Handheld Ship 2 Shore

[MichiganMark]

What should I look for and which brand? I want one for duck season.

[Cpt.Chaos]

Handheld ship to shore radios are a decent option, but I would really look into installing a regular ship to shore. Handhelds were originally intended for use around marina's and such, for the deckhands/workers to be able to communicate with the harbormaster. If you plan on doing some layout hunting and are with a tender, they would fit the bill, but I would equip the tender with a standard ship to shore. These radios just do not have the range to contact the USGC if you are very far away from their reciever. I helped my buddy install his on his duck boat, he just folds it down when they have the blind setup, and then deploys it when they are underway, or if they ever needed help.

[greg123]

I agree with above post. You may never need the extra power of a console model but it would be nice to have if needed. 25 watts vs. 5 watts is a no brainer. Any radio is better than none but look around boat there is probably room somewhere for a console mount they are not that big. Antenna can be folded down when not needed. I have a good used one for sale if interested, radio, antenna and mount for $50.00. Greg

[malainse]

VHF works on line of sight, bigger is better in this case....Antenna that is, not the radio..;)

I posted this before but just to give you an idea...

Was fishing this spring in Ft. Myers Florida. We were 63 miles into the Gulf of Mex. My friend used his handheld to call another boat that was 10-12 miles from us and he said could hear us but it was very broken.

He then fired up the main radio, 15 footer on top of the T-top and we got a reply to a radio check from Seatow out of Tampa Bay area. About 128 miles on the GPS..

[Cpt.Chaos]

Yes, bigger is better in the case of antenna, but...if your radio cannot put the wattage out, it is useless. Simply put, if you put a 10 ft antenna on your handheld, you still would not be much better off. Also, the height of the tower you recieved your radio check from was probably a 120 to 250, or taller tower. I have heard radio transmissions on Lk. St. Clair from Marblehead OH many times, but I know they couldn't hear me, my antenna is about 15 ft also.

[roger23]

I have never seen a hand held that preformed very well never what was claimed .like stated before they are line of sight ,but still have a short range

[MichiganMark]

I picked up the handheld at the link below and will be adding a console version soon.

I'm not always in a duck boat equiped with a S to S, last fall I watched a snow storm and white caps blow in on us and don't want that to happen again. So I'll use the handheld in my layout and other duckboats for weather & distress and install a console in my boat.

Thanks guys!

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=44798&hvarDept=200&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=1&hvarSubCode=5&hvarTarget=browse#reviews

[tdejong302]

I purchased a handheld mrhh300vp cobra brand. It works good in our bay (within 3-4 miles). If all you need is a 3-4 mile range it will work great for that. I found out that high range on the radio depletes it battery reserve to about a 4-5 hour use time. So you will have to charge it after each use if you just use it on high.

I paid $100 for this unit. It works in a pinch however if I could do it all over again I would install a dash mount like my big boat has. The range with that and a good 6ft. antenna is great. Might be life saving some day. Good luck.

[hunt-n-fool]

I have a std horizon HX470s and hx460s models, very nice, the 460 model has a removeable antenna to hook to that large 8 ft whip antenna that will extend your listen and transmitting range.

They work plenty well in the woods ( a couple of miles anyways ), of course one must be standing in water to legally use it :)

The 470 model also has a gps input that will xmit your position in a distress call mode.

for what its worth.