Marine communications in Australia

High Frequency (HF) services

There are two main HF marine radio networks in Australia:

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) operated network, comprising two radio stations located in the Western and Eastern Australian deserts at Wiluna in Western Australia and Charleville in Queensland.  

Image: Google

These stations are provided by Kordia under a contract to AMSA, and are remote controlled from the Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra.

The network maintains a continuous DSC watch on the 4, 6, 8, 12 and 16 MHz DSC distress and safety channels. 

Voice watches are also kept from the Charleville station (controlled from Canberra) on 4125, 6215 and 8291 kHz continuously and 12290 kHz between 0730 and 1930 South Australian time.  

These services are provided for small craft operating in NSW, Victorian and South Australian waters, although coverage extends throughout Queensland as well.

The stations use the following voice working channels:

404 (4366/4074 kHz)

607 (6519/6218 kHz)

806 (8734/8210 kHz)

1226 (13152/12305 kHz)

1604 (17251/16369 kHz)

2212 (22729/22033 kHz)

This network also provides automated voice and facsimile weather broadcasts on behalf of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

 

Note:  The services provided for AMSA and those for State Governments use the same equipment and operators.  However, they use two different callsigns:

RCC Australia for the AMSA services; and

Charleville Radio for the State Government funded services.

If the duty operator makes a voice broadcast on behalf of RCC Australia, he/she will often conclude with the following statement: "This is RCC Australia, resuming DSC watch only".

This statement is technically correct, as it is Charleville Radio that provides the voice watch services, not RCC Australia - however, it is the same operator, using the same equipment...

 


The Australian State and Territory Marine HF Radio Network – these stations are located at Darwin, Innisfail, Gladstone, Hobart, Perth and Port Hedland.

The State/Territory stations maintain watch on 4125, 6215 and 8291 kHz.


MF/HF Maritime Safety Information broadcasts

The State/Territory stations broadcast Maritime Safety Information (MSI – weather reports and navigation warnings) using radiotelephone on a single channel in the 8 MHz band (8176 kHz - shared with Charleville's automated broadcast service).

Charleville Radio broadcasts MSI for NSW, Victoria and SA waters on the same frequencies used for its automated weather service.

Coast Radio Hobart runs daily schedules as follows:

SKED TIMES : 0745, 1345, 1903

Initial Announcements made on 2182, 4125 & 6215 kHz

SKED FREQS : 2524, 4146 & 6227 kHz

The 1633 Sked is conducted on 2524, 4535 and 4620 kHz


Very High Frequency (VHF) services

A number of State Governments operate large remote controlled VHF networks.  Some of these provide services on channel 16 (the distress and safety channel) and channel 67 (supplementary distress and working).

The South Australian Government recently completed an extensive VHF network, using 14 sites.  The network, callsign Adelaide Radio, operates on channels 16 and 67, 24 hours per day.

The network is monitored during the day (0700 to 1900) by volunteers at the South Australian Sea Rescue Squadron's radio base at West Beach and at night (1900 to 0700) by Flinders Ports. 

Coverage extends from west of Fowlers Bay through into Victorian waters and includes all Gulf Waters, including coastal waters surrounding Kangaroo Island. The green area on the map shows where high quality reception should exist.

Image: SA Gov't

 

Queensland operate a similar system:

Image: Qld Gov't

 

Radio carriage requirements for small craft

At the moment, there are no uniform requirements for recreational craft marine radio equipment across the country.  State and Territory legislation varies considerably.  However, there are moves towards a uniform approach.

DUNSTAN AND ASSOCIATES

The GMDSS specialists