M. Baker wrote:
Husband bought the 17' Lund Mr. Pike boat last week. Need a marine
radio. Have no clue what to get. Plans to go out into Lake Michigan at
times, as well as smaller inland lakes.
Help - any recommendations appreciated!!


Good advice so far. A few more things...

For small inland lakes, a cell phone will work best since few people
monitor a VHF on small, recreational, lakes.

There have been suggestions to buy a fixed VHF or a hand held. You
really should have both. A fixed unit has more power and a longer
antenna so your range is much higher than a hand held unit. If your
battery is swamped or you lose power for any other reason, a hand held
will still work.

The longer the antenna, the better. VHF is "line of sight" and while
that may seem like a long distance, it's not as far as you might think.
For example, an 8' antenna mounted 3 feet above the waterline (11'
overall) can only transmit and receive about 4.5 miles until the horizon
blocks the signal. This will be more depending on the height of the
other antenna but you can see how short the distance can be.

Standard Horizon and Icom are great. I had the Icom and only replaced
it with my Standard Horizon after the rechargeable battery stopped
taking a decent charge. Also consider Raymarine. They make some nice
fixed units. I still use my Ray45 that I bought in 2001.

Dan