Hand held for day boat

[Clarky]

I sail around the west of Scotland ,trailing my Falmouth Bass Boat to various places.
I would like to buy a hand held VHF and wonder what sort of range I will get ,ie is it worth going for a 6 watt as opposed to 5.
I was also thinking of running a piece of wire up the mast as an ariel ,some of the hand helds have a connection socket for external area.
Would a bit of wire do or will I have to connect it to some sort of ariel at the top ?
I will be buying a waterproof one as if I really need it I will probably be in the water.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Evadne]

You ask for thoughts so here goes:
A vhf is limited by it's line-of-sight range, so a higher ariel will gain you more range than an extra Watt, although if it's a long cable run you might need the extra power to make up for any losses.
The main reason for 25W where I sail is to punch through the more distant chatter you get in the Solent. I would venture that's less of a problem almost anywhere else.
I actually use a bit of wire for my ariel (I can't remember if I made it 1/4 wave or 1/2 wave), mounted two metres above the deck (less than 3 metres above the sea). It's actually not that brilliant, but allowed me to pick up CG transmissions from St Catherine's point to Weymouth, which is good enough for me. Tx is ok at 25W, but not at 5W even at close range. It won't pick up transmissions halfway across the channel, like a masthead ariel would, but it doesn't pick up "Snottynose of Hamble" arranging drinky-poos with their chums on a Sunday lunchtime either. A "proper" ariel will work best for you, though, on both receive and transmit.

 

[jamesjermain]

Range will be roughly your horizon with the built-in aerial so from 3 miles to a max of 5 miles. 5W should give you this as well as 6W. If you mount a masthead aerial range will increase to 8 to 12 miles when 6W would be useful.

If you don't want to mount an aerial permanently why not get one of the emergency aerials all us propayotties carry for when the mast falls down?

 

[LadyInBed]

To get full power out of a HH the battery has to be well up, you may find that it needs to run off the boat battery.
A 'bit of wire' as an external aerial isn't a good idea, as unless it is cut to the correct length, you will probably get an impedance mismatch which will result in a great loss of Tx power and could damage the set. A 'proper' (emergency) aerial hoisted up the mast is better.
Comms distance is variable - I have spoken to Alderney 13 Nm out on a HH, You will hear CG stations at a lot further range than you can Tx to them.

 

[chuckaduck]

I would not use a hand held as the primary vhf I use a vhf onboard but keep a hand held in the grab bag for emergency

 

[CPD]

If you can, I would go the whole hog and install an on-board unit with an aerial. More power, longer range. There may come a time when the extra cost and work involved will seem extremely insignificant.

 

[LadyInBed]

Bit OTT in a Falmouth Bass Boat
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[Clarky]

Yes thanks for all the replies ,its not possible for me to wire up a fixed set,as one person said a bit OTT.
My dilemma was if I should buy the ICOM waterproof 6w or the floating 5w,unfortunately they dont do the floating one at 6w,this could be an issue for me ,although not for you proper yotties .
The advice re the temporary aeriel was useful,thanks.

 

[ccscott49]

Get an icom 5 or 6 and an emergency antenna, with the correct adaptor!!

 

[Kawasaki]

Had to get a handheld quickly a few weeks ago (main had packed up another story) A Standard Horizen mx 270 e.
Dam good piece of kit for about £ 85/90 ish.
From Maltehouse Marine (Martin who posts on here, no connection, connection! no pun intended!) Can,t fault it and supposedley a bit waterproof too.
Fixed is better but know what yer mean an Your boat!