Growing up in Halifax, it's not difficult to become interested in the Port and shipping.  We are very lucky to live in a city this has such a beautiful and accessible harbour.

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A wide variety of ships call Halifax home port or have it as a port of call.  Halifax is home to the Royal Canadian Navy and it's Atlantic Fleet.  Canadian Coast Guard vessels dock at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.  Halifax also has two large container terminals (Fairview Cove and Point Pleasant).  During the summer, cruise ships bring thousands of visitors.  To learn more about the port of Halifax, click here.

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I use this ship tracker to keep an eye on Harbour traffic.

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From a monitoring perspective, Halifax Harbour is extremely busy.  Various types of traffic come in here from around the globe.  Many scanners now have the Marine band pre-programmed in the search function.  For Halifax Harbour and the Approaches, I recommend the following:

 

VHF Marine

 

Channel    Frequency             Use                        Remarks

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06              156.300                 Intership

07A            156.350                 Tugs

08               156.400                Navy                       Rarely heard

09               156.450                Various users

10               156.500                Navy                       Queen's Harbour Master

11               156.550                 Coast Guard          Heard VTS talking to vessels                                                                                  off the working channel 

12               156.600                 Halifax Traffic       Vessel traffic (inner harbour)

13               156.650                 Various                 Port operations

14               156.700                 Halifax Traffic       Vessel traffic (outer harbour) 

16               156.800                                              Distress and calling 

18A             156.900                Government         CCG/Navy

19               156.950                Coast Guard          Operations

21A             161.650                Coast Guard         Continuing marine broadcast

23               157.150                 Dispatch               Pilots

66A             156.325                Coast Guard         

65A             156.275                Coast Guard         Halifax Inshore Rescue

66A             156.325                

67                156.375                Fishery

68                156.425                Recreational         Sailing/Yacht Clubs

69                156.475                Fishery

73                156.675                Fishery

80A              157.025                Navy

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UHF Marine

 

Many ships that call on the port of Halifax use UHF for internal communications.  A good list can be found here.