VHF Marine Radios
Submitted by CC106 on Tue, 2014-07-15 09:47
So just wondering if anyone has preferred to go with Hand Held VHF marine radios rather than fixed units?
Would love to hear opinions, problems, solutions, pro's con's of both fixed vhf and hand held vhf units.
Cheers
Chris
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dodgy
Posts: 4580
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Range is the biggest
Range is the biggest consideration. A hand held will never come close to matching a fixed unit with a decent aerial.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
scotto
Posts: 2471
Date Joined: 21/04/08
as above,
bigger the unit/ariel, better the coverage.
that being said though, I have a 1500mm VHF antenna on my dinghy, and I often give the handheld VHF to the missus at camp (gnaraloo), to radio me if needed.
at one point, she was over 14 nautical miles away, and it was clear as a phone call.
Butters29
Posts: 53
Date Joined: 28/03/13
VHF range is what's known as
VHF range is what's known as ' line of sight'. Meaning the two station (transmitting/receiving) should be visible to each other. The higher your arieal the greater range in theory. Saying that you can get skip due to atmospheric condition increasing the range, you'll find the range will increase at night because of this. I quite often here VHF radio (crap) at night at ranges that VHF shouldn't work. If you are in an area of heavy traffic a handheld should be fine as it's a requirement for all commercial (rec???) VHF equipped vessels to monitor ch16 if you find yourself having to swim.
CC106
Posts: 59
Date Joined: 07/01/14
Ok, so range coverage is a
Ok, so range coverage is a pro for the fixed unit.
Can anyone vouch for range with a hand held unit calling another hand held unit?
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Range
Hand held to hand held is approx. 2nm at best.
Swompa
Posts: 3902
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Disagree. Can clearly pick up
Disagree. Can clearly pick up Freo sea rescue from Penguin Island.
5w can get us 8 miles easily.
dodgy
Posts: 4580
Date Joined: 01/02/10
I don't think freo Vmr will
I don't think freo Vmr will be running a hand held somehow mate.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Swompa
Posts: 3902
Date Joined: 14/10/12
I didn't say that, I said
I didn't say that, I said that we (using a hand held) were able to get Freo sea rescue from near penguin island.
Using a hand held doesn't limit you to only talking to a hand held.
I also understand that they have a tower and are quite elevated.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Read again
His question was, how far would the range be for using a hand held to ANOTHER hand held
Swompa
Posts: 3902
Date Joined: 14/10/12
And he should get 5-8 miles,
And he should get 5-8 miles, trusting everyone is on a flat surface. Add some elevation then it increases by 2 miles per meter of vertical I believe
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
That could be boosted by a
That could be boosted by a repeater. We spoke to denham from steep point via a hand held a couple of years ago. No line of sight there, but there is a repeater out there now.
Fish! HARD!
Swompa
Posts: 3902
Date Joined: 14/10/12
I just picked up a GME unit
I just picked up a GME unit GX600, for $250 including antenna.
I normally used a hand held VHF but forgot it so many times, also forgetting to charge it was a pain in the bum too.
A hand held is a great backup for sure but you cannot beat the range of a fixed unit with a 6 foot whip on the console.