We seek to understand and document all radio transmissions, legal and otherwise, as part of the radio listening hobby. We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations. Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale.

Author Topic: Angry and not so angry fishermen 5178.25 USB 1200 UTC 1 Aug 2019  (Read 13816 times)

Offline ChrisSmolinski

  • Administrator
  • Marconi Class DXer
  • *****
  • Posts: 31106
  • Westminster, MD USA
    • View Profile
    • Black Cat Systems
Two guys, one sounds like the angry bahstad, one seems much more laid back.
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
netSDR / AFE822x / AirSpy HF+ / KiwiSDR / 900 ft Horz skyloop / 500 ft NE beverage / 250 ft V Beam / 58 ft T2FD / 120 ft T2FD / 400 ft south beverage / 43m, 20m, 10m  dipoles / Crossed Parallel Loop / Discone in a tree

Offline R4002

  • Moderator
  • DXing Phenomena
  • *****
  • Posts: 2984
    • View Profile
    • R4002 - YouTube Videos
Re: Angry and not so angry fishermen 5178.25 USB 1200 UTC 1 Aug 2019
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2019, 1905 UTC »
Another New England fisheries net!  Well, I guess this gets filed under 5178 kHz.  Maybe showing up as 5178.2 kHz or 5178.3 kHz depending on what sort of radios are being used.  That, or somebody is making use of their fine tune control - or, CLARIFY/CLARIFIER control, I should say.

So we've got:

5178 kHz USB - active
6095 kHz USB - active
6212 kHz USB - active
6221 kHz USB
6363.5 kHz USB
6516 kHz USB
6870 kHz USB - active
6953 kHz USB
6958 kHz USB

For these New English fisheries....am I forgetting anything?  I know there was a log not so long ago in this same subforum for English language peskies using 5555 kHz LSB, not sure if it was the same group or "type" of user, but perhaps worth mentioning.  The 6516 USB log is one I heard that sounded like New England fishing fleet chatter, no idea if its the same area as the other logs.

U.S. East Coast, various HF/VHF/UHF radios/transceivers/scanners/receivers - land mobile system operator - focus on VHF/UHF and 11m

Offline ChrisSmolinski

  • Administrator
  • Marconi Class DXer
  • *****
  • Posts: 31106
  • Westminster, MD USA
    • View Profile
    • Black Cat Systems
Re: Angry and not so angry fishermen 5178.25 USB 1200 UTC 1 Aug 2019
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2019, 2002 UTC »
Another New England fisheries net!  Well, I guess this gets filed under 5178 kHz.  Maybe showing up as 5178.2 kHz or 5178.3 kHz depending on what sort of radios are being used.  That, or somebody is making use of their fine tune control - or, CLARIFY/CLARIFIER control, I should say.

I had to tune to the .25 kHz offset to hear both stations correctly, so it does not seem to be a case of one radio being off?

Nothing heard today at all, I was recording both 60m and 49m. Maybe they took the day off. Or there are some other frequencies we don't know about.

I have a suspicion about how they get in touch with each other. I *think* each guy listens to a particular frequency, and if anyone wants to talk to him, they call him there. Not 100% sure yet, but it seems that way.
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
netSDR / AFE822x / AirSpy HF+ / KiwiSDR / 900 ft Horz skyloop / 500 ft NE beverage / 250 ft V Beam / 58 ft T2FD / 120 ft T2FD / 400 ft south beverage / 43m, 20m, 10m  dipoles / Crossed Parallel Loop / Discone in a tree

Offline Josh

  • DXing Phenomena
  • *******
  • Posts: 4322
    • View Profile
Re: Angry and not so angry fishermen 5178.25 USB 1200 UTC 1 Aug 2019
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2019, 1949 UTC »
There used to be hf barge traffic on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, where did it go?
We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations.

Offline Exo

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 198
  • Coast of northern California
  • HF aficionado.
    • View Profile
Re: Angry and not so angry fishermen 5178.25 USB 1200 UTC 1 Aug 2019
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2019, 1606 UTC »
There used to be hf barge traffic on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, where did it go?

Cellphones.
Exo
HF aficionado. On the coast of northern California.
Various receivers, transceivers, and broadband antennas.
kiwiSDR receiver on private LAN for multi-freq HF monitoring.

Offline R4002

  • Moderator
  • DXing Phenomena
  • *****
  • Posts: 2984
    • View Profile
    • R4002 - YouTube Videos
Re: Angry and not so angry fishermen 5178.25 USB 1200 UTC 1 Aug 2019
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2019, 1758 UTC »


I had to tune to the .25 kHz offset to hear both stations correctly, so it does not seem to be a case of one radio being off?

Nothing heard today at all, I was recording both 60m and 49m. Maybe they took the day off. Or there are some other frequencies we don't know about.

I have a suspicion about how they get in touch with each other. I *think* each guy listens to a particular frequency, and if anyone wants to talk to him, they call him there. Not 100% sure yet, but it seems that way.

That makes sense...especially if they’re running more than one HF radio in the wheelhouse, with the secondary radio standing by on “their” channel...probably with the squelch turned up just a little bit.  Wanna talk to Captain X? Tune to channel/frequency X at a certain time and whistle into the mic / call the guy’s name etc. 

There are probably dozens of these “side channels” or “sidebands” in use, if this is the operating procedure.  Considering the memory capacity of modern HF SSB marine radios, it could be easily done.

I still think at least some of these guys are using HF for quasi-NVIS types of communications.  The VHF marine band is busy in all of these coastal New England towns too.  I imagine the idea of having a “private channel” for general chit chat is quite appealing to these ship captains.

When I was in Portland, Maine and Gloucester, Mass. last month it was readily apparent that the vast majority of fishing vessels had multiple MF/HF antennas and often 4-5 VHF antennas.  The nicer looking ones had what appeared to be SATCOM antennas as well.  Fishery company buildings on both the Portland and Gloucester waterfronts sported VHF base station antennas and HF dipoles on their roofs.  I bet the captains like being able to talk to each other without too much risk of the boss-man or other boats listening to their QSO.

Considering how active the regular VHF marine channels were in Portland, and the lobsterboat captain’s remarks about captains scanning the VHF channels to listen to their competitors’ radio chatter....Chris’ theory makes even more sense.

Practical VHF marine range is limited by antenna height, but it seems like most captains use a practical limit of 15-20 miles for most applications.   A 100-150 watt HF radio should provide better ground wave range than a 25 watt VHF marine radio, and the use of out-of-band frequencies means your boss/competition would have to do some serious signals intelligence work (own a SDR, general coverage receiver, shortwave receiver with SSB, etc.) to find your “secret channel” or “sideband”. 

I do love the mystery of these quasi-legal or straight up freebanding two-way SSB HF users.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2019, 1810 UTC by R4002 »
U.S. East Coast, various HF/VHF/UHF radios/transceivers/scanners/receivers - land mobile system operator - focus on VHF/UHF and 11m

 

HFUnderground T-Shirt
HFUnderground Garden Flag
by MitchellTimeDesigns