Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of advice about radios for use on a
sportsboat. I'm considering buying a couple of radios that I can effectively
(but maybe not quite legally) use whilst travelling in convoy through France
in a couple of cars. Then, once at our destination, I intend to use the
radios for communication between boat and shore. The range needs to be
something in the region of 5 to 10 miles, which will rule out the PMR type
of walkie talkie. A marine band setup would be ghood so that I can use it
officially whilst on the boat for coastguard etc. I don't mind doiung a VHF
course so that I can get the necessary licence etc. I'd value comments and
advice as to what might be a good solution. I've looked on e Bay and seen a
few Uniden Atlantis VHF handhelds for about the £95 mark. Would these be a
suitable solution, and what would their range likely to be. Sorry for so
many questions, but I'm new to choosing radios, despite having used them
professionally for 22 years ! Thanks in advance.

"Clive Heath" wrote in message
...
Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of advice about radios for use on a
sportsboat. I'm considering buying a couple of radios that I can
effectively
(but maybe not quite legally) use whilst travelling in convoy through
France
in a couple of cars. Then, once at our destination, I intend to use the
radios for communication between boat and shore. The range needs to be
something in the region of 5 to 10 miles, which will rule out the PMR type
of walkie talkie. A marine band setup would be ghood so that I can use it
officially whilst on the boat for coastguard etc. I don't mind doiung a
VHF
course so that I can get the necessary licence etc. I'd value comments and
advice as to what might be a good solution. I've looked on e Bay and seen
a
few Uniden Atlantis VHF handhelds for about the £95 mark. Would these be a
suitable solution, and what would their range likely to be. Sorry for so
many questions, but I'm new to choosing radios, despite having used them
professionally for 22 years ! Thanks in advance.

Clive,

First thing you will learn when you do a course is that it is highly illegal
to use a marine radio
from land. The only one allowed to do so is the coastguard. It is s rule
that is strictly adhered to
by all marine radio users. I'm not being a stick in the mud.

To answer your second question, the range depends on (a) type and (b)
whether you transmit at
low power or full 25Watts. Every radio will offer a choice. Since marine
radios are not to be used for general chit chat in a group, and certainly
not at 25Watts. Range form a fixed radio (line of sight at 25W) is approx
15 miles and handheld is five miles, both examples assuming it is boat to
boat. The coastguard will receive you from a much longer distance, hence
the very reason you should not use it from land.

Hope this helps,

Tom

If you are going to go to the trouble of doing a course I suggest that you
do the DSC course as standard VHF are on the way out. Buy a DSC radio which
won't be obsolete in a years time and use it only on your boat.

"Kilmore" wrote in message
...

"Clive Heath" wrote in message
...
Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of advice about radios for use on a
sportsboat. I'm considering buying a couple of radios that I can
effectively
(but maybe not quite legally) use whilst travelling in convoy through
France
in a couple of cars. Then, once at our destination, I intend to use the
radios for communication between boat and shore. The range needs to be
something in the region of 5 to 10 miles, which will rule out the PMR
type
of walkie talkie. A marine band setup would be ghood so that I can use
it
officially whilst on the boat for coastguard etc. I don't mind doiung a
VHF
course so that I can get the necessary licence etc. I'd value comments
and
advice as to what might be a good solution. I've looked on e Bay and
seen
a
few Uniden Atlantis VHF handhelds for about the £95 mark. Would these be
a
suitable solution, and what would their range likely to be. Sorry for so
many questions, but I'm new to choosing radios, despite having used them
professionally for 22 years ! Thanks in advance.

Clive,

First thing you will learn when you do a course is that it is highly
illegal
to use a marine radio
from land. The only one allowed to do so is the coastguard. It is s rule
that is strictly adhered to
by all marine radio users. I'm not being a stick in the mud.

To answer your second question, the range depends on (a) type and (b)
whether you transmit at
low power or full 25Watts. Every radio will offer a choice. Since marine
radios are not to be used for general chit chat in a group, and certainly
not at 25Watts. Range form a fixed radio (line of sight at 25W) is approx
15 miles and handheld is five miles, both examples assuming it is boat to
boat. The coastguard will receive you from a much longer distance, hence
the very reason you should not use it from land.

Hope this helps,

Tom

If you are going to go to the trouble of doing a course I suggest that you
do the DSC course as standard VHF are on the way out. Buy a DSC radio
which
won't be obsolete in a years time and use it only on your boat.




Tom, thanks for the advice. Looks like I'm going to have to sort something
else out for the journey then. One thing springs to mind....................
my journey will entail travelling from Calais to around Bordeaux, via the
autoroutes. Would a marine radio be likely to interfere with anyone on that
journey? I'd be using probably 4 watt handhelds. By the way, this group has
gone really quiet , hasn't it ? Thanks again, and any more advice readily
welcomed.
Clive

Why not use normal hand held CB radio's so you can chat from the land and
sea and use the marine radios for the safety point of view when at sea.

Dave

snip

Tom, thanks for the advice. Looks like I'm going to have to sort something
else out for the journey then. One thing springs to
mind....................
my journey will entail travelling from Calais to around Bordeaux, via the
autoroutes. Would a marine radio be likely to interfere with anyone on
that
journey? I'd be using probably 4 watt handhelds. By the way, this group
has
gone really quiet , hasn't it ? Thanks again, and any more advice readily
welcomed.
Clive

"Dave" dave.samuel wrote in message
...
Why not use normal hand held CB radio's so you can chat from the land and
sea and use the marine radios for the safety point of view when at sea.

Dave

snip

Tom, thanks for the advice. Looks like I'm going to have to sort
something
else out for the journey then. One thing springs to
mind....................
my journey will entail travelling from Calais to around Bordeaux, via
the
autoroutes. Would a marine radio be likely to interfere with anyone on
that
journey? I'd be using probably 4 watt handhelds. By the way, this group
has
gone really quiet , hasn't it ? Thanks again, and any more advice
readily
welcomed.
Clive




Dave, I had thought about CB, but my only experience of it was in my youth
when it was rubbish. There were just so many people on so few wavebands that
it was impossible to get in at all. I don't know if they are any better now,
do you ?? Also, I never found the range very impressive ............... all
I ever got was about 1.5 to 2 miles and that was from a vehicle based one.

Clive

Clive

2 miles seems a little low to me.
I have not been on the CB for many a year, not many kids use it now as they
all have mobile phones!!!
Suggest you get a SWR meter to tune the car Ariel to give maximum output.
I know of a number of boat owners who use CB to chat when on the water to
keep the VHF channels clear.

If using CB when travelling, most of the time the other car(s) are not too
far away so distance is not a problem.

Check out Ebay for cheap sets then if it is no good you can always sell them
again.

Regards

Dave




Dave, I had thought about CB, but my only experience of it was in my youth
when it was rubbish. There were just so many people on so few wavebands
that
it was impossible to get in at all. I don't know if they are any better
now,
do you ?? Also, I never found the range very impressive ...............
all
I ever got was about 1.5 to 2 miles and that was from a vehicle based
one.

Clive