Re: Held Held VHF Radio Recommendation
Chuck<br />I do not know what type of boat you have or the area you travel but here is my thoughts.<br />If your boat has a battery and a charging system I would buy a good fixed mount first. To start with they are cheaper, have 25 watts of power and are not much bigger than the hand held. They do require a antenna. (Shak 5225) If you never plan to call anyone other than the boat you are traveling alongside then maybe a handheld is fine. If you think you may want to call the Coast Guard or a local sherrif partrol boat, Park ranger then you most likely need the fixed mount. <br />Normal range of a hand held is 3 to 5 miles over open water. Get down bettween the levies on a twisting river and it is much less. Calling Coast guard station will be more as they have good antennas mounted up high but a coast guard boat likely to be about 5 miles. For Saftey I think you should start with a good 25 watt fixed mount like the Icom IC-M45 and a good 8 foot antenna (shakespeer 5225) OK I said what I had to say.<br /><br />For a hand held I also like the Icom IC_M1V. Why, first it has from 1/2 a watt to 5 Watts of power.<br />Lithium-ion battery has no memory and last 12-14 hours and is rechargable. Large LCD display. You set what channels you want to scan. Waterproof. Price $249 West marine. Important to be able to set channels you want to scan as never know, your depth finder may interfear with channel 72 or some kid may be playing on some other channel and you will want to delete these channel so you can scan the Coast Guard channels or the local fishing fleet.<br />One accessory I alway buy for Hand Helds is a dc power cord/charger. So when you go on a multi day trip you can charge the battery.<br />One last thing a good 8 foot or higher antenna will make a big difference in range if radio has a adapter to hook antenna to.<br />Good luck and let us know what you pick and why.
