Marine VHF Frequencies from W4JE

Channel	Frequency (MHz)	Use	Notes
01A	156.050	Port operations & commercial	Available for port operations and commercial communications purposes when used only within the U.S. Coast Guard designated Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) area of New Orleans, on the lower Mississippi River from the various pass entrances in the Gulf of Mexico to Devil’s Swamp Light at River Mile 242.4 above head of passes near Baton Rouge.
05A	156.250	Port operations	Available for port operations communications use only within the U.S. Coast Guard designated VTS radio protection areas of New Orleans and Houston described in § 80.383. 156.250 MHz is available for intership port operations communications used only within the area of Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors, within a 25-nautical mile radius of Point Fermin, California.
06
07A
08
09
10
11
12	156.600	Port operations	Available in the U.S. Coast Guard designated port areas only for VTS communications and in the Great Lakes available primarily for communications relating to the movement of ships in sectors designated by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation or the U.S. Coast Guard. The use of these frequencies outside VTS and ship movement sector protected areas is permitted provided they cause no interference to VTS and ship movement communications in their respective designated sectors.
13
14	156.700	Port operations	Available in the U.S. Coast Guard designated port areas only for VTS communications and in the Great Lakes available primarily for communications relating to the movement of ships in sectors designated by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation or the U.S. Coast Guard. The use of these frequencies outside VTS and ship movement sector protected areas is permitted provided they cause no interference to VTS and ship movement communications in their respective designated sectors.
15
16
17
18A
19A
20A	157.000	Port operations (intership only)	The duplex pair for channel 20 (157.000/161.600 MHz) may be used for ship to coast station communications.
22A
63A	156.175	Port operations & commercial	Available for port operations and commercial communications purposes when used only within the U.S. Coast Guard designated Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) area of New Orleans, on the lower Mississippi River from the various pass entrances in the Gulf of Mexico to Devil’s Swamp Light at River Mile 242.4 above head of passes near Baton Rouge.
65A	156.275	Port operations
66A	156.325	Port operations
67
68
69
70
71
72
73	156.675	Port operations
74
75	156.775	Port operations	Available for navigation-related port operations or ship movement only, and all precautions must be taken to avoid harmful interference to channel 16. Transmitter output power is limited to 1 watt for ship stations, and 10 watts for coast stations.
76	156.825	Port operations	Available for navigation-related port operations or ship movement only, and all precautions must be taken to avoid harmful interference to channel 16. Transmitter output power is limited to 1 watt for ship stations, and 10 watts for coast stations.
77	156.875	Port operations (intership only)	Limited to communications with pilots regarding the movement and docking of ships. Normal output power must not exceed 1 watt.
78A
79A
80A
88A

Note that the letter "A" indicates simplex use of the ship station transmit side of an international duplex channel, and that operations are different than international operations on that channel. Some VHF transceivers are equipped with an "International - U.S." switch for that purpose. "A" channels are generally only used in the United States, and use is normally not recognized or allowed outside the U.S. The letter "B" indicates simplex use of the coast station transmit side of an international duplex channel. The U.S. does not currently use "B" channels for simplex communications in this band.

Boaters should normally use channels listed as Non-Commercial. Channel 16 is used for calling other stations or for distress alerting. Channel 13 should be used to contact a ship when there is danger of collision. All ships of length 20m or greater are required to guard VHF channel 13, in addition to VHF channel 16, when operating within U.S. territorial waters. Users may be fined by the FCC for improper use of these channels.