Handheld marine radio

[ashh]

Don’t want a permanent setup, just a hand held incase of emergencies.
Will be heading offshore Gold Coast but not too far, only have a 4.5m stessco catcher (plate)
What’s best bang for buck out there at the moment ?

[Crunchy]

Icom IC-M25 or similar Icom unit.

[scottar]

If you only want it to meet minimum safety requirements, Icom. If you actually want something that works well, don't bother and find a workable solution to a permanent install.

[Noelm]

Yep, kind of agree with that, handhelds are low power output in the first place, have next to no antenna, plus you are using them near sea level, range is very limited, but much better than yelling out!

[ranmar850]

Not a lot of price difference between a good quality handheld and a basic permanently mounted VHF, really.

[gunna]

I have a IC M23 on sale on Facebook. PM me if you are interested.

[Ah Me Ting]

I run an old, 10+ yrs old handheld cobra marine 5 watt VHF.

I get VMR point danger from windarra and black rocks reefs.

In smaller open boats a handheld provides safety without the hassle of aerials getting in the way when fishing.

[Mickywilly74]

Mate if using a handheld make sure you get at least a 5W model. I had a 3W for kayak fishing and only worked with other kayakers over relatively short distances. Furtherest I have ventured out is about 13km offshore (4.2m Renegade) and yet to have lost phone reception.

[Volvo]

Uniden & Digitech Daughter had no probs contacting us 50 mile out..Both 5watt units.

[Getout]

Uniden & Digitech Daughter had no probs contacting us 50 mile out..Both 5watt units.

Wow, that is impressive. My 2 metre whip aerial runs out of puff, well before that, when talking to a coastguard base station!

[scottar]

50 mile is a stretch for a 25 watt set. For a handheld it would need to be going through a repeater unless she somehow managed to get line of sight. Doing rsdio test calls on 25 watt sets in Manly boat harbour, the only installations that could get Bribie Island VMR were those on Yachts with the antenna 60' in the air.

[Volvo]

50 mile is a stretch for a 25 watt set. For a handheld it would need to be going through a repeater unless she somehow managed to get line of sight. Doing rsdio test calls on 25 watt sets in Manly boat harbour, the only installations that could get Bribie Island VMR were those on Yachts with the antenna 60' in the air.

Correct , Daughter always came around and picked up both sets when Missus n i would be outwide. Daughters concern offcourse lol. And yes quite often she would make contact with us . Not as clear sometimes as one would wish but give her peace of mind neverless knowing all is well..VHF offcourse