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Best Handheld VHF?
"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message ... On Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:24:54 GMT, "Bill McKee" wrote: "Harry Krause" wrote in message ... wrote: Bryan wrote: wrote in message oups.com... Bryan wrote: Any handheld VHF recommendations? Looking for quality, functionality, affordability, ... Which and why? And best recent price you've seen? The internal electronics are all about the same, regardless of brand name. That changes the equation a bit. Almost any major brand will be built well enough to withstand normal use and even some abuse, so you're down to deciding how many, and which, bells and whistles you want and which models are the most ergonomically usable for you as an individual. Range and the degree of water-resistance will also be major considerations. My thoughts: Is this handheld going into a ditch bag, or intended for use merely as a backup to a hard-wired system? In that case, the fewer the gizmos, gadgets, fancy tricks, and electro magics built in- the better. You wouldn't want to be without a radio in an emergency because some peripheral, non-essential toy feature crapped out and took another circuit down in the process. If the handheld is going to be the primary radio aboard the boat, you might want to opt for some of the fancier features.......but the previous paragraph could also apply just as easily in that case. Primary and ditch. Need dependable 30 NM range maximum. Won't happen without an external antenna. You won't get a "dependable" 30 nautical mile range with a handheld, period. The CG should be able to talk with a handheld 30 miles away. Their antennas are tall and they have more power available. It is amazing at times how far away from the CG transmitter, you get reception. North of the Golden Gate, you get CG Monterey transmissions. You do not hear the boat, but the CG is loud and clear. And that is at least 60 miles distant. It's not that unusual for you to hear USCG because they use 1KW transmitters on tall towers with phased antennas. However, talking to a handheld 30 miles out defies physics and the inverse square law with regard to energy in free space. There is a HUGE difference between talking to a boat with some height on it's antenna ABOVE the surface of the water and attempting a chat with somebody using a 5 watt handheld ON the surface of the water. Without getting into a whole host of technical issues, just wave action alone would make it impossible with the signal being obstructed, antenna orientation with reference to the body and then there about a bizzillion technical issues like signal ground effect, small antennas, yada, yada, yada... In short, it's not only a dumb idea to only rely on a handheld that far out, it's impossible from a technical standpoint. I would think a satellite phone would be a better bet. |
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