VHF Marine Channels

The VHF marine band is divided into channels, the frequency and number of which may vary from country to country.

Frequencies and Spacing

Marine VHF channels are between 156.050 and 162.500 MHz and have been selected according to a 25 KHz spacing. The number of channels and their frequencies differ from country to country.

In EEC countries, channels are standardised, but there may still be differences for some countries. For example, in the Netherlands, ATIS channels are used for inland navigation.

There is a new IMO project, designed to change the channel spacing to only 12.5 KHz, thus giving the possibility to increase the number of channels available, thus allocating many of them to the new digital services. It is expected that several more years will pass before this project will become operational, but at that time all current VHF will become obsolete because it is not adaptable to the new system.

Special features

Many of the VHF channels are called duplex channels and are those that have a transmission frequency (TX) different from the reception frequency (RX).

These give the possibility to those who are equipped with a professional VHF with duplex functionality to be able to transmit and talk at the same time as in common phones.

For all other common VHF will not be possible to communicate on duplex channels, you must therefore use the simplex channels (those with the same TX frequency to the RX) to allow half-duplex communication.

VHF channel table

The following table illustrates the standard channels in the EEC countries, the data reported have not been taken from official sources and therefore are purely indicative.

Channel No.	Freq. Tx	Freq. Rx	Use	Simplex
1	156.050	160.650	Public correspondence and port operations
2	156.100	160.700	Public correspondence and port operations
3	156.150	160.750	Public correspondence and port operations
4	156.200	160.800	Public correspondence and port operations
5	156.250	160.850	Public correspondence and port operations
6	156.300	156.300	Ship-to-ship safety	X
7	156.350	160.950	Public correspondence and port operations
8	156.400	156.400	Commercial ship - ship	X
9	156.450	156.450	Commercial	X
10	156.500	156.500	Commercial	X
11	156.550	156.550	Commercial	X
12	156.600	156.600	Port operations	X
13	156.650	156.650	Ship-to-ship safety at sea	X
14	156.700	156.700	Port operations	X
15	156.750	156.750	Port Operations - Low Power Only	X
16	156.800	156.800	International call and rescue	X
17	156.850	156.850	Port Operations - Low Power Only	X
18	156.900	161.500	Port operations
19	156.950	161.550	Port operations
20	157.000	161.600	Port operations
21	157.050	161.650	Port operations
22	157.100	161.700	Port operations
23	157.150	161.750	Public correspondence
24	157.200	161.800	Public correspondence
25	157.250	161.850	Public correspondence
26	157.300	161.900	Public correspondence
27	157.350	161.950	Public correspondence
28	157.400	162.000	Public correspondence
60	156.025	160.625	Public correspondence
61	156.075	160.675	Public correspondence
62	156.125	160.725	Public correspondence
63	156.175	160.775	Public correspondence
64	156.225	160.825	Public correspondence
65	156.275	160.875	Public correspondence
66	156.325	160.925	Public correspondence
67	156.375	156.375	Ship - ship + Port Operations	X
68	156.425	156.425	Nautical Bulletin - Port Operations	X
69	156.475	156.475	Ship - Ship in Port Operations	X
70	156.525	156.525	Reserved for the SDC	X
71	156.575	156.575	Ship - ship + Port Operations	X
72	156.625	156.625	Ship - Ship + Ship - Aircraft	X
73	156.675	156.675	Ship - Ship + Ship - Aircraft	X
74	156.725	156.725	Port operations	X
75	156.775	156.775	Ship - Ship in port - Low power only	X
76	156.825	156.825	Ship - Ship in port - Low power only	X
77	156.875	156.875	ship - ship	X
78	156.925	161.525	Public correspondence + Port operations
79	156.975	161.575	Port operations
80	157.025	161.625	Port operations
81	157.075	161.675	Public correspondence + Port operations
82	157.125	161.725	Public correspondence + Port operations
83	157.175	161.775	Public correspondence
84	157.225	161.825	Public correspondence
85	157.275	161.875	Public correspondence
86	157.325	161.925	Public correspondence
87	157.375	157.375	Public correspondence	X
88	157.425	157.425	Public correspondence	X