Obviously he did not have the "best VHF Antenna money could buy" or his
VHF was not installed properly. I can ping USCG or Sea Tow from Cat,
Bimini or West end on either of my two VHFs (50 to 70 miles) and my cell
will die at 10 miles off shore. My old 3 watt installed phone with an
external antenna would work to 40 miles off shore. Bottom line... BOTH
VHF and Cell PLUS 406 EPIRB are best for COASTAL USE. Offshore still
requires a sat phone plus an SSB. VHF can call ship to ship, cell
cannot.
BTW... Handheld VHFs are NOT safety items... they are toys. Good for
talking to people within eyesite but don't count on them.



wrote:
On 20 Jan 2006 08:23:30 -0800, wrote:


I hope that the survey doesn't encourage some
neophyte to think that he can safely substitute a cell phone for a VHF
aboard a boat operating "at sea", or that there's even some serious
debate about the subject.


A lot really depends on the cell phone and the VHF. If you have a 3
watt bag phone, connected to a good marine antenna it will get out
better than a handheld VHF, maybe even better than a hard wired VHF.
It depends on how far you are from a cell tower or the nearest other
vessel with VHF.
A friend of mine was having problems about half way between Naples and
Marathon and he couldn't raise a soul on his VHF ch16 but his phone
rang. It was his family asking if he was OK (missed the ETA on his
float plan). Things worked out OK for him and he limped home but it
was reassuring that someone had his position in case the situation
degraded. He had an installed VHF and an installed Moto Bag phone,
both with the best antennas he could buy.