Vhf boat to telephone lines

[tchiffriller]

Are there still companies running the Vhf Channels where you can talk to an opperator and he/she will put you through to a telephone number that you want to call? I think it is called Public Correspondence (Marine Operator).


Thanks,
Tommy

[Lew Barrett]

Not in Puget Sound, and I'd doubt anywhere else in the US given the availability of cell phones.

[kc8pql]

Not any more. There are however many 2m VHF Ham repeaters with phone patch capability. You need a license of course, but that's pretty easy to get these days and the calls are free.

[tchiffriller]

What is a 2m VHF Ham repeater with phone patch capabilities?

[paladin]

You need an amateur radio license....but....
The 2 meter amateur band is very close in frequency to the maritime vhf band...and about the same power output. If there is a shore based station there is a device called an autopatch (and reverse patch) that is a little electronic box that allows you to use a touch tone pad on the microphone to activate the autopatch and dial a number directly into the ma bell system. With the reverse patch anyone can call the telephone at the autopatch number and after it answers, put in a 2-4 digit number on the phone pad and it activates your transceiver just like a telephone.......actually...if you're clever....you can do the same thing with a CB radio or any other transceiver depending on how far away you are and if you have somewhere you can install the "patch"...usually smaller than a cigar box.. before thays of cell phones...I had such a system installed at my home in Thailand, and also at the mountain area of Chiang Mai......and for a long time I had the system operation here at the other house. I still have all the equipment and use it as a portable system in an oversized briefcase...take it with me, set it down and use the nearest phone line when I was running around and use a small VHF radio the size of a cell phone...
and an added thought...dunno if it's legal.....but you could do the same thing with the little UHF family radio service phones/radios without much effort...and it would be similar to what I used as a communications system on the boat when I was travelling....

[Bob Adams]

I do miss the marine operators though....thing could get interesting when the parties forgot they were not on a privite line!

[Hughman]

Ah, yes. many hours of fogbound entertainment, listening to careless folks babbling away.

I remember a male voice telling his spouse he had more serious mechanical problems on the boat...would be hours before he'd be home...next call was to a cheerful young thing ready to jump on board....

[tchiffriller]

Haha, yall are lucky. I just got my vhf handheld radio for christmas. That would have kept me away from boredom for a long time.


- tommy

[Ian McColgin]

To confuse the merely curious, our local rabbi would call home in Hebrew. Given where we are, there was also a lot of Portugese on the air. I miss the little bits of family talk while the call was connected.

[Tylerdurden]

I wouldn't count on an auto patch. Most local machines here in Maine have dropped them. The one local that does have it you have to join the club to use it.
Buy a go phone and put an antenna on the mast.

[djn]

That was one of my duties on my ship when i was in the Navy. I was a Radioman. Those connections were always a pain in the ass because they always happened in the middle of the night due to emergencies.

[jwe7119]

The last remaining "ship to Shore" station is in Mobile,AL. Call Letters WLO and last i heard they dont plan on closing any time soon.

[paladin]

For a couple of hundred dollars you can purchase a 3 watt amplifier. Mount it near the base of the mast, run a cable up the mast and add the little antenna to the top. Then run a cable from the amplifier box to your cell phone....You will increase your power from .5 w times 2 to 1 watt, from 1 watt times 2 to two watts and then more than a db and a half more to jump it 5-6 times what your phone is capable of, then the antenna will have the effect of doubling or tripling your range.....have fun....

[Rich VanValkenburg]

Around here it was 'Detroit Marine'. I did a search and it's still listed as a vessel contact. Quite a few are also listed here.

Some of those calls were a hoot.
'Hi Dear, I'm on the boat in the middle of the lake.'
'You're where??? I'm lying here in neglige and you're on the boat? Great. Just great.'
click

http://www.imradioha.org/text/Midland's_VHF_Station_List.txt

Also here but this page loads very slowly so wait for it. Detroit marine was listed last with brief instructions.

http://www.maritime.lv/catalogue_companies_list/company_source_25052_1.html

[Terry Rhoads]

MariTel still exists, and is apparently in partnership with Sea Tow. According to their Web site they offer service from Cuttyhunk to Cape May, and east and west coasts of Florida. You have to subscribe to the service. Google "MariTel". I had heard they were going to start up their Maine service again, but no mention of that on their site.
Terry