On Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:46:45 -0500, Gene
wrote:

I looked this one up before. It's surprising how short the effective
distance of VHF is before the horizon is a factor. Your 200' antenna
will reach only 17 miles. Two eight-foot antennae will only transmit
about miles.

http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

Hmmmm.... depends.

Assuming I haven't sunk, I should be able to get out about 25
miles.... to the local USCG station.

Two 8' antennae will transmit about 8 miles.

One sea level antenna transmitting to my boat would reach about 5
miles...

None of those are particularly inspiring with respect to a solid sense
of safety....


Here is a better calculator...

My personal experience with a variety of VHF hand held radios is that
they are rarely good for more than a couple of miles except under
ideal conditions. Those little rubber ducky antennas are *very*
inefficient.