hand held vhf

[BeN F]

any body have any input on a decent hand held i wanna spend under 200

[Luna Sea 5]

if you have a boat, your better off with a hard wired one as you will get better reception.

[Pfishingruven]

 

What are you using it for?  Primary or as a back up in your ditch bag?  Either way, I would go with an Icom.  The IC M72 is under $200...you can probably find it for around $175 or so online.

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/marine/handhelds/m72/default.aspx

 

[Luna Sea 5]

don't get me wrong, they are fun to have.  You can sit on the beach and contact the boats, or you can go on a party boat and contact others also.  Having a back up is always good, but if your off shore and your hard wired one doesn't work, I am not sure how much the hand held is going to help, depending on the distance. 

[BeN F]

it will be used as a back up i have a good standard wired in the boat i want the handheld for that just in case lol

[Stray Cat]

Give Matt a call at Task Marine, he's a sponsor here. He was selling one of  standard's model handheld vhf for under $100. If you don't like it he can get you another model. Stardard or Icom are the 2 best vhf manufactures out there, and there's a few  choices that you can pick from  for the $200 range. good luck.

http://taskmarine.com/Electronics.html

[Luna Sea 5]

In my opinion, I use my cell phone as back up.  I know some people like back ups, but how about a back up to the back up, or a back up to that also.  It can go on and on.  The only back up you really need for you hard wired vhf is having a second battery on the boat, or have a second antenna hooked up as an emergancy.

[Fishin Dude]

I've got a Hummingbird 55-S Plus that I got as a gift. I have it charging in my office, and listen to it all the time, getting updates on the weather almost a week in advance, priceless.  I have it in my back pocket as I prepare the boat in the morning, just in case the weather changes. I keep it tuned to Ch.5 while on board the boat, which leaves me free to do whatever with the boat radio. (They are both on at the same time, boat radio scanning most of the time) It is also a back up in case I happen to loose the boat battery power, which leaves the boat radio useless, and the handheld the only means of communication, no matter how short the distance is,( Any is better then none !!!) That leads me to just saying,"Haveing any radio is better then NO radio". Just get one. <'((((><

[BeN F]

thanks i will try task marine

[Maritime Matt]

Ben, We offer marine electronics at wholesale prices as well as marine accessories. Check our website out www.taskmarine.com and click on the Electronics page. I can get anything you see in any store or catalogue/website.
I have in stock Standard Horizon HX 600 handhelds for $79.00 Icoms, Midlands, Cobras etc are also available. Matt.

[PHIL]

Hey Ben. I just bought a Standard Horizon hand held vhf last week. I bought it at consumer marine I believe its the 500 model. I paid around 120.00 for it. I bought that one for the same reason you want. For a back up. I also bought that one because it's small, has a big LCD, it's waterproof, and has 5 watts for long distance. There are a few out there under 200.00 but just make sure it's waterproof, some float, and you should get one that has the option to use 5 watts. Hope this helps.

[ped579]

The 5 watts is okay but the reason for the handhelds are primerly is for use around a marina or from deck to bridge work.  The antenna on the hand held will limit your signal quite a bit.  That is why you have a full size one on your boat as high as you can get it.  If it is truly for a back up make sure you can detach your antenna from the primary radio and attach your hand held to it.  Even if you have to buy an adapter.

I have been involved with radio communications for over 40 years trust me you do not want to rely on a hand held for line of sight transmissions.

[IrishAyes]

If I remember correctly, you typically get one mile of transmitting range for every watt of power in the radio. The hand held radio had five watts of power and therefore will typically transmit five miles.

Someone please correct this if it is wrong.

[ped579]

Thats a pretty good bench mark, Capt. Joe, but again it depends on the terrain so as most of the time you are going to use it will be on line of sight just make sure there are no objects in the way as with the smaller antennas a lot will depend on how a clear shot you have.

Just as a reminder Joe your handhelds you used while you were on the job, did you have any dead spots where you could not be heard even though you are using repeaters?

Here in Toms River before they switched over to a trunking system we used VHF and had certain areas that the portable radios had a problem transmitting.  Well those portable radios were only transmitting 5 watts.

What I am saying is if you go off shore do not rely on a handheld radio in an emergency.

[Luna Sea 5]

If I remember correctly, you typically get one mile of transmitting range for every watt of power in the radio. The hand held radio had five watts of power and therefore will typically transmit five miles.

Someone please correct this if it is wrong.

thats what I heard as well, but then you factor in the height of the antenna on the hard wired one. 

[BeN F]

Ben, We offer marine electronics at wholesale prices as well as marine accessories. Check our website out www.taskmarine.com and click on the Electronics page. I can get anything you see in any store or catalogue/website.
I have in stock Standard Horizon HX 600 handhelds for $79.00 Icoms, Midlands, Cobras etc are also available. Matt.

sold how do i order lol


thanks every body for the input