Thinking of putting a vhf radio in my boat. I don't really know much about them. What's the best unit under $200? I don't need anything real fancy just don't want it broke in a year because I cheaped out. Been looking at an ICOM m324 for around $175
Thinking of putting a vhf radio in my boat. I don't really know much about them. What's the best unit under $200? I don't need anything real fancy just don't want it broke in a year because I cheaped out. Been looking at an ICOM m324 for around $175
American Standard handheld Marine VHF radio, check Amazon. No need for a large marine radio unless you are fishing way offshore.
Im a radio guy....LOL
How much range can you get from a handheld radio. I would mostly use it when we go to lac sell in Canada. Its a 50 mile long lake.
Lac seul. Damn autocorrect
3 to 15 miles, dependent on the weather and line of sight. Most marine rescue frequencies are monitored by all agencies, and their recieving antennas are much stronger.
Mobile and handheld output power are fixed abd regulated by the FCC.
VHF is line of sight which means anything that gets in the way blocks the signal - mountains, etc. The key to range is the height of the transmitting and receiving antennas above the water.
The hand held will have more than enough power to reach as far as it can "see", but the fixed mount, with a taller antenna, will be able to "see" farther. Neither one will be able to go around corners or over hills, so you will need direct line of sight to the receiving antenna for both.
In the US, most inland waters are not monitored by the Coast Guard unless it is a "navigable" water way - like a major river or the great lakes, etc. Where they do monitor, they typically have antennas mounted up on mountains so that they can see and be see for many miles.
I have no idea how its done in Canada on your lake.
Depending on the features you want, you may be able to get a fixed mount cheaper than a good quality hand held. If its safety you are mainly concerned with, I recommend you get one (fixed or hand held) that has DSC capability.
DSC will give you one button distress calling. You just press one button or flip one switch and you're done. The radio automatically sends out a digital distress call with your boats name and your exact GPS coordinates. Any other boats that hear the call, and have a DSC radio, will get a loud alert that also tells them exactly where you are and tunes the radio to your boat. They dont have to talk to you and ask questions. They can just immediately start heading to your exact location - a waypoint shows up on their chart plotter.
You dont have to spend emergency time answering questions or holding a mike button down when you need to be bailing the boat or donning your life jacket or rescuing your drowning partner or putting out the fire, etc etc.
The only way DSC can work in a hand held is if it has built in GPS. Thats going to make it more expensive than most fixed mounts with DSC but no GPS. They will wire up to your chart plotter and use it for the GPS functions.
You also have to think about antennas and mounting if you go fixed.
I agree that Standard Horizon is the best bang for the buck but Icom is good too.
Smokercraft Phantom 202 Yamaha F115/Merc 9.9
Garmin 7610xsv/GT51M-TM/Panoptix PS21/LiveScope
Why am I hanging out here when I could be fishing.....
Icom makes a good unit and so does Standad..I'm not a hand held fan as they dont have much range. Fixed mount is much better..Originally Posted by puhlw
2024 Phoenix 818, Mercury 175 (3B414035) Trick Steps, 3 Garmin 106 SV,s, LVS 34. BoatEFX dual bow mount. Ionic 12V 125AH, 2 12V 100 ah LiTime’s for the TM. Minn Kota 345 PCL charger,
Yeah I am leaning toward a fixed mount for increased range and not having to worry about batteries or keeping it charged. I would Luke to have a removable antenna but the damn shakspear removable mount is $100 alone plus an antenna.
The Standard Antenna and mount is pricey. I always figured my safety was more important than money. That's how I justified my purchase. My offshore boat had two radios so its was a bit of an investment up front. Combine those with Radar, Furuno eclectronics and Garmin GPS chart plotters and I was in deep. Couldn't fish offshore without any of it..
2024 Phoenix 818, Mercury 175 (3B414035) Trick Steps, 3 Garmin 106 SV,s, LVS 34. BoatEFX dual bow mount. Ionic 12V 125AH, 2 12V 100 ah LiTime’s for the TM. Minn Kota 345 PCL charger,
Yeah if I fished offshore I wouldn't sweat it. I have cell phone reception in 95% of the places I fish. Anyway ordered a gx1600 and found a better deal on the mount and antenna for $95.
I've got a hard wired radio that's primarily used for boat to boat communication in the same general area you're talking about. I've got a 4" wire whip antenna that I built a removable mount for. As long as both radios are in the same general area (mile or 2 apart) it works very well, even across some land. 5 miles won't work.
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