US Coast Guard VHF/UHF Frequencies



Back in early 2008, the Coast Guard began using new narrow-band radios, capable of APCO P-25 digital mode as well as analog. When the new radios went on line, so did some new frequencies.

For many years, Coast Guard listeners were familiar with the "LANT" VHF FM land-mobile channels that some Coast Guard operations used. With the move to narrow-band radios some of these frequencies changed, and they are now referred to by "NET" numbers. Note that the NET numbers will have 100 added to them for APCO P-25 digital, so NET 1 would become NET 101 if they are digital.

Here is the most recent list of these new USCG NET channels:
NET 01 139.9750
NET 02 140.4750
NET 03 140.7250
NET 04 141.6125
NET 05 150.7250
NET 06 141.5500
NET 07 150.3000
NET 08 162.0500
NET 09 162.1250
NET 10 162.2500
NET 11 162.3250
NET 12 163.0500
NET 13 163.1375
NET 14 164.3000
NET 15 164.3125
NET 16 164.5500
NET 17 164.5625
NET 18 164.9000
NET 19 164.9125
NET 20 165.2625
NET 21 165.3125
NET 22 165.3250
NET 23 165.3375
NET 24 166.1875
NET 25 167.9000
NET 26 168.8625
NET 27 171.2375
NET 28 172.3125
NET 29 165.2750
NET 30 171.2125
NET 31 171.3125
NET 32 171.3375
NET 33 171.3500
NET 34 171.3625
NET 43 171.1500 (Heard in the Puget Sound area ID'd as NET 143 by CG 6521)
NET 50 172.0375 (Not Confirmed)
NET 51 165.4625 (Not Confirmed)

In addition to the above nationwide channels, some additional VHF channels have started to be seen in the northern border areas of the country.  It's not yet known if these are part of the nationwide CG channel list or just used regionally. But give them a listen and see what comes up:

167.1125, N293 - Called "AG-1" in the Toledo, OH area
167.6250, N293 - AG-102 Heard in various areas of Michigan
173.1000, N293 - AG-109 Reported in the Buffalo, NY area
173.4750, N293 - Possible Coast Guard "A-G" activity heard in Buffalo, NY area
173.5375, N293 - AG-113 Reported in the Buffalo, NY area

Here are all the UHF Coast Guard allocations with the identified P-25 NET numbers:
406.5000
406.5625
406.5750
406.6000
406.8000
406.8125 - NET 414
406.9750
407.6250
407.9250
407.9750
408.4000
409.0000
409.1875
409.2000
409.3500
409.8250
410.0250
410.3750 - NET 401
411.3750
411.7875 - NET 402
411.8875 -
412.9250 - NET 407
412.9500 - NET 408
412.9750 - NET 409
413.0000 - NET 410
413.0250 - NET 411
413.0375
414.7625
415.6250
415.7750
415.8250
415.9250
416.2250 - NET 421
416.3875
416.4750
416.5500 - NET-422
416.5750
416.5875
416.6000
416.6375
416.7000
416.7125
416.8500
416.9250
416.9375
417.0000 - NET 423
418.3500
418.4375
418.4500
419.1250
419.6000
419.6500
419.8000
419.8250
419.8500
419.9750

The Coast Guard P-25 channels tend to us a NAC of N293. Encryption is used, some areas use it consistently, others not so much.
Officially the US Coast Guard moved it's UHF aircraft operation frequencies at the beginning of 2006. This was done to move their frequencies out of the 380-400 MHz DoD Land Mobile band.

Here are the new USCG air frequencies:
237.9 MHz - Operations (secondary)

326.15 MHz - Air-to-Ground (primary)

345.0 MHz - Operations (primary)

379.05 MHz - Air-to-Ground (secondary)

However, don't take out the old Coast Guard UHF frequencies! It appears that some units are still using them for air-to-air tactical and training ops:
381.7 MHz

381.8 MHz
383.9 MHz

   If you happen to be near a Coast Guard dock or near where Coast Guard cutters operate, be sure and keep your scanners near field searching capabilities going. The CG cutters have a history of using anything and everything for on-board radios. Some use UHF business channels, some use FRS radios and some use oddball, non-standard channels for hand held radios on the boat. Here are a few that were found in a Coast Guard radio-programming template. There was nothing specified for CTCSS or DCS squelch tones. The frequencies listed are rather a strange mix:

1          430.5250
2          431.5250
3          432.7350
4          434.5250
5          436.7650
6          437.6250
7          438.5750
8          440.5625
9          440.5850
10        449.7125
11        450.5250
12        451.7625
13        455.5150
14        460.7750
15        465.5250
16        461.5250

In addition to the new P-25 NETs, the new radios also contain the new VHF federal interoperability frequencies that have been made available to all federal agencies. There are two groups of VHF federal interoperability channels available in the CG radios, and here they are:

VHF Law Enforcement (LE)
LE-A 167.0875 (simplex)
LE-1 167.0875
LE-2 167.2500
LE-3 167.7500
LE-4 168.1125
LE-5 168.4625
LE-6 167.2500 (simplex)
LE-7 167.7500 (simplex)
LE-8 168.1125 (simplex)
LE-9 168.4625 (simplex)

VHF Incident Response (IR)
IR-C 169.5375
IR-1 170.0125
IR-2 170.4125
IR-3 170.6875
IR-4 173.0375
IR-5 169.5375 (simplex)
IR-6 170.0125 (simplex)
IR-7 170.4125 (simplex)
IR-8 170.6875 (simplex)
IR-9 173.0375 (simplex)

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