marine radios

 can anyone recommend a good reliable marine radio as Ive been told the GME's arent great


Tim's picture

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Icom

Thu, 2016-11-03 07:55

i have the icom and have had no issues 

ROCKPOM's picture

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 +1

Thu, 2016-11-03 09:22

 +1

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Another vote for Icom. 

Thu, 2016-11-03 10:30

Another vote for Icom. 

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Date Joined: 27/08/09

 Icom 

Thu, 2016-11-03 11:04

 Icom

 

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Date Joined: 21/06/16

 thank you will check them

Thu, 2016-11-03 12:45

 thank you will check them out

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Date Joined: 06/12/13

GME

Thu, 2016-11-03 17:19

 I have always used GME and never had a problem

carnarvonite's picture

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GME

Thu, 2016-11-03 18:50

Same here, never had a problem with GME or Cobra but have replaced a couple of Icoms on sea rescue boats

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Date Joined: 23/12/08

Icom

Thu, 2016-11-03 18:56

 After replacing 3 GME's switched to Icom and wouldn't choose any other brand now

sunshine's picture

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As an ex ham radio operator Icom...hands down the pick

Thu, 2016-11-03 19:17

 Made in Japan to the highest specs....ran a 701 as a ham and even when antenna destroyed by a direct lightning strike the Icom still worked perfectly......says it all!

Dale's picture

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Thu, 2016-11-03 19:29

 I'm a Yaesu man myself

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sunshine's picture

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Ran a Yaesu 2kw amplifier

Fri, 2016-11-04 10:46

Never driven that hard as the 6 element quad did most of the work  

mullows's picture

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 I com is the go!!! Had one

Thu, 2016-11-03 19:36

 I com is the go!!! Had one for years, no dramas

 

Cheers

Mullows

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sea-kem's picture

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 Who sells these Icom radios

Thu, 2016-11-03 19:49

 Who sells these Icom radios boys? 

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Love the West!

Dale's picture

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Date Joined: 13/09/05

Thu, 2016-11-03 20:51

 They have them at Whitworths Andy, https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?cat=114&item=69746&intAbsolutePage=1

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"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."

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sea-kem's picture

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 Cheers Dale, how'd you go

Thu, 2016-11-03 21:38

 Cheers Dale, how'd you go with the bolts?

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Dale's picture

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Thu, 2016-11-03 22:24

 Still waiting to get the motor mounted, then I'll know what size I need.

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"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."

Mr Wolf

 

 

Posts: 5981

Date Joined: 17/06/10

Icom

Thu, 2016-11-03 21:11

You might pay a few dollars more, but just how much is your life worth.
All radios need to be looked after I just find Icom do the job better than a couple of other makes I've had.

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Date Joined: 07/05/12

 Forgive my ignorance (and

Fri, 2016-11-04 07:32

 Forgive my ignorance (and googling laziness) but what makes the Icom radios better than GME?

I'll go out an buy one today if it means increased safety for my family on the water. One thing I don't have is DSC but I haven't felt the need to upgrade strictly due to that.

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Officially off the Pies bandwagon

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 Reliability. Gme used to be

Fri, 2016-11-04 07:46

 Reliability. Gme used to be awesome. Rare to see anything but the white seaphone model on any boat through the 90's. At some point the quality started to slip and they became less reliable. 

Personally I have had a gme and lowrance fail. Had a raymarine and icoms with no dramas. Just about to order a new icom for mine (already have icom handheld in the ditch bag)

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Cheers mate, might be time to

Fri, 2016-11-04 07:49

Cheers mate, might be time to upgrade to that GPS receiving radio afterall. WOuld be good to have one that scans other channels too so that I can assist other boats if they get into strife

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Oceanside Tackle's picture

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Icom (tick)

Fri, 2016-11-04 08:23

I know shop owner Ryan will never recommend/use GME after he had multiple issues with his radios & stereos and their warranty/backup service is bad.

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sea-kem's picture

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 I've had a GME in my boat

Fri, 2016-11-04 09:33

 I've had a GME in my boat since I bought it nearly 10 years ago and never had an issue, might be one of the older better quality one's as Dodgy mentions. But being it's over ten years old I'm thinking an upgrade is in order. But My Fusion stereo still blasts out the vibes and brings the Dhuies 

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Bit of Black Sorrows or

Fri, 2016-11-04 10:22

Bit of Black Sorrows or Screaming Jets I am imagining for some reason perhaps a bit of old school Metallica?

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sea-kem's picture

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 Deffo Metallica, but fave at

Fri, 2016-11-04 10:38

 Deffo Metallica, but fave at the moement is  System of a down.

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Love the West!

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I've got a bit of a tradition

Fri, 2016-11-04 10:51

I've got a bit of a tradition going where I'll crank Cowboys from Hell as I leave the ramp but generally give it a bit of Hatebreed, Sevendust, Pantera, Metallica, Tool or Sepultura out on the water but am partial to a bit of Crowded House or Pearl Jam when fishing upriver in the dinghy to match the tranquility around me. I'll generally give it a bit of Slipknot or Meshuggar around the western suburbs just for the lols when I get dirty looks from the wankers eating cheese on their deck.

My 6 year old loves Deep Purple so we'll give that a run too when he's out.

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sea-kem's picture

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 Love the Purple, Highway

Fri, 2016-11-04 11:08

 Love the Purple, Highway star and Burn my best ever bucket songs ;) 

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sunshine's picture

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Andy I pity the dhuies

Fri, 2016-11-04 10:50

With that "?music" blaring out......prefer silence myself but perhaps that is because I was a roady in my early years  

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 I do love the silence on the

Fri, 2016-11-04 12:58

 I do love the silence on the water..... but if music is needed, Purple, SRV, John Lee Hooker, and too many more to mention.

carnarvonite's picture

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Channel 16

Fri, 2016-11-04 16:24

Just leave the radio on channel 16 as one is supposed to do and keep an ear out

Surprising the number of fishos who log in then promptly turn their radio off, have tried to call them back via sea rescue radio and no reply, reckon they draw too much power yet they leave the sounder and Gps on while anchored.

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A bit of sound advice (pardon the pun)

Fri, 2016-11-04 19:34

Unfortunately I know a couple of friends who log on then turn the radio off and only turn it on again to log off.
They have the blind view that they only need the radio to log on and off and if it wasn't a requirement of the law they wouldn't have one at all.
The mobile phone will do is their answer to emergency situations should any arise
It's quite sad really.

carnarvonite's picture

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Requirement

Fri, 2016-11-04 19:54

It is a requirement of all who venture to sea with a marine radio, it has to be turned on to an emergency channel while at sea.
If DoT inspectors were doing their job properly when inspecting boats they should check the radio is turned on and working plus being set on an emergency channel

You have to think of others out there and no just yourself by relying on your phone to call for help when someone could be sinking close by and you don't know and cannot assist

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I am guilty of this as I've

Fri, 2016-11-04 20:21

I've been guilty of this as I've normally forgotten and left it on the working channel and get sick of hearing people logging on and off. Will definitely start switching it to 16 from now on.

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 Just to clarify you are

Fri, 2016-11-04 21:32

 Just to clarify you are required to monitor the working channel of your area, or 16vhf

So in the metro area you log into sea rescue on 73vhf. Stay on 73 and also scan the emergency channel 16.

In regional areas use whatever the local VMR uses, and always scan 16 regardless.

 

carnarvonite's picture

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Wrong

Wed, 2016-11-09 15:09

You are required to monitor the emergency channel because if an emergency happens there is the possibility of that person not knowing the working channel of that area

If sea rescue wants to contact you they will call on the emergency channel then switch to the working channel once you reply

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Really! From The navigable

Wed, 2016-11-09 19:29

Really!

 

From The navigable waters regs

 52BAA. Certain vessels to be equipped with marine transceiver

(1) The owner of a vessel that proceeds more than 5 nautical miles
from the mainland, or more than one nautical mile from an
island situated more than 5 nautical miles from the mainland,
must ensure that the vessel is equipped with a marine
transceiver approved by the Spectrum Management Authority of
the Commonwealth.
 
(2) Whilst the vessel is under way the transceiver referred to in
subregulation (1) must, when not used for other transmission,
remain switched on and tuned to the emergency distress calling
frequency or the working frequency of the shore station with
which the vessel is logged on.
 
So you have a choice. Maintain a watch on either the emergency channel OR the working channel of the shore station which you logged on with. Most marine radios are able to monitor 2 or more channels at once, so monitor both.
 
Standard operational procedure in the mero area is for sea rescue to atttempt to make contact with a vessel on the frequency that the vessel logged in with. If no answer is recieved after a few attempts, then calls are made on alternative channels. It saves a lot of sea rescue radio operator time if you stick to your login channel.    

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Dual watch

Sat, 2016-11-05 00:06

A lot of radios allow you to keep what is called "duel watch" that way the radio will automatically switch between ch 16 and what ever other channel you choose. That switching process happens approx. every 15 seconds or so that way you are monitoring ch 16 and any other channel you wish.

When there is traffic on one of the channels the radio stops switching and stays on the channel being used, as soon as the traffic stops the radio automatically goes back to switching between ch 16 and the other channel you have selected.

Hope that makes sense.

Ashen's picture

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Date Joined: 22/03/13

Uniden

Tue, 2016-11-08 20:02

Sorry to butt in on the GME vs Icom debate but has anyone used Uniden marine radios and recommend them?

 

Also, if I was to go about 2-5km west of Rotto, will there be VHF reception?  is there a big difference between brands and lengths of VHF antennas? 1.8m vs 2.4m etc?

 

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Date Joined: 27/08/09

 In terms of Quality uniden

Tue, 2016-11-08 21:12

 In terms of Quality uniden sit somewhere inbetween Icom and GME.

As for antenna. The longer the antenna, the more elements it should have, and the better the gain. Check the gain in dB of the antenna. 

2 to 5km west of rotto you should be able to contact Freo or Whitfords sea rescue on 73, if you have a half decent radio set up. If not try the repeater on 81.

 

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uniden

Wed, 2016-11-09 06:02

I have had a Uniden VHF and 27meg units for 3.5 years, they are in my boat unprotected exposed to the elements all year round and have never missed a beat except the paint fading. In my previous boat that was small enough to fit in my garage I went through a few GME units so no comparison. from memory they were both about $200+ each Icom are a little bit more

as far as range goes I have pacific antennas about 1.8m long on top of a head height canopy so the top of the antenna's would be around 3.8M off the water and I can always call sea rescue 20-30mile out of Hillarys on both 27 and VHF

Ashen's picture

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Date Joined: 22/03/13

Great info

Wed, 2016-11-09 06:15

 Thats great info, thanks guys!

Will buy either Icom or Uniden VHF with 2.4m antenna.

 

 

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A fish in the hand is worth 10 in the water!