands too. 

Technically speaking, they are the legal users of 6200-6525 kHz and have every right to be on 6230 kHz. 

[Ray Lalleu]

Fishermen are well-known to use the marine bands (the 6 MHz marine allocation is 6200 kHz to 6525 kHz, worldwide) and other out of band frequencies, including the fixed/mobile bands and aeronautical bands.  Sometimes they pop up in the ham bands too. 

Technically speaking, they are the legal users of 6200-6525 kHz and have every right to be on 6230 kHz.

I remember that this is not an exclusive allocation, at least for the 6200-6300 band, and that a modification allowed broacasting in this part, provided the power used to broadcast is no more than the powers for other users in the band. I can't remember where I saw that note added to the international agreements about the sharing of the radio spectrum.

In regard to that supposed rule, the few high powered stations sometimes found between 6200 and 6300 (and generally undeclared) were not in the rules, but the low powered pirates are...

Of course, that 48m band has never been widely used by established broadcasters, because of the image problem with the 41m band in the standard receivers. That's easier now that the 41m band has been moved 100 kHz higher.

[The Ether Hacker]

So just because you have a boat and are out fishing then you can operate outside the amateur bands. I'd guess that the fisherman don't even need to have passed any technical exam or demonstrate any technical competency like hams have to do.
Strikes me as very strange, especially in this day and age of communications. For sure they will have internet at sea these days. They are CB pirates in my eyes

Fishermen don't use the amateur bands, they use the marine bands. And 48m has some marine allocations.

Yet, last night I caught a booming USB signal on 3673 khz every few hours with maritime weather forecasts in English and Dutch by the Netherlands Coastguard, right in the 80 meter amateur band.... high powered too...  they may not be fishermen but it is certainly Maritime radio use...

And I thought the 80 meter band 3600-3800 khz was exclusively for amateur audio and digital mode communication in Europe.

It's RF anarchy out there, lol.

[R4002]

Interesting re: double use of the 6200 kHz to 6300 kHz portion, especially considering that 6215 kHz is the international marine distress/calling/emergency frequency for the 6 MHz maritime mobile band. 

In regards to 80 meters/75 meters, I've read several reports about fishing fleets using frquencies in/near 80m/75m for maritime uses.  In ITU region 2, its 3500 kHz to 4000 kHz 3.5 MHz to 4.0 MHz, but I believe in Europe the band is smaller (maybe 3600 kHz to 3800 kHz or 3600 kHz to 3900 kHz?)  3900-4000 kHz is, or was, allocated for broadcasting at one point.