worth every cent. Antenna, as high on the boat as possible and not near other antennas as this causes nulls and directionality. Antenna length....again the longer the better.  Connections wise all radios use PL259 to connect to the antenna so you shouldn't need to change anything there UNLESS the existing cable is showing signs of damage or corrosion 

 The power output on these units is restricted and most good brands will have the max power allowed. I think it's 5 watts from memory. I don't think you could go far wrong with Icom or GME and I think Icom is a premium brand. If I were you though I would certainly replace the antenna wire and base if installing a new radio. Both the inner conductor and shielding do corrode over time and why would you take the chance with old gear on a new install. In fact I reckon start with the antenna and see how your existing unit performs.

 Low power is 1watt and high power 25 watts.  I like the fact it has built in GPS however you can buy the non GPS version a little cheaper. Waterproof unit to a metre for half an hour which speaks a lot !

 Just a quick note on antenna length. I purchased a GME AE346V VHF Marine antenna 1.8m in length. I thought it would be better than the standard 600mm VHF whip already installed on the boat being a longer length.

Wrong. The first day out the join between the glass whip and metal base failed. (replaced under GME warranty) But I was truly surprised to find only a 600mm antenna inside the whip. 

I understand that the wave length determins the length of the antenna i.e. full wave 1/2 1/4 etc. I assumed being that the antenna was over double the length of the 600mm antenna it would be at least 1200mm giving better range for the radio.

I also took it to a radio technician who was also very surprised by the internal construction.

I questioned GME and the response was that the 1.8m and 2.4m whips are purely cosmetic. They all contain the same internal antenna. 

Just proves size isn't always better.

Steve

I think that the icom unit is a better unit, they appear to me to be more study in construction and weather resistant.

Very surprised at what GME told you about their antennas I have never stripped one down but I thought that higher is best and that the 2.4 would have been a full wave length antenna. That's another piece of info to put away into the think tank next time I have to buy an antenna.

 With vhf the antenna is more crucial than with a uhf

i have a zcg scalar and icom on the Haines and its excellent

I went with the same brand as my sounder gear and have used the gps and the vhf radio linked together for DSC.

https://ww2.lowrance.com/en-au/Products/VHF-AIS/

And if you can source a scalar antenna do so .....way better than GME  

 G'day

No expert but a few thoughts.   My research indicated Icom are the premium brand.  For a number of reasons though I have installed Lowrance Lnk 5 units in my current and previous boats, they seem good value and quality.  The only issue I had was pairing the DSC function in current boat where I have garmin combo's and the 2 brands use different coloured wires, terminology and nmea language, eventually got there but was hard.

Antenna height as said makes a difference but if you google the formulae for working out transmit/receive distances it's not that far anyway, more important imo is whether there are repeater stations in the area you fish and knowing which channels are repeated 

Cheers

Rod

But it is utter garbage.  As a retired ham radio operator (VK6XI) height and antenna quality are MORE important than the quality of the hardware you might be using.  As a novice amateur I only ran 5 watts output but the antenna was 70 feet up and was a six element cubicle quad......contacted over 200 countries on that set up.  A good antenna works both ways, better reception and transmission.  If you want to learn a little about antennas see if you can obtain a copy of the ARRL antenna handbook, brilliant publication but old as the hills 

Any good brand radio, Icom, Gme, Cobra etc as all have 25 watt output but the aerial is what matters, good quality and as long as possible with it set on the boat in the highest position possible

Have worked with Icom and Gme for years and found there s no difference in performance.

Posts: 1539

Date Joined: 03/03/09

Dunno where you found that formula

Mon, 2017-11-06 08:36

 

But it is utter garbage.  As a retired ham radio operator (VK6XI) height and antenna quality are MORE important than the quality of the hardware you might be using.  As a novice amateur I only ran 5 watts output but the antenna was 70 feet up and was a six element cubicle quad......contacted over 200 countries on that set up.  A good antenna works both ways, better reception and transmission.  If you want to learn a little about antennas see if you can obtain a copy of the ARRL antenna handbook, brilliant publication but old as the hills 

Sunshine, unlike yourself I'm not an expert, but my research indicates that VHF is 'line of sight'

Cheers

Rod

 The more coverage you will achieve.  Oddly however VHF can be heard way beyond line of sight due to a phenomena called tropospheric ducting often linked to a weather trough running down the coast.  I man the radio room of a VSR on a regular basis and, when a trough is lying off the west coast often clearly hear and can communicate with Geraldton ....some 400km as the crow flies ....and on rare occasions have even heard Acrim base at Denham though weakly.  I personally have removed the hf antenna from my boat and centrally positioned the longest antenna I could source on the roof of the hard top.  Coverage has been greatly enhanced by this !

Way back when I did my coxsun ticket and later on when I did a coastal nav ticket I can remember being told that VHF is line of sight.

I acknowledge your expertise in these matters rodfishsa and I'm not disputing it I'm just one old boy who is all at sea (excuse the pun) when it comes to) radio distances be it UHF, VHF or 27 meg.

Just had a look at what a radio site is saying and they say this

How Far Can I Communicate?

While Very High Frequency (VHF) communications offers plenty of positives: such as sound quality, smaller and low cost antennas, and is less subject to atmospheric interference. It does have one large drawback and that is its relatively short range.
The range of VHF radios is dependent on many factors, the most limiting of these is that VHF is basically line of sight radio. Simply put, the transmitting and receiving antennas must be able to see each other in order to establish communications.
Not wishing to start a great debate just wanting to find out what governs UHF reception, distance wise.

 Sorry for any confusion meglodon, perhaps the copy and paste of another post added to the confusion,  I'll leave it to the expert

Cheers
Rod

Height is Might with antennas

 If replacing with GME just be certain that the source of your unreliability isn't the existing antennae/power supply.

Resulting in exactly the same issues