Hand held radio reccomendation?

[burgundyben]

I need to buy a hand held radio to keep in a grab bag, its only for use in an emergency.

Clearly being a tight git I'd like it to be as cheap as poss but of course need to be confident that it will operate.

Only planning Solent/St Vaast/Cherb/Alderney/Gurnsey.

Is the £40 Cobra one any good?

 

[petersto]

Well they do say you get what you pay for, however I have a cobra used it for a season and find it great. One major disadvantage is you cant run it off the 12V supply. You need to take it home to charge or use ordinary batteries.

 

[Norman_E]

I do not know that radio, but try to get one with the full 5 watt output if you want it for the grab bag. If you do have to use it in emergency you will be close to water level and will need all the transmitting power you can get.

If you do keep one in the grab bag do not forget to change the batteries regularly, and have a spare set of alkaline batteries.

 

[Csail]

Icom, cant fault it.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

[ QUOTE ]
I need to buy a hand held radio to keep in a grab bag, its only for use in an emergency.

Clearly being a tight git I'd like it to be as cheap as poss but of course need to be confident that it will operate.

Only planning Solent/St Vaast/Cherb/Alderney/Gurnsey.

Is the £40 Cobra one any good?

[/ QUOTE ]
Only? These are some of the busiest waters in the world. Get the best you can possibly afford.

 

[Chas25]

Wouldn't trust one of those for in a grab bag.

If your having to use the grab bag then you want something that will work, from what little experience I've had with the Cobra they're about as good as a walkie talkie, so fine for calling up your marina or friend on a nearby boat but not much use when your in liferaft trying to call for help. They only transmit on 1 or 2w a slightly more expensive one will transmit on 5 or 1w. I've got the Silva S12 which you can get for £80, basic but does the job. I also have a Raymarine 101E better quality but is more like £150

This may be worth a look as a compromise between the 2! click here

 

[Norman_E]

I Endorse the Standard Horixon HX270E, great piece of kit, and comes with a separate battery carrier for those all important alkaline batteries.
I left my HX270E on the boat last September with its NIMH batteries charged, and they held their charge until I launched the boat at the end of April.

 

[Stork_III]

Apart from the soft off switch which will discharge the battery if left in grab bag.

 

[Csail]

Left ours on board since Jan, bought it home to charge it but forgot. left it switched on listening for friends returning that evening and it started talking at 4 am..... so i reckon it holds charge pretty well. (It did wake me up though)

 

[RestlessL]

I chose the ICOM M31 for the simple reason that it will run off AA batteries, the same as every thing else electrical in the grab bag (GPS, strobe, torches). I also have a good stock of spare batteries.

John

 

[jonathankent]

I've got a Silva M-298... pretty cheap, still less than £50. This has 1W or 4W transmission, so can't be too bad. My only concern would be to it being used in a grab bag.... by the nature of a grab bag there is a strong chance of it getting wet, and these cheap ones aren't waterproof only splashproof and if you're in that situation you don't want something thats unreliable.

 

[misterg]

HX270E

Waterproof, comes with AA battery holder, 5W output, less than £90.

My only gripe is that you need the 'base' to charge it up, so if you want to charge it on the boat at 12V, as well as at home on 240V, you've got to carry the base around, too. (I suppose that spare bases are available, but I've never bothered to look/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif)

Andy

 

[TheBoatman]

Agreed ~ great piece of kit and for less than £90 for a 5W waterproof h/held good value.

Peter.

 

[BrendanS]

If you want something for the grab bag, then you want it to work when needed. Get a second hand top end Icom handheld with Lithium battery which will keep its charge for a year or more, and allow you to talk for hours, and work when you really need it to work.

I bought a second battery for mine, thinking I'd need it, and was wasted money in retrospect. Second battery never needs recharging, and has never been used, as primary battery lasts through months at a time, and even when used intensively when managing meets over long weekends.

In boat charger was also a wasted expense for long weekends, even when used extensively. Most hand helds don't get the use that meets do over long weekends, so that is good guide to usage.

 

[misterg]

[ QUOTE ]
If you want something for the grab bag, then you want it to work when needed.

[/ QUOTE ]

For which, (IMHO, of course /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif), you can't beat a cell holder, and a stock of good quality alkaline batteries - guaranteed to hold their charge for 5 years or more.

Andy

 

[Heckler]

Get the Cobra next size up, £89, had one from LIBS, I dropped it and broke the volume knob off, Marathon Leisure sent me a new one under guarantee!!
It works great, comes witha sit in mains and 12 volt charger, the batteries are AA rechargeable so can have ordinary ones put in if necessary in an emergency.
Stu

 

[Norman_E]

The HX270E comes with a cell holder, and has a proper on/off switch so that batteries do not discharge, and a 5 watt output, so it ticks all the boxes for me.

 

[pelicanpete]

The controls need to be really simple, so that ALL on board, not familiar with the radio can turn it on and transmit. A friend of mine bought a budget-priced Icom but you needed to press 2 soft-keys to adjust the volume or squelch. As a hand-held VHF, useless in dire circumstances. On the other hand, Icom produce some of the best radios around. Don't know why they sully their excellent reputation with such useless, er, c**p.

 

[Fire99]

[ QUOTE ]
The HX270E comes with a cell holder, and has a proper on/off switch so that batteries do not discharge, and a 5 watt output, so it ticks all the boxes for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep.. I've run the Standard Horizon HX270E since last november and is running a treat. A good sturdy piece of kit. I agree to not skimp on buying an emergency radio but personally i dont see the need to spend more money than for the HX270E. Does all that is necessary IMO.

 

[dedwards]

So what sort of range does a 2W HH have?
e.g. if your base was portsmouth, how far can you go before you lose two way comms with solent coast guard?