Hand-Held VHF???'s

[JHorton]

<P><FONT color=black face=Verdana,Geneva size=3>Are ANY of the hand-held VHF's worth buying?</FONT></P><P><FONT face=Verdana size=3>Is the $ 300. Raytheon any better than the cheaper ones?</FONT></P><P><FONT face=Verdana size=3>I'll be using it primarily in Boston Harbor, and South Cape from Falmouth-Vineyard-Monomoy. Has anyone had good experience with any of them?</FONT></P><P><FONT face=Verdana size=3>Which ones should I avoid?</FONT></P><P><FONT face=Verdana size=3>I sure would like to avoid mounting an antennae...</FONT></P><P><FONT face=Verdana size=3>Thanks,</FONT></P><P><P><FONT size=3>J.Horton</FONT></P><P><A href="http://people.ne.mediaone.net/aromafusion/masssalt.htm"><FONT size=3>Mass Salt</FONT></A></P>

[Adam-Albino]

<FONT color=black face=Verdana,Geneva size=2>&nbsp;N<SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">o. The range sucks. I got rid of mine and went with a regular VHF with a short "Bass Boat" antenna. Range is 10X what it was w/ the hand-held. Cheaper too!</SPAN></FONT>
<P><IMG align=baseline alt="" border=0 hspace=0 src="http://photos.netclubs.com/live/photos/v/9/t/2/t2c710a3839h31nr004cfcdhuo/flyman2.gif"></P>

[JHorton]

<P><FONT color=black face=Verdana,Geneva size=3>How short is a, " Bass boat antenna?"</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=3>Will it still work if I'm fishing for Albies?</FONT></P>
<P>
<P><FONT size=3>J.Horton</FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://people.ne.mediaone.net/aromafusion/masssalt.htm"><FONT size=3>Mass Salt</FONT></A></P>

[Bob Parsons]

Jay I have a Hummingbird D5. Yes it was more expensive but as I move from my fishing boat to the duck boat the radio goes with me.

Range well if you want to socialize it sucks. But if you have it for safety reasons. I know mine will Reach from the end of Sandy Neck to the Coast guard station on the canal. That's about 10 miles They can hear me and I can hear them. That fits my prime need.

[Slamdance]

5 watts of power is 5 watts of power as far as I'm concerned. The manufacturer of the radio is sort irrelevant and options and ergonomics are the onl;y real differences I've found between manufactuers and models. As Bob stated, for safety reasons the handheld (any handheld) should be fine, but if you want to use it to "chat" or stay in contact with others on the water, go with a 25 watt fixed-mount. I have a 3 foot Shakespeare whip antenna mounted low on the inside of my transom right next to one of the legs of my poling platform. You'd never know it was there if you weren't looking at it, and it seems to work fine as far as range is concerned.

[Adam-Albino]

it's 3-3.5 feet. Looks like all the other short Shakespear metal whips. And no - no radio will work while fishing for albies - your too busy :-);
<IMG align=baseline alt="" border=0 hspace=0 src="http://photos.netclubs.com/live/photos/v/9/t/2/t2c710a3839h31nr004cfcdhuo/flyman2.gif">

[JHorton]

<P><FONT color=black face=Verdana,Geneva size=2>so, assuming I go with a fixed mount system, what radio should I buy, and what antenna?</FONT></P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>My boat is not a CC, so My antenna must be mounted on the rail of the boat, so it should be either removable or fold&nbsp; down for albie fishing.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>And while I'm at it, I have won a Magellan GPS model 200XL. Does anyone have any experience with this unit?</FONT></P>
<P>
<P><FONT size=3>J.Horton</FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://people.ne.mediaone.net/aromafusion/masssalt.htm"><FONT size=3>Mass Salt</FONT></A></P>

[sRobbins]

Get a suction-cup mounted antenna from E&B. I keep mine attached to the radio but in it's tube in my console. If I need it I attach it to the console or my platform. Works fine up to 3-4 miles while it's stowed. sR

[JHorton]

<FONT color=black face=Verdana,Geneva size=3>What's E&amp;B?</FONT>
<P>
<P><FONT size=3>J.Horton</FONT></P>
<P><A href="http://people.ne.mediaone.net/aromafusion/masssalt.htm"><FONT size=3>Mass Salt</FONT></A></P>

[josko]

Handheld VHFs are used by the dozen on large vessels as intercom systems, and they do that function well. They seem to fail in two modes: the battery charge cycle shortens up with time, and corrosion gets behind the various buttons, eventually disonnecting them.
Wrt batteries, there are NiCd, Nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion. NiCds work well IFF you discharge them fully before recharging, which one is unlikely to do casually (trust me). Otherwise their charge cycle shortens. Nickel batteries are better, but the new Lithium-ion (typically found in laptop batteries) work best of all. No cycling problems, and they last 3-4 times as long. Find them if you can.

It's easy to avoid units whose buttons look like they might get salt and crud behind them. If it looks even a bit vulnerable, it is. They sell neat watertight bags which allow VHF's to be operated while sealed up. They are in wide use on ship fantails and other exposed spaces, and these guys aren't into fads.

As to antennas: the little stubbies give you 3 dB of gain, as opposed to 9 dB on a large whip. 6 dB gain = twice the range, and there's not much you can do here. It's really just antenna length.

Next issue is power. 25 W is better than 5W, for about 3 times the range (as per propagation equations). It's easy for manufacturers to come up against the power limits, so they all do. I don't think there's much difference there, just make sure you're getting a 5W unit. BTW, use most handhelds on a low power setting most of the time, unless you have failed to reach a distant tartet. Makes surprisingly little difference most of the time.

Finally, it's antenna height. I forget the exact equation, but you will always do a lot better by going up to use the radio. Go up before you increase power. Climb whatever you can to increase range. A couple of feet makes all the difference here.

[sRobbins]

Actually, E&B was bought out by West Marine. They're in Hyannis (or mail order).
http://www.westmarine.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/home.d2w/report

[Slamdance]

Jay: I have a Magellan 200XL (I thought it was a 2000XL) handheld GPS. It's a great unit as far as I can tell. I've used it for one full season and it seems to get the job done. I really have no complaints about it other than it's a not a Garmin Map unit. :-)