My First Marine Radio

[Loop_Dad]

I'm looking to buy my first VHF radio. It will be a portable one. If I can get some advice, that would be great.

I'm down to two models. One of them says "Sensitivity: 0.25µV; Rejection: 65dB" the other says "Sensitivity: 0.20µV; Rejection: 70dB".

I know what they mean after reading up on the internet. I know the second one is better. What I am not sure is how much of difference will I actually feel on the water? The second one will cost me about $30 more, so if the difference is very small, I'll go ahead to get the cheaper one.

Thanks!

[bass or bass ?]

I'll never go out on the water without a VHF radio. I've used mine to hail Vessel Assist when my motor broke down and they had a tow boat at my location in 15 minutes. Also, my buddy with a radio in his boat and I can communicate with each other no matter where we are on the lake.

[Loop_Dad]

I ended up picking up Standard Horizon HX290. With $20 factory rebate going on this was better deal than two I was originally looking at and it seems to be better performance.

I wonder what others here carry...

[Fishing Rhino]

I had two VHFs on my lobsterboat. I considered it a necessity for monitoring the Coast Guard in case of emergency messages. Could be a weather warning, a boat in distress or missing in an area, or aids to navigation that were "off station", or whose postition had been changed.

While nice to have, in this day and age of cell phones, it's not as important, unless operating in an area with poor reception. or on the open ocean. Never been on them, but were I to fish any of the Great Lakes on a regular basis, a VHF would be a must have, along with an EPIRB.

[Loop_Dad]

I read a bit about marine radio last night. I used the radio today, listening the channel 16. There were two distressed boats warning that coast guard announced on the channel. But I didn't hear any "Mayday Mayday Mayday" prior to those. I guess people used cell phone to contact the coast guard? Anyhow, I have a lot to learn about the marine radio.

[Busy]

From what I understand, there is a 'Mayday' channel. There are also other calls to signal distress without using 'Mayday.' I believe that 'Mayday' means the boat is sinking. If your boat lost it's motor but not it's bilge, you would not call 'Mayday.'

Hopefully somebody with more experience will respond; I hate to give improper information concerning safety situations. I will do a little research and post tomorrow if someone hasn't beat me to it.

[Fishing Rhino]

Channel 16 is the official hailing and distress frequency of the Coast Guard. It is used for calling other boats or the Coast Guard. When you make contact with another boat you need to switch to another "working channel". Channel 13 was/is used by commercial traffic such as tugs, freighters, cargo ships, etc.

Haven't used a VHF since '97, but I suspect that most if not all VHF radios have a feature which monitors channel 16 (it was either an override, or priority feature), while tuned to another channel. If the Coast Guard, or anyone else uses channel 16, the radio will automatically switch to 16, then switch back to the channel it was tuned to. It may also have a scanning feature which monitors a few or several other channels.

Because I sometimes had lobster gear set in a shipping channel, I would scan 13, along with the other channels we used for conversation. Initially, most of us used channel 6. But it became popular with recreational boaters. There was incessant chatter during the summer season, so we switched to a less used channel, which happened to be 8. Channel 13 was most important on foggy days. I'd see a large target on the radar moving along the channel in Buzzards Bay, and would call them on 13 to let them know who I was, what I was doing, and find out what they'd like me to do to stay out of their way. Those large vessels are not very maneuverable, and cannot stop or turn quickly.

One bit of advice. Your conversations on the VHF can be heard by any and all with a VHF radio. Don't say anything you do not want the world to hear, from divulging a hot spot to personal matters. A VHF is much like a seagoing CB radio.

We'd "hail" (call) each other on eight