Queensland and 27meg radios

[Lucky_Phill]

Pretty sure VMR's and Coast Guards don't monitor this frequency, but thought I'd ask the question of MSQ.

This is their response:-

Thanks for your enquiry regarding 27mhz radio comms in Queensland. There are a couple of items that influence this area at the moment in Queensland.

• Queensland does not currently mandate the use and carriage of marine radios in recreational boating which our other partner states do.
• All states are currently reviewing the marine radio use and frequencies under the Australian Recreational Safe Boating Committee.
• The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) are the responsible/legal owners of the frequency and they are leading a review of the use of 27mhz.

As this review in Queensland is ongoing I couldn’t definitely advise you that it is going to be phased out but noting that some of the other states have already written this into their legislation and AMCA have advised of their preference to move away from it, it is likely that this would be the outcome.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any specific questions at all.

Regards,

Phillip Hambly
Manager (BoatSafe) | Policy Planning and Regulation
Maritime Safety Queensland Branch |Customer Services, Safety and Regulation Division
Department of Transport and Main Roads

[chris69]

That’s funny 27 meg is a pretty standard coms radio,I was sitting at horseshoe reef talking to the boat next me and a lady told me to get off the channel when I asked were she was she said port Phillip bay yacht club and she did not know what skip was and was shocked to find out I was 250 kms off the qld coast and could not do anything about me talking on her channel

I thought that they would just monitor channel 72 just for the fun of it not everyone would have a vhf as 27 meg was the standard for a long time.

[Noelm]

27m is all but dead and gone, but…..as long as two people have a device, it’s technically useful, but most states no longer monitor it officially, as VMR 27m sets die, they are not replaced, most don’t have them now. Just receiving a random transmission from a long distance means little, that’s simply termed a “skip” it is no indication of reliable long range.