Recommend me a hand held VHF

I bought a nearly new Cobra HH325 about ten years ago. They get a bad press on here but mine is still going and used for much the same as you would need. I think it has been superseded by a newer model now.
 
Buck Turgidson said:
It would appear that my handheld VHF has gone for a swim or a walk anyway I can’t find it so I need a new one and it’s 2026. I don’t even remember what make the old one was but it worked fine and the battery seemed to last forever. I don’t need anything fancy just a reliable VHF with a good battery life. I don’t want one that I need to license. Just a basic radio.
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If you're not to bothered about compliance and you're willing to do some simple set up of the frequencies you want consider Baofeng UV‑5R or Quansheng UV5R Plus. Very cheap (check out Ali Express) and highly regarded for quality.

Not waterproof and won't float which might be a deal breaker.

EDIT: TSB beat me to it.
 
TSB240 said:
Ops spec
Emergency use only?
No licence required.

What range do you expect with 5 Watts a few inches above water.
You could probably talk to rescue helicopter overhead or another boat a mile off.

Baofeng UV5-r

£16 lowest offer found today.


Ducking for cover as incoming expected!
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If it does job - why duck ?

I have a pair of Cobra 2W HH's ... supplied with waterproof cases ... and as you say - its short range only when you are in water etc.

People 'scoff' at my Cobras - but in fact they have worked well as 'crew comms' when they toddle off ashore ..
 
Buck Turgidson said:
OP here.
My primary radio is fixed. The hand held is for backup and convenience when entering a marina. No DSC required or AIS I have that on my primary. Waterproof rechargeable and quality feel is all I need.
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Same here .
As for DSC it seems mostly pointless.
I have not made or received a DSC call apart from one time when a friend and I made some test calls about a decade ago.
 
I got a free Standard Horizon handheld vhf when buying an SH chartplotter about 2008....both still working...QED....
 
FWIW I have 2 portable standard horizon (+1 fixed), the oldest one is from the early 2000s, after 20 years the NiCd battery pack was cooked I changed it with a NiMH, it might be going for another 20y. The DSC HX870 has been in almost daily use for about 10y, this year I replaced the Li-ion battery pack as it was very tired. Also have a number of Icom ham equipment without issues, they have no inside batteries :)

OT it's a pity this sort of thread splis into ''this is better than that'', maybe some SH malfunction, ok, Icom had the ceramic filters problem in several models (replaced FOC), so what? They both make very good kits, marine or ham :)
 
Roberto said:
OT it's a pity this sort of thread splis into ''this is better than that'', maybe some SH malfunction, ok, Icom had the ceramic filters problem in several models (replaced FOC), so what? They both make very good kits, marine or ham :)
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This is very common human behaviour, I'm guilty of it myself. After carefully researching* all the options, and then just buying the second cheapest#, we then proclaim our choice is the best the market can offer (from a sample of one) mainly for confirmation bias to support our own buying decision.

* "research" = 10 mins on Google.
# "buying second cheapest" = technique often used when perusing the wine list in a restaurant under false belief that's where best value is.
 
Human nature usually falls into two camps ....

The - I bought the best value / performing item .... a sort of salve to convince oneself it was good buy.
or
The - worst bit of sh** I ever bought ... then blame it on anything except oneself !

Only a rare few actually take middle road ...
 
The only set I’ve had issues with was an old icom a 31 I think that had some form of self drain facility if you left the battery attached when left in grab bag but it did have a backup tray to be filled with AA x6 batteries but it irritated me at time. I have since replaced battery and set from 2001 still works fine. More recently have moved to standard horizon dsc set which is much bulkier . Ideally therefore a decent set for use in cockpit like the SH mentioned above post #31 ,a cheap old light one for dinghy (like the old icom) and if you really are lucky a set for grab bag with spare batteries tray (an icom I inherited) which is probably pre 2000.
 
I've got an Icom IC-M1euro V handneld that is years old and still works. Last boat main VHF was an Icom 423 ? with a command mic.

Present boat hat has a standard horizon main VHF with built in GPS and able to take a command mic which I must sort out / purchase.

I've heard over the years, that Icom and Standard Horizon are both good makes and that it is down to personal preference as to which is the best.
 
Once apon a time.... Long long ago.
A very important annual event requiring a H/H to help arriving visitors to moor on club moorings.
Somebody securely tucked a hand portable into their trousers and then firmly did up their heavy duty sailing jacket over everything.
What could possibly go wrong.
Before anybody turned up a check of pontoons involved clambering over a moored boat.
Heard the "Plop" as the H/H dropped into the water and watched it merrily bob away carried by the tide.
Chased it upstream with boat hook until the pontoons came to an end.
Borrowed a portable for the day and much whinging and grumbling to anybody prepared to listen.
Decided to buy something cheapo to replace, so not so many tears when it happens again.
Took a chance on ebay buying another portable of the same make but at a rock bottom price.
Would take several weeks to arrive.
Much later, just prior to delivery, approached by another club member and asked if had "lost" a radio.
Yes. but replacement arriving tomorrow.:(

The club member worked on a tug and one of the other crew , who lived afloat, had been woken by the sound of something hitting the side of his boat.
Bothering to get up retrieved a portable boat radio which was still charged and working.
Would I like it back. ?
The moral.
If you want a portable radio that can survive 10 days in the water and will just require drying off and bit of recharging you definately want an ICOM.
Its still in use, sold the budget "replacement" at a small profit. :)
 
I have had bad experiemce with icom handheld. The very thin foil like battery terminals corroded. Replaced the battery, which was really expensive, and the same thing happenned.

My Standard Horizon HX 890 has been reliable except for a split in the rubber antenna ,which was replaced free under warranty. This issue has not recurred.

Hand helds have a tough life by their very nature.
 
Boathook said:
I've got an Icom IC-M1euro V handneld that is years old and still works. Last boat main VHF was an Icom 423 ? with a command mic.

Present boat hat has a standard horizon main VHF with built in GPS and able to take a command mic which I must sort out / purchase.

I've heard over the years, that Icom and Standard Horizon are both good makes and that it is down to personal preference as to which is the best.
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I have an old M1 as well ... I now piggy back a LiPo battery to it as the old batt packs died years ago.

The trick is to still have the old pack in place because of the board that sits in batt pack .... so the power from the LiPo (3S) is fed to the 12V plug-in ..
 
Ammonite said:
I bought a Standard Horizon HX890e a couple of years ago. I am either the unluckiest person alive or they have some serious quality issues with that model. The first, second and third all fogged up in sunlight so you couldn't read the screen. In the end I paid the extra and went with the equivalent Icom. No issues with this, although in hindsight I wish I'd stuck with a simpler model rather than one with AIS. There's so much functionality that you have to get the manual out every time you want to change something.

Edit: I originally referred to it as an HX891
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Have a HX890e too, I use it mainly for second channel monitoring as dual/multi watch is disabled (illegal) when in ATIS mode for Belgian inland waters on the fixed GX2400e VHF.

For programming etc. I use the Standard Horizon software that I got on the USA SH website it gives dealer level access to the handheld: YCE19 and YCE20 are the dealer and customer software for the handheld and YCE26 is for the fixed radio

Purple Velvet said:
Add to that the dire performance with respect to sproggies, microphone gain and complexity of use, before we get to the legalities as mentioned above. I have one on the shelf and even for my Amateur radio activities, it doesn't get a look in.

DE G6FGO
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They are overly complex to use, even with the CHIRP software, mine is sitting in the cinema room unused, for HF/VHF I have a luggable FT895D with a pair of rechargeable batteries installed

DE GM6JWF
 
Alicatt said:
They are overly complex to use, even with the CHIRP software, mine is sitting in the cinema room unused
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CHIRP or equivalent software is obvs near essential, but they're not too complicated.
They're never going to be as simple as a radio that requires zero setup but that's the price of versatility.

I use PMR to talk to the kids, need the Marine VHF and quite like listening to aircraft, CH80 marine TX and CH0, it's really handy to have all that in one radio.
 
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