What VHF if buying in Caribean?

[CharlesM]

Hello All

If one purchases a VHF in the Caribean what should one keep an eye for? I know there are differences in US and UK radios, and what issues are important should the boat later be sold in the EU?

Thanks for any advice

Charles

 

[Talbot]

Assuming the boat is already UK registered, then best to get an EU certified radio (i.e. CE marked), otherwise you will have to throw it away when you get back to EU waters.

 

[snowleopard]

make certain the set has international channels, not just the US ones.

it must be CE marked if you want to re-sell in europe.

st maarten is the place to buy.

 

[Mike_Martin]

The answer to this question comes down to reading between the lines and whether you are just "passing through" or the vessel is kept there indefinitely.

Mike

 

[Sea Devil]

The americans use differnt frequencies on their VHF to Europe and now and then you find you can hear the other yacht but they do not receive your tx... Really not a problem.

I have an American H held and my fixed Icom came from the States and both have a switch which allows you to swop between the US channels and the Europe channels.

I cannot remember how many channels are affected but it is only a few - every body knows about the problem so it is not an issue. You just go back to 16 and seledt another ship to ship 'chat' channel to go to...

When you buy the VHF just make sure it can handle both US and Euopean sets of channels. Get hold a West Marine catalogue - They are not the cheapest but in the Carribbean most chandlers will try to match or beat the West Marine price as they know we all know what West will charge... You will find it is all about 1/3rd cheaper than the UK except Radar for some reason that seems to cost about the same!

When you sell in the UK it is very unlikely anyone will worry if the set conforms or not - Ofcom may be daft but they are not childish. Most of the code is designed to make sure retailers sell sets that conform to EU standards and really are not very interested in one off situations.