"Dr. Jonathan Smithers, MD Phd." wrote in message
...
My marina neighbor had a Uniden (not sure of the model) and was never
pleased with the sound quality. He compared it to the my Standard Eclipse
and ended up replacing his.

I have always felt that Standard and Icon both made good products.


You can always use a remote extension speaker. They are fairly cheap,
directional (can be mounted anywhere) and vastly improve the sound quality.

I had a small 2 1/2" "Poly Planer" on mine and it was terrific. The speaker
was waterproof and corrosion proof.

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:13:09 -0500, "JimH" wrote:


"Dr. Jonathan Smithers, MD Phd." wrote in message
...
My marina neighbor had a Uniden (not sure of the model) and was never
pleased with the sound quality. He compared it to the my Standard Eclipse
and ended up replacing his.

I have always felt that Standard and Icon both made good products.


You can always use a remote extension speaker. They are fairly cheap,
directional (can be mounted anywhere) and vastly improve the sound quality.

I had a small 2 1/2" "Poly Planer" on mine and it was terrific. The speaker
was waterproof and corrosion proof.

Make sure you don't mount it near a compass. :-)


Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a

For your upscale SUV: Dingle-balls hand knit of natural Icelandic yarn

"Dr. Jonathan Smithers, MD Phd." wrote in
:

My marina neighbor had a Uniden (not sure of the model) and was never
pleased with the sound quality. He compared it to the my Standard
Eclipse and ended up replacing his.

I have always felt that Standard and Icon both made good products.



I had a Standard Eclipse Plus destroy my battery in my jetboat. Seawater
leaked in around the "sealed, waterproof" speaker...drizzle back along the
main circuit board into the pins of the RF power amp brick which is ALWAYS
powered up, even when the radio is off. The salt caused the brick to draw
about 3A of current and killed the boat's battery REALLY dead. The radio
was destroyed as the salt ate the components off the board.

In ANY of these little VHF radios, it's a good idea to disconnect the power
from them any time you are not using them....breaker or disconnect switch.
Their RF power amplifier ICs do NOT go through the "power switch", which
only switches off the main radio. These ICs draw no idle current....unless
what happened to me happens to you.

After losing two Standard Eclipse Plus radios to leakage, I got an Icom M59
for the boat and it worked fantastic for years. The guy who bought the
jetboat is still using it.

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:35:27 -0500, Larry W4CSC
wrote:
I had a Standard Eclipse Plus destroy my battery in my jetboat. Seawater
leaked in around the "sealed, waterproof" speaker...drizzle back along the
main circuit board into the pins of the RF power amp brick which is ALWAYS
powered up, even when the radio is off.

===========================

Larry, with all due respect, a real boat would have the radio wired
through a circuit breaker and/or battery switch.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

Larry, with all due respect, a real boat would have the radio wired
through a circuit breaker and/or battery switch.



Whoa! The radio WAS wired through a fuse panel! 3 amps doesn't blow a 10A
fuse and the 3A gave no indication (smoke, fire, etc.) that it was
happening until I turned my key to be met with total silence.

I plugged it into 12v again and measured the drain....nearly 3A dead on the
nose. The salt shorting out the pins on the power amp IC had changed the
bias on the IC between pins from class C (no current with no RF drive) to
sort of class A (always conducting, even with the power switch off!)

It just sat there converting my 115AH deep cycle/starting battery into a
hot heat sink.....dammit.

Last year I picked up a new Standard with DSC capabilites - it connects into
the GPS. I like it because the mike also doubles as a speaker.

Sandy K.

Mark wrote:
Any recommendations for a low cost, mounted, basic VHF radio? The display
has given out on my old radio. I am considering the Uniden Solara and would
appreciate comments on this model or suggestions for others.

Hi Mark,

DSC VHF is the way to go, and will become your only option in the not
too distant future, but keep in mind you'll need to install and
interface it with a GPS in order for it to work properly. You'll also
have to register it so you can set up your MMSI.

If cruising and bluewater sailing aren't in your plans, maybe just a
good, waterproof hand held VHF is all you'll need. Icom, Standard and
Horizon are good names, but there are others equally good.

--

=-------------------------------------------------=
Renewontime
A FREE email reminder service for licensed mariners
http://www.renewontime.com
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"Mark" wrote in
sgroups.com:

Any recommendations for a low cost, mounted, basic VHF radio? The
display has given out on my old radio. I am considering the Uniden
Solara and would appreciate comments on this model or suggestions for
others.

Mark (the rail & canopy hook guy)
www.ripnet.com/vtf/prod03.htm




Icom M59. Great radio. I couldn't even destroy the one mounted in the
dash of my Sea Rayder 16' jetboat jumping waves/wakes and drowning
it.....(c;

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:07:23 -0500, "Mark"
wrote:

Any recommendations for a low cost, mounted, basic VHF radio? The display
has given out on my old radio. I am considering the Uniden Solara and would
appreciate comments on this model or suggestions for others.

Mark (the rail & canopy hook guy)
www.ripnet.com/vtf/prod03.htm

I would stay away from Uniden. Lokk at Kenwoods or Icom.