VHF fixed, or handheld?

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Clint

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I'm getting slightly ahead of myself, as my boat is nowhere near ready to go into the water yet. Seeing as l am busy outfitting the cabin, and installing new electrics, and there seems to be very little price difference between fairly decent fixed and hand held vhf radios, l can't decide on which one. The boat is only a trailer sailer, so l am leaning towards a handheld, but then the fixed won't fall over board, but l won't have to bother with an external antenna.
 
Our trailer sailer came with a fixed VHF. We replaced the aerial and co-ax cable and got it all working nicely. Then this year we did the Round The Island Race and one of the safety requirements was a handheld VHF. I bought a Standard Horizon HX280E for about a hundred quid.

I now don't use the ship's radio any more when sailing locally. The battery in the handheld lasts forever (and using it saves the boat battery). Sure, the fixed VHF will get a better range out at sea and it's got DSC etc so nice to have, but the handheld does the job nicely 95% of the time.

Also - without a speaker in the cockpit it can be difficult to hear the fixed radio from downstairs. The handheld is much more convenient.
 
Clint said:
I'm getting slightly ahead of myself, as my boat is nowhere near ready to go into the water yet. Seeing as l am busy outfitting the cabin, and installing new electrics, and there seems to be very little price difference between fairly decent fixed and hand held vhf radios, l can't decide on which one. The boat is only a trailer sailer, so l am leaning towards a handheld, but then the fixed won't fall over board.
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The greater power and range of the fixed radio would be the deciding factor for me.

If you might be using the dinghy a lot in remote areas esp. where there might not be good mobile phone coverage the benefits of a hand held are obvious.

If you sail on other boats that do not have vhf you might consider a hand held and a "T" licence...

I have had a fixed radio for 30 years.
I was at one time intending to also get a hand held mainly to take on other boats. I got as far as adding it to my ship's licence and getting a "T" licence but in the end circumstances changed and I never did get the radio.
 
As we like exploring some quite remote places, the extra power of a fixed radio is also our first choice, but we do have a hand-held for backup and communication between boat and dinghy if necessary. The HH also allows you to listen to weather forecasts if you don't happen to be on the main boat at the time. But it's horses for courses, I guess.
 
I would go for handheld floatable VHF. If your budget allows it, you can buy a very good VHF/GPS handeld radio for about £180. The basic handheld VHF from COBRA start at some £60.

With the handheld radio you have several advantages. First, it's your personal security, you can always clip in on your life jacket or belt, and having it ready for any extremal situation. When you retrieve a man overboard, you cannot (usually) reach a fixed VHF.

And secondly, do not forget the power issues on a small boat. A fixed VHF will draw you some 0.4A in standby and a minimum 1A when receiving. When you emit, it goes to 3A. So, in a normal day of say 4-6 hours sailing you will lose a considerable amount of juice, compared to a hand held. You will pick up all the irrelevant (to you) traffic communications on 16 and this will deplete your 12v battery. I was using a Standard Horizon for my 24 feet day sailing and finally, I started to switch it off, as there was too much juice to re-charge (running the engine). I have installed a wind generator and the problem was resolved.

On your trailer sailer you would not like to worry about your 12v battery, don't you? :D
 
Agrred - both is what I have. The hand held is a back up and before we had a remote mic in the cockpit, the hand held was great for talking to marinas at low level and close by rather than having to leave the helm.
 
I have had a fixed VHF mounted in the cabin of my trailer sailer and I use it a fair bit. However often when I want to use it is not convenient to go into the cabin. Either because I am steering or being ballast. We usually flog the little boat pretty hard racing. I have often hankered for a hh as well that is kept outside in the locker. I have just got one of these.http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Baof...z-UHF-400-470MHz-FM-Portable/1436729245.html?
I don't know how good it is although unpacking and fiddling with it it seems like it might be good. Certainly cheap but not waterproof. I will have to key in the frequencies of the used VHF marine channels. I do like the idea that me being a radio nutter I can also listen or use it on other services like ham bush fire etc. Or is it just a toy I will never use?
olewill

PS I have bilt an antenna into the pushpit of my TS which shows quite good range and no concerns about wiring when dropping the mast.
100_6759scaled.jpg (83.8 KB) You can see it on the stbd side. The old 27mhz HF whip has now gone.

PSS you might also like my 2 stage mast crutch the higher one being removable. This works really well. The mast being dropped into high crutch. The base disconnected and mast slid forward then drop the mast into the low crutch for on road.
 
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I think for bumbling around onshore, a handheld is ideal and what I've got. If i intended to do much offshore sailing, I'd get a fixed DSC set as well. This has greater range and can send an automatic SOS.
 
If you are going to single-hand the hand-held saves diving into the cabin at awkward moments when for instance you may have to change channel.e.g.when entering Ramsgate, harbour control asks you to hang on on channel 14 until near inside and you then immediately need 80 for guidance as you are turning into the marina.
 
Clint said:
I'm getting slightly ahead of myself, as my boat is nowhere near ready to go into the water yet. Seeing as l am busy outfitting the cabin, and installing new electrics, and there seems to be very little price difference between fairly decent fixed and hand held vhf radios, l can't decide on which one. The boat is only a trailer sailer, so l am leaning towards a handheld, but then the fixed won't fall over board, but l won't have to bother with an external antenna.
Click to expand...
if you need range then a fixed set
 
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