What are marine VHF channels used for?

Some of the marine channels have designated functions. The important numbers are as follows:

Ch 16 is the Distress, Safety and Calling channel. This is used for calling another vessel before moving to a different channel, or for safety and distress transmissions. Before using Ch16 listen for a few moments to check you are not interrupting an important transmission such as a Mayday.

Ch6, Ch8, Ch72 and Ch77 are designated intership channels. Once initial contact has been made all further transmissions should be made on one of these channels.

Ch67 is the small ships safety channel. The Coastguard uses this as their working channel.

Ch70 is the DSC channel. Only for the transmission of digital calls, Ch70 should never be used for voice transmissions.

Ch80 is the normal channel for UK marinas.

The other numbered channels are allocated for public correspondence, port operations and bridge-to-bridge working.

Here are the channels most commonly used by Marine Communications and Traffic Services (MCTS) Centres on Canadian waters in the Central and Arctic regions.

Channels 1-3, 23-28, 60, 64, 84-86: Public correspondence (marine operator).

Channel 11-12: Vessel traffic regulating.

Channel 13: Intership navigational traffic (bridge-to-bridge).

Channel 21B, 83B: Continuous Marine Broadcast (CMB) service (in English) transmits severe weather warnings, ice information, hazards to navigation, and other safety warnings.

Channel 22A: Communications between the Canadian Coast Guard and non-Coast Guard stations only.

Channel 23B, 28B: Continuous Marine Broadcast (CMB) service in French.

Channels 24, 26-27, 85: Ship-to-shore communications.

Channels 65: Search and Rescue and anti-pollution on the Great Lakes.

Channels 68: Recreational vessel radio channel for marinas, yachts, and pleasure craft.

Channel 70: Digital selective calling "alert channel." To make a digital call, each radio must have a nine-digit Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number. These numbers are assigned free of charge by Industry Canada.