On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 09:01:01 -0600, "John Anderson"
wrote:

In my area, Lee County, IA, we have coyote hunters using
marine channel 68. In Hancock County IL a similiar use of
marine channel 69 is occurring.

It has also been noted that truckers are using Marine ch 71
and ch. 19A in the Ft Madison IA area.

I wonder if any other posters have noticed such activity
on Marine channels?

John Anderson
West Point, Iowa

These users may be legal - you'd have to check the FCC frequency
allocations to be sure.

The marine VHF band is in the middle of the land mobile band - used by
taxis, trucking companies, and other commercial radio services.

Here in BC, it appears that the marine channels are only reserved for
marine use on the coast. Elsewhere in the province, there are land
mobile users assigned within the "marine" frequency range. (As the
channel spacing for land mobile is different than for marine, the land
users likely won't actually be on a marine channel, but will be close
enough to be heard, or to interfere.) There are a few marine channels
reserved for marine use on the interior lakes.


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca