ship to shore, walkie talkie or hand held vhf?

Phildorset

Phildorset

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I am thinking to get a pair of walkie talkie type radios just to be able to communicate between boat and beach / tender, there's been plenty of times where there's no mobile signal or quite reasonably the youths/beach party have for once left their phones behind.
Has anyone already solved this with a decent reliable and waterproof set maybe? Any pointers gratefully accepted.

I could send them off with the ships hand held VHF but that's more complicated to use and is very likely to end up with 'lunch ready' conversations on Ch.16 I think!!
 
Phildorset said:
I am thinking to get a pair of walkie talkie type radios just to be able to communicate between boat and beach / tender, there's been plenty of times where there's no mobile signal or quite reasonably the youths/beach party have for once left their phones behind.
Has anyone already solved this with a decent reliable and waterproof set maybe? Any pointers gratefully accepted.

I could send them off with the ships hand held VHF but that's more complicated to use and is very likely to end up with 'lunch ready' conversations on Ch.16 I think!!
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Hand held VHF, set to a working channel matched by your ships hand held, leaving your primary, fixed, VHF on 16 or appropriate port channel, depending on circumstances.

The second hand-held gives you a duel use asset for other applications on other occasions, and allows your tender to call for assistance from a third party should they need help whilst out of range of the "mother ship".
 
Phildorset said:
I am thinking to get a pair of walkie talkie type radios just to be able to communicate between boat and beach / tender, there's been plenty of times where there's no mobile signal or quite reasonably the youths/beach party have for once left their phones behind.
Has anyone already solved this with a decent reliable and waterproof set maybe? Any pointers gratefully accepted.

I could send them off with the ships hand held VHF but that's more complicated to use and is very likely to end up with 'lunch ready' conversations on Ch.16 I think!!
Click to expand...

Not sure of current regs, but it used to be illegal to use a hand held (or any marine radio) ashore, unless approved & on an approved channel.
 
Oscar24 said:
tbh, i would forget about using your marine vhf for that.
A better option would be somthing like this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motorola-P...WKAF5EC7ZRM&psc=1&refRID=SKP9N96JMWKAF5EC7ZRM

Should get a good couple of miles range, more in open country side / water.
Very cheap and very configuarable, less chance of hearing lots of other people doing the same.
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agree, I have this exact set and they work perfectly for what you describe - I'd save the hand held VHF for it's proper use.
 
Cheap PMR, walkie talkie type. Almost idiot proof and not a big deal if or when they go in the water. Cheaper than one decent hand held VHF.
Also leaves VHF available for radio checks.

We have a set of four, that works fine. You can usually find 2.

Just watch for battery corrosion.
 
good advice chaps - thank you, am agreeing with the walkie talkie route... if it was just for myself & or experienced vhf users then I'd just go for taking the handheld vhf ashore, but sometimes this will be our children or our non boaty friends, so squeeze to talk is simple enough without them having to avoid using 16 etc etc.
 
Boafung uv5r is a walkie talkie two way radio that you can programme your own channels in to but also is a marine vhf radio,available for less than £20 on ebay.
 
peteK said:
Boafung uv5r is a walkie talkie two way radio that you can programme your own channels in to but also is a marine vhf radio,available for less than £20 on ebay.
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They certainly are, but don't admit to using them - they are illegal in this country for almost anything other than amateur radio - with an appropriate amateur radio licence.
 
peteK said:
Boafung uv5r is a walkie talkie two way radio that you can programme your own channels in to but also is a marine vhf radio,available for less than £20 on ebay.
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The Boafung is not type approved for marine use and while you can configure it to use marine frequencies i wouldnt.
I had a Boafang radio and while there good value for money and can cover a large range of frequencies, i was concerned with the quality (or lack of) with the drop in charger. It was cheap cheap cheap and i wouldnt want to leave it in its docking station charging up unattended. Also its menu system wasnt very user friendly.
 
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Oscar24 said:
The Boafung is not type approved for marine use and while you can configure it to use marine frequiencies i wouldnt.
I had a Boafang radio and while there good value for money and can cover a large range of frequencies, i was concerned with the quality (or lack of) with the drop in charger. It was cheap cheap cheap and i wouldnt want to leave it in its docking station charging up unattended. Also its menu system wasnt very user friendly.
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I have Baofengs which I use (quite legally) for amateur radio purposes - and they are, of course, also programmed with the marine VHF channels. I would never use them for marine purposes except as a last resort - if the boat fixed radio has failed and the SH Marine handy has gone flat, and I'm in danger, then I'll use the Baofengs and argue the toss with Ofcom once I'm back on dry land!

But you are quite correct - the Baofengs are cheap and remarkably good value for money, but they are not type approved for anything in Europe and they are not built to a quality that you would want for safety-of-life applications. They supposedly work well on PMR446 - but I couldn't possibly comment on that - it would be completely illegal! :-)

P.S. they are known to be a fire risk if they are put in the docking station while they are turned on.
 
we use a mid range priced pair of walkie talkies, Actually they were bought for a 2 week crusie so i could keep tabs on the wifes shopping without having to use a mobile or when there was no 3g signal.:) Got our moneys worth using them for the tender, we also have a handheld with us but use WT for just boat to boat conversations.
 
scotty123 said:
Evidence?
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Good question.

My understanding is

A ships radio license allows the vhf equipment to be used from the ship only . Although I doubt the responsible use of a handheld while ashore or on a tender would lead to any consequences.

A portable rafio license allows use of a handheld on any vessel.

Correct me if I am wrong
 
MartynG said:
Good question.

My understanding is

A ships radio license allows the vhf equipment to be used from the ship only . Although I doubt the responsible use of a handheld while ashore or on a tender would lead to any consequences.

A portable rafio license allows use of a handheld on any vessel.

Correct me if I am wrong
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I do believe that the standard marine VHF licence that most of us have ceases to be valid as soon as you step ashore. There clearly is scope for exceptions to this - marinas, coast watch etc all operate on the marine VHF channels from shore-side locations, but this will be covered by either a different licence class or a variation issued against a standard licence.
 
maby said:
I do believe that the standard marine VHF licence that most of us have ceases to be valid as soon as you step ashore. There clearly is scope for exceptions to this - marinas, coast watch etc all operate on the marine VHF channels from shore-side locations, but this will be covered by either a different licence class or a variation issued against a standard licence.
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Yep, marinas need a "Coastal Station Radio (Marina)".

I also agree that you can't use a portable VHF from the shore, happy to be proven wrong though!

Pete
 
petem said:
Yep, marinas need a "Coastal Station Radio (Marina)".

I also agree that you can't use a portable VHF from the shore, happy to be proven wrong though!

Pete
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In most of these questions of licencing, the issue is one of enforcement. You should not use a marine handy while standing on dry land, but there is nothing in the signal to indicate that you are doing that - unless you hit the DSC! If you take the dinghy to shore, tie up, step off and call back to your crew aboard the yacht saying something along the lines of "OK, arrived safely and I'll be back in twenty minutes" then nobody is going to be any the wiser and, quite honestly, nobody is going to care. If you take the same handy into the Tesco on the sea front and call the same yacht saying "Hey guys, I'm at the meat counter and they've got some great steaks - do you want to give me a shopping list?" then you are rather asking for trouble!
 
I was talking to a friend using my boats fixed vhf and friend on his icom handheld. I was surprised how little range his handheld had !
My vote would be for walkie talkie. No need for licensing criteria or radio etiquette and children are free to use it onshore.
 
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