VHF Radio advice

[Britboater]

How far would you say a handheld VHF would reach? I'm looking to purchase some sort of VHF for safety etc and my boating is in Florida, so with the land being so flat I'm interested as to whether I would need to go for fixed and have the trouble of mounting an aerial.

I noticed WM have a 6 watt portable, any thoughts?

 

[Bruce]

Here is a good article on the subject Marine VHF Radio Range | Boating Magazine

A 25 watt fixed radio is four times more powerful than the 6 watt handheld but the real gain comes from getting the antenna up high.

I have a 4' antenna mounted to the hull on my SX230. The effective distance is limited by the low mounting. If I were in an emergency I would remove it from the mount and attach it to a dock pole. There is plenty of wire to do so.

On shore in Bimini we were able to talk about a mile using handheld radios. Anything further required a fixed radio on at least one end.

@Tyler's return trip shows how useful a handheld radio can be. He had a DeLorme inReach and used it to contact the tow company that he was contracted with when he experienced an engine failure during a single boat crossing. They must have had an antenna mounted very high in Miami because they were able to talk with @Tyler through his hand held VHF around 25 miles away.

 

[sysinu]

I'm putting my 4' on the top of my tower this winter, but even a 4' antenna is sometimes not enough. With a 25w fixed radio and an 8' antenna you get twice the theoretical distance as the same radio and a 4' antenna but none of that matters since VHF does not bounce more than once (if that) so the communication is line of site. I boat in a canyon full of water with ultra steep walls and communicate with a houseboat that has its antenna about 36' above the water and even then it comes up short. Out on an open waterbody, you're limited by the curve of the earth mostly since line of site has no obstructions.

 

[Britboater]

And that's my thinking, a decent handheld should fit the job ,as my only real concern is with contacting SeaTow if needed, who I'd imagine would have a large range from their base.

 

[GTBRMC]

Check out Standard Horizon handhelds if you end up going that route.
Very happy with mine. Battery lasts a long, long time on a single charge, too.

 

[ToddW850]

I have a Cobra handheld marine VHF radio (model MRHH475). Got it for $99 on sale at Academy Sport. Has tons of features and is a 7 Watt I believe. Could be 6 watt, but I'm thinking 7 for some reason. Anyway, this has seemed to work very well for me. I haven't had to use it yet, but I listen to transmissions of other boats clearly, and that I know are over 7 miles away. Athough I was looking for a mounted one when I bought this one, I'm very happy with it.

 

[Bruce]

as my only real concern is with contacting SeaTow if needed

Please look at the Communications section in Preparing for Bimini. I believe that some sort of Distress Radiobeacon would be a great addition to the handheld VHF. Depending on how busy the areas you boat in are it may not be a safe bet that someone will be in range to relay your request for help or that SeaTow will be able to hear you. The satellite based distress systems will almost always be able to summon help and with much less complication than calling for help on the radio. Or at a minimum get a handheld with GPS and DSC built in. I like the DSC capability of my fixed radio because I know that in an emergency one of my kids or wife can lift the lid and press the button to automatically summon help.

 

[Britboater]

Cheers for the heads up @Bruce . Most of my boating, if not all, is within the ICW, and Charlotte Harbor. If I do venture out into the Gulf its normally only 1 mile max to find that elusive fish.
Previously on my boating trips I've always been within cell reception, but I would just like to have the back up of a VHF.

 

[Speedling]

Most dangerous water i have seen is lake michigan. Water gets choppy fast. Ten minutes can be life or death.
I don't mess around so 25 watt with 5 foot antenna that i plan on having a removable mount on a tower when i get one. Should mean over 8 feet high at least.
Only reason to have a portable is to have on land to communicate back and forth