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hand held or mounted???

1K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  SailNet Archive 
#1 ·
The PO''s of the 38-footer I just purchased did not own a VHF radio.

Should every boat have one? Does every boat need one? I sail mainly in Cheseapeake Bay.

And if the answers are "yes," what''s the consensus of a hand-held verses a fixed radio?

The boat does have an antenna mounted on the top of the mast, but I haven''t been able to locate a cable to it...and am wondering if it was used for their am-fm radio. Is that possible?

Michael
 
#2 ·
I may be misconbobulated but I do not believe that The Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Act does not requires your 38 footer to have a radiotelephone on board unless you are involved in towing operations. In which case all boats over 26'' are required to have a radiotelephone on board when engaged in towing operations .

That said however, common sense dictates that you should at least have a handheld VHF radio on board in case of an emergency. At least in my humble opinion that is.

Capt. Bruce Gregory
http://boatskipper.com
 
#3 ·
Michael:

Given that you sail on the Bay - active sailing area, regular commercial and military traffic, many marinas on rivers/creeks - IMO you need to have a VHF that would meet the following criteria:
1. mast-mounted antenna (far greater range, as e.g. if a safety call is needed or when calling ahead for a reservation vs. handheld unit that is lower in height with 5X less power
2. reliable 12V power (forget about a handheld unit being your primary and/or solitary unit as ultimately the battery will die when you need the unit to work)
3. immediately accessible to the helm, so you can control the boat AND work (hear, talk, change channels) the VHF concurrently
4. capability to monitor multiple channels (e.g. 16 and 13) when in heavy traffic areas
5. DSC capable, as that''s what we''ll all need in the future, and which we are already using in Europe.

These days both Icom and Standard have a line of permanently mounted radios with secondary mikes (including all the control functions and a built-in speaker) that make this easily possible to achieve, and with a fully functional radio down below as well as at the helm. IMO this is one of those product designs that fundamentally changes how one approaches a VHF purchase.

Having said all this, a handheld can come in handy as e.g. when dinking ashore and wanting to stay in touch with the crew aboard the mother ship. (The FCC doesn''t think this is an appropriate use for a marine h/h but, on low power of 1W and if you are thoughtful about which working channel you monitor and use, it surely isn''t disruptive to VHF comms).

Jack
 
#4 ·
I believe all boats should have a VHF, and a cell phone also probably. Best mounted would be unit with RAM (remote access microphone) mentioned in earlier post, AND a handheld to throw in the dingy when times are really bad or you just want to be able to communicate. Mounted units have 25 watts and handhelds only 5, in your area 5 watts maybe more than adequate to reach anywhere you want. Radios are "line of sight", that''s one big advantage for a sailboat if your antennae is on mast top.
I''ve never understood why FCC does not condon this type of usage but I''ve never heard of anyone prosecuted for it either, listen to CH 16 any weekend and it seems that there are a lot of more important ways people misuse the channel than by standing on shore & using it to hail your own vessel.
As for the antennae, it seems illogical to me for someone to go to the trouble to put an AM/FM antennae & not VHF, gut feeling tells me it is VHF. I also take the AM/FM radios out of my runabouts and replace them with VHF, so I think of VHF as essential & AM/FM as useless and others may think differently.
 
#5 ·
What features should someone look for in a VHF? I''ve looked around at some of the national chain marine supply stores, and the radios run from just the basic to very complicated, with all sorts of bells and whistles, including what appears to be GPS readings in the top-on-the-line models.

Are these a good idea or just a way for radio manufacturers to increase profits?
 
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