Hand Held VHF

[alwilson]

Morning Guys,

I'm looking to buy a hand held VHF - can anyone recommend one?

I'm currently researching and looking at the Icom M23 - but a reviewer pointed out it doesn't have GPS or DSC - the Standard Horizon HX851 does.

So whats the thoughts on GPS\DSC vs not having it?

All being well at work, ill have my VHF license this weekend, and a First Aid certificate!

Cheers All

Alex

[Pikey Dave]

Hi Alex, plenty of info on the forum re, handhelds as they are favourite topic Personally I prefer Icom for their quality & service. DSC would be a "nice to have" in the absence of a fixed set, but the limited range of the handheld should be a consideration. Plenty of people have good things to say about SH kit, so it may me down to a personal choice of brand / features. Not much help, but do a quick search & you'll find plenty of (conflicting) advice

[alwilson]

Cheers Dave.

My main reason for wanting a hand held is if/when i end up overboard and as I'll be renting Ribs for at least this season, I dont want to depend on someone else safety equipment 100%

Unless of course I win the lottery this weekend, in which case I'll just hand it all over to Scorpion

Cheer!

[ChrisMW]

Originally Posted by alwilson

Cheers Dave.

My main reason for wanting a hand held is if/when i end up overboard and as I'll be renting Ribs for at least this season, I dont want to depend on someone else safety equipment 100%

Unless of course I win the lottery this weekend, in which case I'll just hand it all over to Scorpion

Cheer!

I have an Icom M71 which I chose for its long battery life amongst other things. I'm really impressed with the quality and it is much clearer than many others that I've used. The lack of GPS/DSC doesnt bother me as the handheld unit serves as a backup to the main unit and I also carry a PLB for emergencies...

Chris

[joe_db]

I have both a SH HX370 and two Icom IC-M1Vs. The Icoms are better radios IMHO, but the SH 370 is quite rugged and easily modified to use on ham 2 meter frequencies or any other freq you can program in the VHF range (138-170 MHz). Icom is about to come out with a DSC radio too if you want that. Look at www.panbo.com for articles on various radios.

[Max...]

Standard Horizon HX751E - floating, 6w, great build, brill sound and about £120 new - super pleased with mine. Wouldn't bother with the DSC on a handheld.

[joe_db]

I am thinking of the 851 for my son. I can use the DSC polling feature to see where he has got off to.

[thomas]

Standard Horizon HX851 is a brilliant radio, I bought one when I had my last boat and couldn't fault it.

DSC is nice to have, you probably have more chance of getting a distress signal out using DSC over voice.

[Bittentobuggery]

Originally Posted by joe_db

I have both a SH HX370 and two Icom IC-M1Vs. The Icoms are better radios IMHO, .

I recently became reacquainted with my Icom M1EuroV after a 5 year hiatus and incredibly there is still some charge in the battery.

However, I have no means of charging it now, so if somebody knows where to obtain a sensibly priced charger, I'd be very grateful.

[joe_db]

NEW ICOM AD-95 Charge Cup Adapter for IC-M1V IC-M1Euro V | eBay

BATTERY CHARGER FOR IC-M1V ICOM RADIO FOR BP215 BP-215 ICOM BATTERY | eBay

[Poly]

alwilson,

Generally you will find on here people are fans of Icom and/or Standard Horizon h/helds, as representing reasonable value in a robust package. As you say SH have a DSC unit (with GPS built in). Icom will have the same very soon. How important is that feature to you?


- You will probably be on a boat with fixed DSC radio anyway.
- DSC is useful, but certainly not essential to making an effective distress call.
- The GPS readout could be useful if your charter rib plotter fails - but only if you know how to plot GPS position on a chart and carry spare charts. Modern mobile phones will provide similar functionality.

If they are the same money then DSC and GPS is nice to have. If it is a lot more money then for something you probably won't ever need, that is a back up to systems with that have that capability it might not be so obvious.

[Peter_C]

Originally Posted by thomas

DSC is nice to have, you probably have more chance of getting a distress signal out using DSC over voice.

This was proven with a smaller handheld, called a Nautilus Lifeline meant for scuba divers. The DSC function traveled somewhere around 12 miles, but the radio transmissions were only usable to around 3 miles.

Plus a few people bobbing in the ocean say "around the point" are not as easy to find as someone transmitting their GPS coordinates. If I am in the cold water, the less time spent in it the better.

I wish my handheld VHF had that feature.

[Bittentobuggery]

Thanks for coming back to me, Joe. I have asked my daughter to pick one up for me.

Appreciate it. Many thanks.

[ShinyShoe]

From experience waterproof HH's don't fail when they get wet (well they shouldn't) but they might not work until they have got rid of the water so the mic and speaker can obstructed by water... as DSC might enable you to transmit an understandable (text) distress message even if the voice part can't be understood.

If you are going single handed away from any immediate assistance from other water users where a handheld flare might be more useful then I can see the advantage of being able to send a DSC alert from the water. BUT if my budget only covered a fixed DSC + Handheld or a Handheld DSC I'd have Fix + Hand

I seem to recall my instructor asking me for reasons for someone ending up in the water. He said they were all the skipper's fault... ...so there is a question to think about why you are worrying about going for an unplanned swim...

[Stormforce]

We use Standard Horizons at our UK Centres, and they have been very reliable.

We've opted for the HX751s, as they are waterproof, and also float, which is very useful when our instructors are up to their usual tricks! Reliability has been good, and they also seem to stand up quite well to being bashed about a bit.