A chat about VHF Radios

[Bartman]

Hi everyone.

Being a bit of a fair weather sailor it has been a bit cold for me to get out on the water lately.... but the cold and rainy weather has been a good time to "tinker" with the setup on my Investigator. This week I have been tinkering with safety and I would like to hear what everyone else thinks about having an onboard VHF radio....

As our Investigators don't usually go offshore a VHF (or UHF) isn't "required".
-but-
Has anyone with a VHF, ever actually used their VHF radio in a safety scenario.
-or-
Has anyone ever been in, or seen a situation where you wished you had a VHF radio, but didn't have one... and now you wouldn't be without it.

A friend of mine commented that you've always got your mobile phone - (which is all well and good if you've got reception out on the water). But more importantly, other vessels don't have your phone number The great thing about a radio is that everyone can hear you - and you can hear everyone else without having to know them individually

Anyway, has anyone got some good advice to help me decide if I should install a VHF, or to buy a hand-held marine radio....
What do you think about the type of radio to use on an Investigator specifically.
- 27mhz seems a bit of a waste of time to install now, when you have the option of choosing a VHF for practically the same price.
- UHF doesn't seem to be very relevant to near shore marine use - but again for about the same price why not have a VHF/UHF radio if you're going to the trouble of installing one.
- And how about a hand-held. A Chinese 8W VHF/UHF "Beofeng" can be delivered to the house for less than $80 - even "watertight"? ones . For that price it only has to work once or twice to have made it a worthwhile bit of kit sitting on the cabin shelf (as long as it does work ) But the big benefit of a hand-held is that it has its own antenna & battery and it doesn't need to be installed. I have been looking at Chinese hand-held VHF/UHF's up to 10W tx power, some with GPS, and some claiming IP67 Water "resistance" and all less than $100 delivered.
- Installing a fixed radio will always give the best range - but where do you put the antenna on a trailer sailer - (I've seen some old posts suggesting an insulated backstay can be used as an antenna).... I only know a little bit about UHF/VHF but I "think" antennas have to be "tuned" - so any old length of wire can't be used as a "good" antenna.

Anyway...
I'd love to have the advice of someone with experience in these matters... or even just to hear your personal preference on it.
At this point I'm thinking a Hand-Held might be on the top of my fathers day wish list (...Sunday Sept 6th, dad's)

<edits were just for syntax & clarification>

[Ozzie]

Good thread Bart and not one we cover much on here. I am clueless in regards to radio. I have a new 27 MHz , a gift from colleges years ago that I’ve never installed. As mobile phones became ubiquitous and affordable at the time it just stayed in the box. As all our boating is enclosed waters , mainly Lake Mac and Port Stephens I have all local Marine rescue phone numbers stored in my contacts plus water police. If we fish in our dingy while travelling I look up and load the local before going out.

My local yachting mates all still use 27 on the Lake. I would point you to equiped.com a U.S. site predominantly dealing with air/sea safety and rescue I first discovered researching the 98 Sydney Hobart disaster . Good reads.

From what I’ve read in various places a hand held water proof VHS would make the most sense. Largely I’d say because if you had to abandon ship the idea of a radio that goes with you and stays working when wet makes a lot of sense. You could even use it in the water floating in a PFD

You can if you wish start a poll with this site software. I would be interesting to see what we all have.

[no way]

A bit like Ozzie. I have a 27mhz because it was in the boat when I bought it. Actually its not installed because I rewired the boat many years ago and set it up with wrong polarity for the radio so its in the shed - but the bracket and aerial are installed - change it one day. I have Marine Rescue App (you log your trip)on phone and also the Emergency+ app for triple 0 which shows your position Latitude and Longitude to tell operator. Had an experience passaging a 50 foot powerboat to the Gold Coast. We always used VCP (now MR) and contacted each land base as we progressed and they "pass you along" to the next station. Problem was there had been a big storm on Nth Coast which knocked out their aerials so we could only use mobile phone which worked fine. Was once told by a South West Rocks local that the only way to get Vodaphone reception was to be a mile offshore? Agree with the boat to boat advantage.

[sheepstations]

Hi, I have just bought a fixed Icom VHF radio with DSC and installed it in Spindrift. Some may think it's a bit of over-kill but we'll be sailing the waters of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and beyond. The waters bloody cold down here and in a real emergency, at least I can hit the distress button, nominate the type of emergency and any other vessel in the vicinity will know our lat and long immediately. The other thing to consider fixed versus handheld is the range. Mine is 25W and with a 2m antennae, I will get much greater range than you would with a 5W handheld.
The cost was $347 delivered to the door so not too bad.
My ten cents worth.
Cheers,
JR

[Ozzie]

Absolutely logical JR with your sailing grounds . I looked up D’Entrecasteaux Channel, your almost at the bleeding South Pole , but seriously I’ve toured Tassie in both winter and summer and even in summer the water was cold I wasn’t even dipping a toe in, in winter. Your range would clearly be an issue. Never been that far south in Tasmania, Port Arthur by car and sailed into Hobart by cruise ship. Certainly looks like some fantastic sailing grounds with special scenery. Photos please

[sheepstations]

Yes, it's not too bad here. The cold is no worse than Melbourne and you don't get this view there! (This image was taken from our deck last week when it was snowing all over Tassie).
The Channel would be a world class cruising destination if it was warmer. We're quite happy it's still off the radar

[Ozzie]

Great view! I take your points guys about water temp. Ive experienced winter immersion in lake Mac that I think would have caused cold water incapacitation had I had to swim in it .(see my thread which I usually warn people about at the start of winter ). You need to absolutely cut down on the odds at all costs.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=757&p=5088&hilit=In ... tion#p5088

I never criticise preparedness. As outback travellers from years back I never believe you can be over prepared. People are daft who do anything unprepared and on the water it’s doubly so. I remember talking to a bushy around the campfire near Kings Canyon back in ‘93 about a college who went off touring around Oz with no tools, no spares , just an axe to cut wood. He said property owners hate those kind of tourists, “Your going out to mend fences or get parts to fix your generator and these dudes are broken down on the side of the road and expect you to drop everything and save them”. People who have tools spares and the right attitude on the other hand might just need five minutes assistance and a bit of advice and they are on their way and they don’t mind helping.

When sanity returns to the world, if ever, and we set of again for another look at the country we will definitely be taking a PLB and hiring a sat phone. It’s great that this kind of gear is so readily available and moderately priced compared to when we started travelling decades ago. Same with marine stuff. Fortunately in our boating we are never out of mobile phone range but we always have a backup battery to two phones.

It would be great if other forum members give us their communication preferences . As I said it’s a topic we’ve not touched on much in this forum.

[Eximea]

Bella Rose has a VHF installed. The aerial is mounted on the aft combing port side. This seems quite satisfactory and doesn't interfere with anything. An additional hand held makes great sense, something I hadn't previously considered. Either installed or hand held is a great safety precaution as mentioned by other commentators, but also a legal necessity when offshore. Never had to use mine other than to log on and off with marine rescue operators when crossing the bar,(not mandatory but let's the local search and rescue operators know who's at sea) but it offers great peace of mind just knowing it's there if I ever do require assistance. Mobile phones may be OK, but when making a distress call, your one radio call is heard by all other vessels in the area. Personally, I wouldn't be without it. But would be very wary of cheaper models. They probably won't perform as well when you really need it to in an emergency situation. My 2 bobs worth. Cheers

[Andrew]

Good topic Bart, I guess the core topic is marine safety and communications at sea.

Teria came with an old disconnected VHF radio. Had to reconnect the power and add an aerial.

I've never had to use the VHF in an emergency, but its very re-assuring to have it listening out on Chanel 16 while cruising. (have heard a few rescues/assists over the air though)

It has about a 15-20 mile range around the boat, so could talk to quite a few vessels around. and often much further than that to rescue stations along the coast (At northern Hinchinbrook Islands , could hear Cairns, Townsville, Cardwell and Ingham marine rescues). I know Tsv CG has a repeater tower on top of Magnetic Island which extends the range allot.

While i was a CG associate member, i always used the VHF to log a trip sheet with the Tsv Coast guard each morning and log-off at each afternoon/night anchorage. Now i'm not a member, just listen into VHF. My daughter is the de-facto coast station. We use mobile apps and calls to log trip progress and plans. Recently she put a tracking app on my phone , so she can see an updating map with my exact location (as long as mobile signal holds).

But they say a mobile is not a good substitute for a VHF in an emergency situation. The VHF is better to call in help first up, than activating an EPIRB which is a far more serious event (Teria also carries a registered EPIRB, last ditch use only). You hope to never use them, but when you do could be a lifesaver.

Allot depends on the risk-level of your sailing activities, if its inside a crowded harbour then a frantic wave, V sheet and flare might work. But if you are about 20 nm from anywhere/any one the radio could be a godsend.

[Topaz Bill]

I've been in a dilemma Andrew about VHF antenna mounting. I'd considered every possible mounting position - except yours. What a great idea, my antenna is currently tied to the port stay wire with a couple of cable ties, but not after tomorrow.