Perdido Key & Orange Beach Radio Guide

Every channel worth knowing on this stretch of coast, in one place: ham repeaters and nets, the Coast Guard and marine VHF, NOAA weather radio, what you can (and can't) hear on a scanner, and the parks to activate. Every frequency links to its source.

Checked September 29, 2026 against RepeaterBook, the RadioReference database, the Coast Guard Navigation Center, NOAA, the FAA (via AirNav) and the clubs' own sites. Repeaters change — confirm on the source link before you key up. Tap any frequency to copy it.

Marine VHF channels and the Coast Guard

Coast Guard Sector Mobile runs search and rescue for this whole stretch, with boat stations at Pensacola and Dauphin Island. Set your radio to USA mode: in International mode, channel 22A becomes a two-frequency channel and you won't hear the Coast Guard's broadcasts. Newer radios may show 22A as 1022.

Sector Mobile reads the marine weather on channel 22A after an announcement on 16 at 1020Z, 1220Z, 1620Z and 2220Z: 5:20 a.m., 7:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m. and 5:20 p.m. in summer (CDT), an hour earlier in winter (CST).

Bridges, marinas and towing

There are no drawbridges between Pensacola Beach and Gulf Shores. The 2026 Coast Pilot lists every bridge as fixed: the Theo Baars Bridge onto Perdido Key (73 ft), the Perdido Pass Bridge (54 ft over the pass, 41 ft over the Cotton Bayou channel) and the Old River bridge (24 ft). Channel 13 is still the one for passing arrangements with tugs and barges on the Intracoastal. The Coast Pilot also warns that the Perdido Pass east jetty is more than half submerged, just 1 to 3 feet down at low tide.

Heading out? Check on the water and the fishing report first.

NOAA Weather Radio and SAME codes

KEC86 on 162.400 MHz is the station for both Perdido Key and Orange Beach. Program the SAME codes below into a weather radio so it only wakes you for alerts here, and add the marine zones if you have a boat.

Want to report severe weather? The National Weather Service in Mobile trains volunteer spotters for free. See SKYWARN spotter training. During hurricane season, pair the radio with our hurricane prep notes.

Ham radio repeaters and towers near Perdido Key

RepeaterBook lists no repeater on Perdido Key itself. The closest machines sit on the tower at the Orange Beach Welcome Center, about 9 miles west. Heading east, Five Flags ARA covers the Florida side from Warrington and Gonzalez. Baldwin County ARES runs a linked network from the county EMA in Robertsdale. Distances are RepeaterBook's figures from Perdido Key.

Simplex and calling frequencies work from the beach with no repeater at all:

GMRS

No license test is needed for GMRS, just an FCC license that covers your whole family. One open repeater covers the beach:

Free CHIRP file for your radio

Every analog FM repeater above, plus 146.520, 446.000 and the two NOAA stations, is in one file you can import into CHIRP. Open your radio's image, choose File → Import, and pick the CSV. Tones are set to encode only, so they work with any of these repeaters. DMR, D-STAR and P25 can't be programmed from a CHIRP file.

Download the CHIRP CSV

Free to use and share. If you post it on a club site, a link back to this page is appreciated.

Nets, ARES and the hurricane nets

All times are Central. The Monday Escambia ARES net and the Thursday Baldwin County ARES net are where local emergency communicators practice. During severe weather, listen on those repeaters (146.760 and 147.090).

When a storm is in the Gulf, HF is where the traffic goes:

Clubs and license exams

• Five Flags Amateur Radio Association (W4UC) — Pensacola — 1st Thursday, dinner 6 p.m., meeting 7 p.m., Golden Corral, 2260 Langley Ave. Runs the Escambia ARES repeaters. License class at Pensacola State College.
• Baldwin County Amateur Radio Club (N4MZ) — Robertsdale — 3rd Thursday 6 p.m., Baldwin County EOC, 23100 McAuliffe Dr. Saturday 7 a.m. breakfast, Cracker Barrel, Foley. License exams (all classes) in Daphne: Oct 3 and Dec 5, 2026, 9:30 a.m. Preregister.
• Escambia County ARES (FL) — Escambia County EOC. Emergency communications volunteers. Registration form online.
• Baldwin County ARES (AL) — Robertsdale — 3rd Thursday 5:30 p.m., Baldwin EOC. Weekly net Thursday 7 p.m. on 147.090.

Not licensed yet? The Technician exam is 35 questions and opens up every repeater on this page. Find a session at ARRL or HamStudy.

POTA parks and grid squares

Perdido Key is a Parks on the Air paradise. You can activate a state park and a national seashore without leaving the island, then hit a third, Big Lagoon, on the drive home. Perdido Key is in grid EM60: it straddles EM60gg and EM60gh along 30°17.5′ N. Orange Beach is EM60fg, and its west end, Gulf State Park included, is EM60eg.

Operating from the sand? Check the beach conditions for wind first. Johnson Beach charges an entrance fee, card only, and Perdido Key State Park has boardwalk shade.

Scanner: what you can hear — fire, EMS and lifeguards

Most of the action here is digital. Escambia County, FL runs conventional P25 channels with no county trunked system. Baldwin County, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores are on AIRS, Alabama's P25 Phase II trunked system, so you need a scanner that decodes Phase II. The good news is that fire, EMS and the lifeguards are in the clear.

Florida side: Perdido Key, Escambia County, Pensacola

Alabama side: Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Baldwin County

Encrypted (you will hear nothing): Escambia County Sheriff patrol channels, Pensacola Police patrol (TG 5201), Orange Beach Police dispatch (TG 22211), Gulf Shores Police dispatch, and every Baldwin County Sheriff channel.

No scanner? These Broadcastify feeds stream in a browser:

• Escambia County Area Marine — ICW, NAS Pensacola, Escambia Search & Rescue
• Baldwin County Fire and EMS
• Pensacola Fire Department

Aviation, and listening to the Blue Angels

Pensacola Approach on 120.650 handles the airspace south and southwest of Pensacola, including Perdido Key. Gulf Shores' airport (JKA) now has a control tower.

The Blue Angels practice over Pensacola Bay and fly the beach show every summer. The frequencies below are reported by hobbyists, not official, and date from 2017, though three were heard again at a 2019 practice. They're military UHF (225–400 MHz), so you need a scanner that covers the military air band.

Source: RadioReference wiki

Scanner laws: Florida vs. Alabama

• Florida: Fla. Stat. 843.16 bars installing or carrying a radio tuned to police or fire frequencies in a vehicle or business, a first-degree misdemeanor. The exemptions include FCC-licensed ham operators, news media and emergency personnel. Using what you hear to commit a crime or tip off a suspect is a separate crime (843.167).
• Alabama: we found no statute restricting scanners in vehicles. Intercepting encrypted public-safety traffic is a Class C felony (Ala. Code 13A-10-16).
• Federal: listening to public-safety radio that isn't encrypted is lawful (18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(g)), but publishing what you intercept can break 47 U.S.C. 605.

This is a plain summary, not legal advice. Crossing the state line on Perdido Key Drive changes the rules.

Numbers to keep in the phone

• Any emergency: 911
• On the water: VHF channel 16 (or 911)
• Coast Guard Sector Mobile: 251-441-5720
• Escambia County Sheriff (non-emergency): 850-436-9630
• Orange Beach Police (non-emergency): 251-981-9777
• FWC Wildlife Alert (FL): 888-404-3922

Something wrong or out of date? Repeaters move, and we'd rather fix it than be wrong. Tell us.

Frequently asked