[Closed] Advice on handheld Marine VHF radios

Sea kayaker here!

I have a Standard Horizon HX280e. Works for me. DOES not float - so do not drop it in surf!

Always stick it in a waterproof bag/case as well. Simple functions, range seems ok, battery life seems good.

Some good info here http://www.ukseakayakguidebook.co.uk/almanac_vhf.htm

db

In summary, what is required to get a license?

Icom are generally very good quality.
If you can afford it I would go for the Icom.

You do not need a lot of "bells and whistles", battery life and robustness is probably the most important things.

The range of all handheld VHFs will be similar, as they are limited by the height of the antenna more than anything else.

Forget the Cobra that is only IPX4 rated - for use on a dinghy / kayak it is totally inappropriate. I bought one of their other IPX4 rated products and even without getting wet it was cheaply built had a sticky PTT button etc. I've never heard anyone compliment the quality. As it might be the tool to get your life saved I would therefore also dismiss the better rated Cobra.

If you follow boating forums you will almost always see the end choice comes down to Icom or Standard Horizon for 'entry level' VHF for recreational users. People may have a preference between them but both are popular, well regarded and reliable. I also have an HX280e and would suggest it is suitable for your needs. Shop around and you should be able to pick up a 280 for £100. For about £10-20 more you'd get the floating 290.

For your application I'd want a radio which has a AA (or AAA) battery pack option so you have a fall back when bobbing up and down for hours at sea making hopeful high power transmissions. Ideally the same size batteries as torches, gps etc you might be carrying anyway. I don't think the M23 does? I'd also want to make sure that it has a mechanical on/off switch not a 'soft key' as the soft keys slowly drain battery power checking nobody is pressing it - which means over a weekend you might have much less juice left at the end when you need it. I think the M23 is OK in this regard but some other Icoms were/are not.

Druidh,

there are two part to license:

1. Licensing the radio
2. Licensing the operator

To license the radio you just go to the Ofcom website fill in a form and its done, free of charge (you can pay to do by post).

To license the operator you need to sit the Short Range Certificate course (and "Exam") organised by the RYA. Course costs about £60-100 depending on organiser and then the exam/certificate bit is about £25 on top + passport photo. If you only ever use it when in distress then technically you don't seem to need an operators license; however the time to be working out how to use it and be getting comfortable with the radio is not when hoping for a Helo! If you've no knowledge of VHF or distress procedures at sea it might be interesting to do the course. If you have some working knowledge but not the bit of paper it is a day of your life you won't get back!

I've got an oldish (from around 2006) Entel handheld.

Features I've found useful are the memory and the ability to set it to scan through the memorised channels.

I didnt bother doing the course/getting the cert, I know how to use it, it seemed like a waste of time.

As others have said, go for waterproof, decent battery life and a lithium ion battery (as opposed to ni mh etc)

poly - Ta. For £120 or thereabouts, it seems like good sense to get the license.

Another Icom fan here. I've never used the marine versions but have used both Motorola and Icom on land and am very happy with both.

Cool, thanks for the good advice.

As lifeboat crew i suggest icom 🙂

Get a icon with lat long and dsc, and don't worry about the VHF certificate (people=certificate, vessels=license) just don't be a muppet with the radio and only use it when you need to.
Jimmy(commercially endorsed yahtmaster)748

As lifeboat crew i suggest icom

Is that an official RNLI endorsement? Or is it like most brand recommendations on STW and means you have experience of only one brand.

Get a icon with lat long and dsc,

There is a lot to be said for DSC features, although if budget dictates otherwise the a non-DSC handheld is probably better than waiting for the price to come down/budget to increase. For the cost of a DSC Handheld you can also get a standard VHF H/held AND a PLB which will get your distress message (and GPS location) out even if you are out of VHF reception area.

and don't worry about the VHF certificate (people=certificate, vessels=license) just don't be a muppet with the radio and only use it when you need to.

That was my strategy until I finally got round to taking the course fairly recently. But whilst the course is crap, there are some useful benefits: (1) it lets you actually make distress calls in a practice situation - which means if you do it for real it will probably be better delivered and so more effective; (2) it means you are not longer worried about using the unlicensed radio and so you can use it to communicate with the CG to tell them your plans/safe arrival/delays etc which all makes you a more confident VHF user and therefore better able to get the most out of it in a crisis; (3) there were some people on my course who had clearly never had any VHF 'exposure' before and so had no idea which channels for what purpose, nor any idea on the basic content you might expect in a distress call.

Oh and I think the S/Horizon DSC Handheld is about £50 cheaper than the equivalent ICOM so I'd take some convincing that you need to spend 5x the amount of the cheapest radio the OP asked about.

Ta. For £120 or thereabouts, it seems like good sense to get the license.

you can probably do it for less than that if you shop around for a college or sailing club running courses.

But the icon floats which is worth an awfull lot if you drop it, good call on the VHF and PLB,but one with gps is about £250, if your in a small vessel you really need as small a search area as you can give