I'm looking at getting a H/H VHF. I have been offered an Icom M3 secondhand. I have looked at the spec and found that it doesn't have access to the channels M1 & M2. I am not the familiar with VHF use on boats so I am not exactly sure what these channels are used for. Are they important or something which most of the time could be ignored?
M1 and M2 are used by yacht clubs and marinas, although most marinas use channel 80 now.
I would however recommend you fit a fixed VHF radio if you can. Fixed sets provide much a better range, plus you could get a DSC set. Don't forget you will need to get a ships or transportable license and operator’s certificate before you can use any marine vhf legally.
I currently have my SRC licence and am looking for a hand held as a personal backup. Our fixed set has these channels, but I have never needed them in the past, so I just wondered if it was worth the extra money to get a H/H with them.
I expect Jon Brookes will provide an answer though.
Regardless of that If the Hand held is only a back up to the main set and then main set has M and M2 anyway I can not see a problem.
M and M2 and basically used by yacht clubs for race management and dinghy safety cover. A marina is also permitted to use it within the terms of its license but generally use Ch. 80.
The reason many sets do not appear to have M and M2 is that they are UK channels. In the good old days M and M2 often had a dedicated button, now that manafactures are selling to the global market they design sets without this button. For sets sold in the UK a software add on is added internally to provide M and M2, often if you consult the manual you will find these two channels are hidden away somewhere.
On Icom... M1 is 37a, and M2 is P4. This is both on the hand helds and the fixed sets. The UK marina channel is Ch 80 as mentioned.
Yacht club race control is normally M1 and safety boats on M2. BUT I have find that Race controls like to be in constant contact with safety so quite often they are all on one channel so everyone knows what is going on. Having the 2 "M" channels is usefull when there are al least 1 race happening so each can have there own channel.
