ship to shore, walkie talkie or hand held vhf?

[oldgit]

The Icom (or any decent marine handheld ) on Hi power will have 5 watts.


The cheapo walkie talkies have .500 mw.
Claims about the range printed on the cheapos box is probably a Fib

 

[Rappey]

The signal travels further if the aerial is vertical.

I actually mentioned this to him and said to keep it upright, but at 1.5 miles and although i could see his boat the handheld was just not cutting it..

 

[goeasy123]

The Baofeng UV9R is waterproof. Better bet than the 5 models. It's easy to program channels with free CHRIP software of 'tinternet. Use non marine channels for day to day comms as advised above and program marine channels for emergencies. If you do that you are not prohibited by marine law from using any means to avoid danger to life or vessel.

 

[Gwylan]

Now have a set of 4 small PMR radios.
Allows for the crew who drop them and leave them in bars.
A lot cheaper than VHF and no licencing problems.

Have added headsets. Use the VOX function. Means you can talk between the helm and whoever is going the anchor.

Just need a boat to use them on now.