American vhf sets

[pugwash]

My old bulkhead-mounted vhf just gave up the ghost and I thought I'd get a new GMDS set from America, maybe West Marine, and save myself a couple of hundred quid, but there's a huge selection of models. A post the other day said it was illegal to sell such sets here but okay to use them. Two questions. Does anybody have experience of buying radios from the US by mail order, and if so what are the pitfalls? Any recomendations for a set that does all the basics, nothing fancy? Thanks.

 

[kdf]

U.S. sets are not fully DSC compliant - I believe they are class E devices and not the D class that are required for Europe. The differences is basically that under class D you have two receivers so that you can have both the voice channel and the DSC active at the same time. There are other differences - the class F device can't transmit dsc messages etc.

The U.S. one will work here but not in the same way that a class D unit does.

 

[Peter_the_Grate]

I recently bought a handheld from West Marine. No problems with it at all; it has a US/International frequencies switch and works perfectly. It was a cheaper option than buying the cheapest possible set in the UK (of course) even when shipping and import taxes were added, and WM and the shipping agent dealt with all the paperwork etc., for a smallish fee. However ... I was on Le Havre in July and the chandler there (www.uship.fr) had a basic set for 950FF (approx £90 at the prevailing exchange rate). Have a look at "European" suppliers.

 

[duncan]

does your handheld have M1 and M2 channels? My hummingbird didn't - even on the 'international band' - or is this a completely seperate issue..........

 

[kdf]

Most US sets can be programmed to support 37a and other Uk channels - However you need someone with the programmer which might be difficult. I have a Standard Horizon Eclipse in the cockpit which was purchased in the US and has all the local channels programmed into it.

 

[pugwash]

Sounds good. Could you tell me more? Did you have to get the UK channels programmed in or were they already there? Where did you find it and how does it perform? Thanks.

 

[kdf]

all the international channels were there except for 37a (m1?). A local VHF dealer in Ireland took care of programming in other channels but I think I could have done without them.

The unit is good, it's weather proof and have a reasonably good sound. You can purchase them from West Marine - each unit can support either US, Canadian or International channels straight out of the box.

 

[Peter_the_Grate]

um, not labelled as such. The manual is on board so I can't look it up easily. The frequencies might be covered since there are loads [of frequencies] that are not the standard 1-80 (or so). The Yanks appear to have others that carry solely weather information. I'll look it up in the handbook and post it when I can, but it might be a couple of weeks.