Hand held v Fixed VHF

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Chi Man

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I have just bought a new (well new to me) boat and it has no fixed dsc/vhf radio. Thinking along the lines of getting a high end hand held instead of fixed one. My boat is a 20 ft. Hardy and my cruising area will mostly be Chi harbour, the Solent and the occasional skirmish being the furthest in either direction probably Weymouth and Littlehampton. The top spec hand helds look pretty impressive, looking at Icom IC-M73 or particularly 91D which has DSC and GPS.
What are your thoughts?
 
Chi Man said:
I have just bought a new (well new to me) boat and it has no fixed dsc/vhf radio. Thinking along the lines of getting a high end hand held instead of fixed one. My boat is a 20 ft. Hardy and my cruising area will mostly be Chi harbour, the Solent and the occasional skirmish being the furthest in either direction probably Weymouth and Littlehampton. The top spec hand helds look pretty impressive, looking at Icom IC-M73 or particularly 91D which has DSC and GPS.
What are your thoughts?
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Standard Horizon are just bringing out a new one- HX870E for sub £200. The 851e was very popular and might still be about, but the screen is a bit small.
Main issue is range.. having a high long antenna on a fixed is going to reach further than a handheld- which should still be good for, say, 5+miles?
 
I use my handheld for just about every call, but range is an issue. Were I in distress the ship radio is a no brainer, but it's hard to beat the convenience of a handheld. You know you'll be like the rest of the majority and end up with both don't you?
 
the best hand held struggle with range, perhaps you will only be in chi harbour, but Solent coastguard aren't.. IMO I would always get a fixed VHF, (Icom preferably ), when you are board playing with that you can go to hand held...
 
Unless you have a major electrical failure the fixed VHF will always have power. With a handheld Murphy's Law will say that the battery is flat when you need it most. IMHO the best thing is one of each. I keep one on 16 and one on 80 when local and switch to Portsmouth H'master or Soton VTS when near their areas of concern
 
Couple of years ago I was off the Dengie Flats (River Blackwater) and picked up a partial call to the Coastguard - bits like 'dismasted', 'ok' 'making our way....' There followed a rather disjointed conversation between the yacht and the Coastguard from which I picked up that I was about 3 miles from the yacht. Then a bit of radio silence and then the yacht called up crystal clear saying 'they had been dismasted but were fine, making their way up the Crouch to Burnham, apologies for the earlier broken transmission but they had now fitted their emergency aerial'. They were only 3nm from me and the handheld was pretty hopeless. It only carried to the Coastguard because one of their main aerials was in line of sight and pretty close. The transformation when a 'proper' aerial was fitted was remarkable and made a profound impression on me. Personally I'd go for the range every time. If unfortunately you get into trouble you want to give yourself the best chance and the fixed set with a decent aerial does that.
 
So it looks like a fixed radio!! Thanks for your input everyone.
My thoughts are to go with the IC-M323G VHF Radio with Internal GPS, I had a Icom in the last boat so familiar with the brand.
 
Good choice ICOM stuff excellent, had them on previous boats. Got a raymarine on current boat dual helm all the bells and whistles - I cannot describe in words how f ****ing useless it is when you need to do something quickly..to turn it on or off you press and hold channel 16 button. When you need help you want channel 16 asap. What happens


it turns off. Whoever thought that was a good idea has never been on a boat.
 
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2 weeks ago I relayed mayday Comms from a boat at Southampton dockhead and the rib that towed it in. They both had hand helds and while Solent CG heard a bit of their transmissions, they didn't get it all.

I was at Calshot with a fixed VHF and antena on my 8m mast. They got everything I said.

I also radio checked on 67 from ocean village. Again, no problem.

First year out, our antenna had broke so I relied on a hh. Now im very glad nothing happened that meant we would have to have relied on it.
 
kashurst said:
Good choice ICOM stuff excellent, had them on previous boats. Got a raymarine on current boat dual helm all the bells and whistles - I cannot describe in words how f ****ing useless it is
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I have Raymarine instruments, radar, and plotter, and like them - but I've never heard a good thing about their radios. Expensive too. Only apparent benefit is the matching looks alongside a boatload of other Raymarine gear :)

Icom or Standard Horizon for radios, my personal preference being the latter.

Pete
 
It's not all about the power. It is surprising just how far you can reach with one watt. Hence that's why they teach that initial contact should be attempted at 1W on the SRC VHF course. All distress calls should of course be made at 25W if available.
 
Alpha22 said:
It's not all about the power. It is surprising just how far you can reach with one watt. Hence that's why they teach that initial contact should be attempted at 1W on the SRC VHF course. All distress calls should of course be made at 25W if available.
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True, it's not all about the power. But everything else being equal, greater power will always give greater range.
 
elton said:
True, it's not all about the power. But everything else being equal, greater power will always give greater range.
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From the OP "my cruising area will mostly be Chi harbour, the Solent and the occasional skirmish being the furthest in either direction probably Weymouth and Littlehampton" so I think the suggestion to use a handheld with an external antenna is valid...
 
Fantasie 19 said:
From the OP "my cruising area will mostly be Chi harbour, the Solent and the occasional skirmish being the furthest in either direction probably Weymouth and Littlehampton" so I think the suggestion to use a handheld with an external antenna is valid...
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Why would anyone use a handheld with an external antenna, unless broken equipment and an emergency required it?
 
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