VHF. Hand held vs Mounted

[Daydream believer]

Until I settled on a fixed, duel handset unit for our mobo, short term I used a well known manufacturers hand held, it was crap. It was never where I left it, sliding around, often on the cabin floor, I had to use 'High power' to contact Port Control only 1/4 mile away, I was always charging it and the screen was difficult to read.

I threw it in a skip after the fixed unit was installed as I found it a huge distraction.

That is just sloppy. My ICOM lasts all day & longer, if I do not transmit for long. As for rolling about mine drops in to a winch handle holder, near the helm, so it is always ready on deck.
I can hear the VHF below from on deck & if needs be, reply on the hand held. Important when SH. Sometimes I go below & use the main set for long range reception. The HH is great for approaching port & can easily contact places like Ipswich lock from the Orwell bridge.
I have just renewed my VHF & the cost was not excessive. I would suggest that to do the job properly the OP has both.

 

[Mark-1]

My sailing is similar to yours in a Corribee. I removed my fixed VHF for security reasons one winter leaving the cables in place. 5 years later I still haven't put it back.

I have two HH VHFs and good mobile signal all over the Solent area except one anchorage in Chi where I can still call if I stand up.

One day I will put my radio back, I'm sure, but if the wiring wasn't already there I wouldn't.

 

[harvey38]

That is just sloppy. My ICOM lasts all day & longer, if I do not transmit for long. As for rolling about mine drops in to a winch handle holder, near the helm, so it is always ready on deck.
I can hear the VHF below from on deck & if needs be, reply on the hand held. Important when SH. Sometimes I go below & use the main set for long range reception. The HH is great for approaching port & can easily contact places like Ipswich lock from the Orwell bridge.
I have just renewed my VHF & the cost was not excessive. I would suggest that to do the job properly the OP has both.

Sorry I'm sloppy for giving my opinion

I'll try harder next time...........

 

[Biggles Wader]

I removed a decayed below-decks fixed radio installation (radio was fine, cable and mountings knackered, place it was mounted no longer exists after furniture changes so I passed it on) and haven't bothered to replace it. I was 100% using the handheld anyway. I have only a basic handheld, but it seems to have adequate range for anything I've yet had to do on 1 watt mode, has enormous battery life and is easy to use. I am only coastal and I have found the coastguards' and VTS services' antennae reach a very long way.

I don't like the loss of situational awareness of heading down into the saloon to work the radio. If I had a fixed one I would only be interested in the kind that have a cockpit mic that can control the radio. These often seem to have a more inconvenient interface than my handheld, so I would have to try out a bunch of models. When I did use the fixed radio I found its range not always helpful, as I was picking up a lot of distracting traffic from far too far away for it to be relevant to me.

Cheers for that-------I have used it a couple of times and it still works