Floating VHF Radio Saves The Day!

[dennisneal]

Three fishermen were on board a 20-foot fishing boat out of Woods Hole, Mass. on Saturday, August 6, 2011. At about 2:00 P.M., the boat started to sink in 120 feet of water. They put on life jackets and jumped into the water.

"luckily, one of the handheld radios had seperated from the boat and floated up just a few feet from us. And that really saved our lives." (Crewman Majewski, said).

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/28814203/detail.html

Something to consider....

[jschrade]

It's more important than your fixed radio as they would be useless in most emergency situations as they are attached to what is likely on fire or sinking!



Jim

[mastreb]

Best emergency VHF on the market: Standard Horizon HX851. $260 gets you a floating VHF handheld with built in GPS and AIS emergency sender. Press a single button and the CG gets your exact location while you're floating in the water.

[seahouse]

I believe that was the same occurrence I saw on the TV news. They videoed the event as it happened. I commented to my wife (as I'm sure others did all across North America) that it was strange that their priority on a sinking ship was the video camera over the radio! Some people still live in spite of themselves!

[ROAD Soldier]

Best emergency VHF on the market: Standard Horizon HX851. $260 gets you a floating VHF handheld with built in GPS and AIS emergency sender. Press a single button and the CG gets your exact location while you're floating in the water.

Make sure you check it often I bought a Standard Horizon HX751 last year and this year the battery charges up but the radio does not come on. I did call the company and I am going to send it in to get fixed for minimal charge.

[ROAD Soldier]

I believe that was the same occurrence I saw on the TV news. They videoed the event as it happened. I commented to my wife (as I'm sure others did all across North America) that it was strange that their priority on a sinking ship was the video camera over the radio! Some people still live in spite of themselves!

Along with going out that far in a 20ft open boat. This is the number one killer I see here on the lower Chesapeake Bay by fisherman that are not from here. They have no idea how big the bay is especially down here at the southern end. Along with the cold windy weather in December which is when they come because that is when Stripper season is going on we average a couple deadly incidents per year.

[pokerrick1]

Best emergency VHF on the market: Standard Horizon HX851. $260 gets you a floating VHF handheld with built in GPS and AIS emergency sender. Press a single button and the CG gets your exact location while you're floating in the water.

This is the one I'll get next!!!!

Rick

PS I realize the one on board has a stronger signal; but a floating hand held seems more likely to be used in an emergency.

[Catigale]

Best emergency VHF on the market: Standard Horizon HX851. $260 gets you a floating VHF handheld with built in GPS and AIS emergency sender. Press a single button and the CG gets your exact location while you're floating in the water.

important !!

This VHF sends you position on DSC, you have to register your boat with it's MMI number so that the CG knows what/who they are looking for. I am not up to date on which regions where the CG may or may not monitor DSC, so do NOT take it for granted that the CG is "listening" in your area.

[magnetic]

Best emergency VHF on the market: Standard Horizon HX851. $260 gets you a floating VHF handheld with built in GPS and AIS emergency sender. Press a single button and the CG gets your exact location while you're floating in the water.

Have one / love it. It is always on a lanyard around my neck, clipped to my lifejacket; fantastic piece of kit

[ginks]

Wondering people's thoughts on handheld vs conventional radio. My "new" X has no radio, I was considering installing one, but the handheld idea makes an awful lot of sense, probably a little cheaper, no installation and hopefully more available in case of emergency. Use would be mainly inland lakes and someday when I'm more comfortable some near-shore cruising on Lake Michigan.

Gerry

[Chinook]

I favor having both handheld and fixed VHF radios on board. Fixed radio may not be necessary on smaller inland lakes, but having both does give you a backup in the event that one fails. Also, the fixed radio will give you greater range in receiving NOAA weather information. The fixed radio is really valuable if you extend your horizons and go out on bigger water, for more extended cruising.

[Catigale]

Gerry If you are staying on the Greats then the handheld will be fine. There are boats all over the place and lots of CG tall antennas in our part of the Greats - Im sure Lake Michigan is the same as it is a major shipping channel.

The one thing you might consider is an aux antenna to boost range.

Best part of portable electronics is the fact that they never get stolen if you take them off the boat with you.

If you do go for a fixed mount, for the Greats I would want that AIS unit from Standard HORIZON btw.

[davidbourne]

Hi,

If you get a fixed VHF, do you have to run a cable inside the mast to get the best reception?

How hard to do is this on an M?

I was looking at a portable that connected to your phone via blutooth, but a floating AIS does sound best.

Thanks!

David

[magnetic]

The HX-851 does not have AIS ~ stacks of other really useful stuff, but it neither transmits nor receives AIS data, just DSC messages

http://www.standardhorizon.co.uk/produc ... _id=100018

[restless]

My colleague has an inferior M design, and mounted a 1.8m aerial on the back rail. His tx/rx is by far the best of the fleet when out on rallies. The extra advantage is that it'll still work if the forestay fails and the mast flops (unless it landed on the stick!)
Anyway, I went for that option(though I got an even longer one ), and while at it did a bit of research on cables. I worked out that a good aerial ontop of the mast would lose most of its' gain advantage by a 40ish foot cable run.
I'm using a military spec 12mm cable, 7foot run. My radio is pretty ancient, but sat on my drive I can now hear local boat chatter and have spoken with portland cg... 35miles away!!! This sounds too good to be true. Still, the fact is I'm getting good reception in a built up area from yachts at least a couple of miles away. I even chatted to Mrs on my ancient re-celled handheld while I went down the road to the shops! My old stubby mast top stick was utter rubbish.
Moral of the story. Back rail sticks have some serious advatages.
Make sure you do not scrimp on your cable. A £300 radio ain't worth a bolt with lossy wires.
Make sure you solder all connections, and do your best to keep that salty stuff out too. It can really mess with copper.