handheld marine radio

as a two way radio to talk to friends kind of like walkie talkies even if you live nowhere near a body of water used by boats?
it appears that you are saying that it is illegal and that you can get caught but is it because of the output power, the channel frequency? or is it because they weren't intended for that kind of use

and believe me I am not made of money and wouldn't attempt to use them inland unless I absolutely knew that they weren't an issue

The one thing nobody here has addressed is that this may depend on location. In the U.S., radio use is regulated by the FCC. They have purposely designated some frequency as Citizen's Band i.e. CBs which have very little regulation.

VHFs however do not use citizen ban frequency and have many regulations. Among these are that they are supposed to be use on the water or shore to ship, and not used like CBs on land.

This is true regardless of the output power or channels used, however there are additional regulations about what channels are supposed to be used for certain purposes, as well as many other rules about hailing, call a mayday, pan-pan, etc.

For inland use, you can use your cell phone in most places or you can get affordable citizen band walkie talkies which perform in much the same way as VHF radios, but are meant to be used on land by the average citizen.

The U.S FCC has no jurisdiction in other countries, so different regulations may exist, though I know marine VHF protocals are similar though out the world.

2008-11-13 11:30:34 by sweetnjdude4u

This video portion of Cobra#39;s MR HH330 floating marine handheld features a hardcore test of waterproof electronics abilities. For the complete ...

everywhere i have looked no longer carries them.

Contact Radio Shack!....They will order what they don't have for you!

2008-11-12 20:51:48 by Saila Vash

Price: $99.99

Brilliant backlit LCD display and backlit keypad make radio easy to use, day or night
Waterproof handheld marine VHF radio is factory programmed with all U.S., Canadian, and international channels
Simultaneously monitor up to two Coast Guard Distress/Hailing, one weather, and one regular marine channel
Rapid clip-on DC charger works in any standard 12 volt DC "cigarette lighter" style outlet; 3-year warranty
Supports all NOAA weather channels; emergency/weather alert function alerts you of any emergencies

I bought a midland Marine VFH handheld radio and was wondering if it's channels wile line up with a normal FRS hanfheld radios channels (1 for 1 s for 2 etc..)

A marine radio is for use over water *only* (yes, you might get in trouble for attempting to use it for land to land contacts). It is VHF (30 MHz to 300 MHz) and will not communicate with FRS units, which are UHF (300 MHz to 3GH).

Most handheld units, whether FRS, VHF, or UHF (and it doesn't matter if they are ham units or FRS) will generally not be usable for more than about 3 to 5 miles between handhelds over flat terrain. This is due to the curvature of the earth and there exists a formula which can give you a pretty good "guestimate" as to their range. That formula is to take the height (in feet) of the antennas and double that number. In the case of handhelds, 5 or 6 feet is about right. Now take that number and double it. Let's use 5.5 feet doubled, which is 11. The square root of that number is the distance in miles to your radio horizon. The square root of 11 is between 3 and 4 (closer to 3). So long as your radio horizon intersects with another station's radio horizon, you can communicate. In this case, another handheld would have a radio horizon of 3 to 4 miles. You may well be able to communicate with another handheld for 6 miles.

Getting a higher antenna (standing on top of a hill, for instance) will improve the situation considerable. Although my handheld antenna is but 5 or 6 feet off the ground, the repeaters I communicate with are often hundreds of feet off the ground. If a repeater is located atop a hill and has a tower that puts the antenna at 200 feet above average terrain, doubling 200 yields 400 and the square root of 400 is 20. 20 miles to the repeater horizon plus my 6 miles would indicate that I can use the repeater some 26 miles away. When I was atop a 23 story building, I could communicate with repeaters over 100 miles away. The building was on ground 600 feet above local terrain plus the 23 stories plus the height of other repeaters. I chatted with another handheld over 100 miles away.

27 MHz CB is different as F layer (or sporadic E layer) propogation can come into play. Then openings can occur over thousands of miles (although the are not legal in the United States).

For what it is worth, power is not as important as some think. It is the antenna and (at VHF and above) elevation. 2 amateurs succeeded in communicating via moonbounce (bouncing signals off the moon) using under 100 watts. The moon is some quarter of a million miles away and the signal has to complete the round trip of half a million miles. 85 watts. Go figure.

You might consider MURS, a VHF offering that is license free and offers very little interference (unlike 27 MHz CB). You could get your 6 miles between handhelds or perhaps 20 miles between a mobil and a base unit.

For longer distances on a consistant basis, about your only legal alternative would be an amateur radio license (no more Morse code!!!). I have included a URL.

You can do a search of Yahoo groups to find a number of amateur radio groups, some devoted to helping swls, cbers, and others in obtaining their first license as well as others in upgrading their license. For me, six double a batteries has been sufficient (with the aid of one repeater) for a nice chat (all rf path, no internet involved) with Australia. On FM.


Hope this helps ;)


Best regards,
Jim

2007-09-03 19:15:50 by jetmech_63

Price: $129.99 $103.15

Includes Li-Ion battery and drop-in charger, can also be powered with alkaline AA batteries; 3-year warranty
Brilliant backlit LCD display and backlit keypad make radio easy to use, day or night
Floating handheld marine VHF radio is factory programmed with all U.S., Canadian, and international channels
Supports all NOAA weather channels; emergency/weather alert function alerts you of any emergencies
Simultaneously monitor up to two Coast Guard Distress/Hailing, one weather, and one regular marine channel

My rowing team is looking to purchase marine radios for our coaches. Our coaches drive alongside our rowing shells in small rowboats with motors, and want handheld VHF marine radios so that they can communicate with each other and other boats during our practices.

Can you tell me anything about the reliability of the different marine radio brands? I'm currently looking at ICom, Standard Horizon, Cobra, and Uniden. Our price range is $200 or less per radio. Are any of these brands particularly known for quality/durability?

I don't know much about marine radios, so any information you can give me would be great!

We carry a Uniden on our boat that's waterproof and floats and we love it! For the use you're talking about you don't need anything that has any kind of range with the signal since most communications will be of a close nature.

All 3 you mention are good radios and will suffice for what you're seeking.

Great thing for the team to get for them too!

2009-03-03 20:21:52 by Blondie

Current offerings from Cobra and Uniden etc. are far too massive to slip into a pocket nicely. I see lots of UK CB handheld radios that look nice, but I don't have a clue as to wether they would work here on US frequencies. I don't want to wait for overseas shipping or to deal with weak exchange-rates on US dollars. Ideally I would have a VHF marine radio adjusted, but is this possible? VHF technically goes down to 30mhz I think which isn't far from our 25-29mhz range, but do these transmit SSB or AM signals? Maybe I just need a handheld ham radio, but would that be out of my price range? ($200)

There's a CB AM/FM/SSB handheld that goes by various names : Titan roadpro 454, eagle spitfire, dragon ss-201 , INTEK SS-201 Dragon AH-100, Albrecht AE201. Tweaking a marine radio is not a practical possibility.

2007-12-19 01:51:14 by cnoizece