What radio's best?

[Philiz]

What radio\'s best?

The radio that came with our boat doesn't seem to be very good so we're thinking of replacing it. I't's also sited next to the compass and affects it by about 30 degrees.
My questions are, what radio does the forum think is best? We'd like one with a good, clear display and rotary controls, and are any radios screened in some way so as not to affect the compass? Unit is to be bracket mounted. Thanks all!

 

[elton]

Re: What radio\'s best?

I couldn't say which is best, but I recently bought a Navman DSC 7100 that I'm very pleased with. Widely available for around £85, which is a bit of a bargain I think. The channel number display is big and easy to read (I can read it no problem without my reading glasses).

I think you need to relocate either the compass or the radio; I can't thnk of any cheap and easy way to shield a compass from magnetic fields. Any radio that contains a loudspeaker is going be a problem for starters.

 

[oldgit]

Re: What radio\'s best?

Get a basic Icom,the 401 should do the job about £120.00.Ebay will almost certainly be cheapest.
Might be worth getting the aerial/radio checked,may be nothing wrong with your existing radio.

 

[hlb]

Re: What radio\'s best?

As oldgit says, water in the cable or ariel, is the first place to look for problems. Mind, theres that little that ever happens up the straits, so just maybe, no ones listening. Also remember your radio works. "Line of sight". So if your ariel cant see there ariel, it wont work anyway.

 

[Alfie168]

Re: What radio\'s best?

Midland do a nice spec new IPX7 1w/5w waterproof handheld for a very reasonable price. Its specially designed for the European market with M1M2......so they called it...The Pacific /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I think you can see change from £60 if you are careful, and means you can probably stretch to having both a fixed and a handheld.

They are imported by Unipart Marine

Tim

 

[Frontier]

Re: What radio\'s best?

Agree with HLB, check the ariel.

Poor connections are the most common cause of radio problems. In fact if your aerial and radio are both old, then I would suggest replacing the aerial first. Personally I would want a new aerial if I was replacing the set. (if they were both getting on a bit that is)

I replaced my aerial and the improvment was fantastic, so I have not had to replace the radio.

D

 

[Sneds]

Re: What radio\'s best?

Might also be an idea to get some new plugs for the coax cable.
If buying new, Navman is easy to use, Icom is the muts and I love my Standard Horizon.
So much choice, good luck!

 

[oceanfroggie]

Re: What radio\'s best?

Icom 4xx or 5xx series