"Jester" wrote in :

For emergency calls to the coast
the antenna difference is not so much, boat to boat is a different story.


And you have to factor in the damned marinas and their 70' antenna towers
running 25 watts to talk to the motoryacht 200 ft away coming towards their
docks. FCC should restrict marinas to antennas 20' off the water running
1/2 watt.....or walkie talkies.