Disclaimer: This site is intended for interest and recreational purposes only. Do not transmit on any of the listed frequencies unless properly licenced to do so. Site under construction.
IT IS ILLEGAL TO MONITOR ANY TELEPHONE CONVERSATION AS STATED BY VARIOUS TELEPHONE AND RADIO COMMUNICATIONS LAWS FOR AUSTRALIA.
Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson) Marine Radio
All commercial shipping movements on Sydney Harbour (excluding regular passenger services) are controlled by Sydney Ports Authority, "Sydney Harbour Control" on VHF marine channel 13 (156.650MHz FM).
Channel 12 is used by Harbour Control for arrival of ships to the ports of Sydney. They use Channel 12 up till 5 miles from the Pilot Boarding Ground.
Channel 6 is for Pilot Boarding.
Channel 68, 69 and 72 are Port Operations frequencies used for Tugboats (Port Jackson).
8 and 10 for Botany Bay tugs.
Channel 15 and 17 are used for aquatic events (such as New Year's Eve).
Arrival procedures for Sydney Ports contains up-to-date information including these radio channels.
Channel 13 is the calling and working channel for Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson) and Botany Bay.
On channel 13 you will hear ferries, water taxis, international ships, works vessels and barges, navy vessels (when appropriate), and others.
Harbour Control has an hourly broadcast, which includes maritime and navigational information for Port Jackson and Botany Bay, all confirmed shipping movements in the next couple of hours, and the latest local weather forecast. Click on the Sydney Ports graphic above to go to their website. You can see real time schedules of ships in port, arrivals and departures.
The broadcasts are preceeded and followed by a short digital tone burst. This is presumably to activate muted recievers that have a digital selective calling facility. (I don't have any radios such equipped. If anybody can verify this, please let me know through the Frequencies Alive guestbook.)
Sydney Ferries use the Government Radio Network (GRN) for their operational requirements, however you will often hear them conversing with Harbour Control. They use their vessel's name (eg. "Collaroy"; "Friendship"; etc.)
I am not equipped for effective GRN monitoring. The network is "trunked," meaning that a conversation will change frequencies automatically, controlled by a central computer. For more info, see The Spectrum's Edge GRN page.
For aquatic events, program 15 and 17 in to your scanner as well. I've missed every sydney NYE since, but in 2001-2002, 17 was the main working channel for Sydney Harbour, with "Waterways Control" in charge. Harbour control was still on 13, and 15 was used as a local control channel for the Parade of Ships.
There are a number of marine repeaters around Sydney. Channel 81 has a repeater at Terry Hills (Coastal Patrol Sydney weekday base). 22 is also a repeater allocated channel.
Coast Guard Sydney is another volunteer rescue service at Sydney. Coast Guard runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They monitor 16, 67 and 73 in VHF, 27.88 and 86, and appropriate HF frequencies.
Coastal Rescue Services