What new VHF?

[Gwylan]

Despair of my Icom VHF.

Has a numbe r of idiosynchrasies - if you do not have a permanent live feed it needs several minutes to decide it wants to start.
Now it has started various independent actions, changing channel, switching off & on spontaneously.
The command mike is off on another planet and will only talk to the main set under certain, undefined and variable, conditions.
The whole things is deffinately female and heading for recycling.

This set up is not reliable and must go. It was the DB when it went in, but had to come out a week later when the whole set up expired.
Far too many features.

So, suggestions please for a basic and reliable VHF - they all come with DSC, AIS would be nice but not essential. A reasonably priced remote mic facility would be very desirable.

 

[pvb]

For basic and reliable, you won't go far wrong with any Standard Horizon product, and they do a wired remote.

 

[ianfr]

For basic and reliable, you won't go far wrong with any Standard Horizon product, and they do a wired remote.

+1

Ian

 

[prv]

Another vote for Standard Horizon. I have the GX2100 and RAM mike on Ariam, plus two different SH handhelds (one for Ariam, one for the Contraption).

The GX2100 has been superseded by the GX2200 which has a couple of minor improvements to how it works, and I believe there is now a further model which includes the GPS receiver so that you don't need to wire one in separately for DSC.

Pete

 

[jakeroyd]

+1 for Standard Horizon.
I have a GX2200 and the remote RAM mike , cost all in about £300.
But it's a great bit of kit.
For me the remote mike , fitted on the front of the cockpit near the depth sounder on my small boat is the best bit.
The whole radio can be controlled from the mike , even switching on and off.
The AIS display is very usefull , you can orientate the display very easily out in the cockpit and see targets displayed on the screen and the actual boat where you would expect it to be.

If I could find anything to criticise it would be the cord length of the mike is a little short even in my short cockpit.

Additionally the RAM mike of course provides a speaker in the cockpit if you don't already have one.

Really fast boot up and aquistion of GPS position fix on mine.

 

[jakeroyd]

Correction £400.

 

[bedouin]

Another vote for the SH GX2200 - just fitted mine earlier this year. Has built in GPS and AIS which is useful -means it is a stand alone unit - and the optional external mic (I haven't bought one yet) looks very useful

Nothing comes close in terms of functionality and value, and SH have a very good reputation for VHF as well

 

[ex-Gladys]

Yet another +1 for SH. Bought a 2000 and installed a week ago to replace the my old 1500, dead easy install (bracket was the same size, data connection much improved with separate AIS link). It came with an external horn type speaker thrown in which I wanted for fog signalling. About £160, already had the RAM 3 which is the dogs doodahs


PS There was nothing wrong with the 1500, just thought the extra features were worth the investment

 

[SiteSurfer]

+1 for the GX2200E, bought after asking the same question on here as OP.

Very pleased with it.

 

[evgepr]

We have fitted B&G V50 and connected it to Raymarine C70 chartplotter for AIS data. Works very good. We also plan to add wireless handset B&G H50, but a bit later.

 

[Simondjuk]

Yet another vote for SH. GX2100 below with the AIS fed to a little SH plotter in the cockpit along with a RAM mic. Very happy with it all.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Any Standard Horizon VHF is good value and the backup is first class, as is Icom i believe. I also like Garmin stuff, although their VHF's aren't cheap. I have the black box VHF300 AIS. You can have up to three handsets and everything is controlled from any handset. The AIS needs to be connected to some form of display, via NMEA 0183 or N2K.

 

[Pye_End]

Sounds like a fault with the radio or command mic - Icom offer a 3 year warranty on their kit (support 01227 741741). Perhaps explore repair etc with them as a rather more cost effective option, given it is high end kit (assuming it is not too old) Very helpful support I find.