DSC/VHF

doris

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Has anyone recently done the homework as to the best value, not necessarily the cheapest, set at the mom. Since I believe that Ch 16 goes to standby mode next Feb time may have come to do something. Also the best supplier. Done the course need the kit!

<hr width=100% size=1>Real men do it 2handed.
 
Icom are IMO by far the best DSC for yachts. Not the cheapest but very good. If you have the room they also do a two part unit so you can get the DSC controller when you really need it and just get the VHF unit now.
On the subject of DSC, I have recieved a number of mayday calls (which with the alarm on the Icom scare you to death) but I have never used another stations number to call them up, has anyone?

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I think you will find that HMCG have already given up headphone listening watch and now rely only on loudspeakers which means that they are not tied (literally) to the radio set anymore. Time to get your DSC set now?

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Yes, I exchanged MMSI numbers with a friend and we use it occasionally. It's a great improvement on 'Marigold calling Buttercup'. Previously, I'd given up using VHF for ship-to-ship, but it's now very easy and usable and saves me the cost of a mobile call.

You still need to listen out on your designated channel to make sure it's free before wading in.

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Coast Radio

I thought that all the local coast radio stations had all disappeared, like Niton, ages ago. What is left and why should one call them?

<hr width=100% size=1>Real men do it 2handed.
 
Re: Coast Radio

Jersey still has a Coast Radio station... I just called them to brighten an otherwise quiet graveyard on the way back from the UK. Intriguingly I called them from the Needles Bridge bouy - propogation was good that night!

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I was talking to a man from Midland Radio the other day, they've got a new DSC radio I'm trying to lay my hands on, and he we discussed CB radio. I stopped using CB in about 1985 or before because it got over-run with kids.

He suggested to me that now it's no longer a fad they don't bother so much. If this is really so it might make a useful addition, and would certainly give a better range than PMR's do without the problem of one PMR not speaking to another PMR of a different make.


<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>
 
I quite like the look of the Simrad.

I think my aqua-marine is finally starting to die, it takes about an hour to warm up in cold weather, if it wasn't so old I might consider fixing it, but it must be nearly 16 years old now, the display as recently tested on the bench at work uses nearly an amp to run, which is unacceptable.

I really liked some of the Icoms I played with a LIBS, but the are £200 more expensive than Simrad. I have said in previous threads, I want chuncky buttons, no on mike tuning etc. and an all together good build, the likes of NASA Silvia etc do not have these features, the Silvia seemingly the worst with kepad everything.

Another radio I will be looking at will be the Navman sets, these seem on paper very good, but still the Simrad is on top for me.

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>Top Cat Homepage</A>
 
Re: Coast Radio

Maybe it isnt a CRS in your terms ... but Jersey Radio is still a Radio Station to us, and it is on the coast.

As an added bonus, it has nothing to do with BT....

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