Monitor more than 16 in Canada

[Jesperjo]

Yesterday as we were coming across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we saw a Canadian war ship patrolling the border area on the north side of the border. We gave them a wide berth but apparently not everyone did. About 20 minutes later we heard them try to reach out to a boat that had breached their “self defense perimeter”. They repeated this multiple times with no response. I’m not certain if they shot them out of the water at this point but we didn’t hear anything anyway.

However, the interesting part is that they attempted to hail on Channel 68, not 16. In Canada, Channel 68 is the primary ship-to-ship channel and it is normal to monitor that in addition to 16.

For U.S. boaters who are taught to monitor 16, this is important. Once we cross the border we need to use the scan or dual-watch function to monitor 68 in addition to 16, lest you happen to run across a large gray ship with more armament than you and not notice.

Of course, the best option may just be to scan multiple channels all the time.

 

[Submariner]

I have my VHF radio set to scan channel 16, and 9 (also a hailing frequency in the USA). The USCG often will switch to 22 for further updates, so I monitor it also. Then there's channel 13 for train bridge 37 that I have to hail to open going up to Dagmars. And I monitor 68 and 72 for recreational ship to ship.

9,13,16,22,68 and 72, is what my VHF radio is scanning every time we're out on the boat. I can be hailed directly on any of those channels. In Canada, I will add VHF 83 to my scan list as that's a channel Canadian Coast Guard uses (similar in use to 22 that the USCG uses).