Hand held VHS radio

[Midnight]

I'm helping a mate move his boat from the Yorkshire Derwent to Goole and we need a vhs radio for Goole (required by ABP). I have a license from ages ago but no radio.

 

There's a few options so can anyone recommend an inexpensive hand held?

 

As I no longer moor at Ripon, I will probably only use it a few times afterwards when travelling on the River Trent.

 

[Guest]

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Edited March 2, 2015 by MJG

[Alan de Enfield]

About £50 on ebay.

 

I'll have a hunt for a link

 

Edit - here we go :

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cobra-MR-HH125-Handheld-VHF-Marine-LCD-Radio-for-Boat-Vessel-Yacht-/261735531415?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cf0a74397

 

£49.90 inc delivery or collect from Argos

Edited March 2, 2015 by Alan de Enfield

[Loafer]

I'm helping a mate move his boat from the Yorkshire Derwent to Goole and we need a vhs radio for Goole (required by ABP). I have a license from ages ago but no radio.

 

There's a few options so can anyone recommend an inexpensive hand held?

 

As I no longer moor at Ripon, I will probably only use it a few times afterwards when travelling on the River Trent.

 

 

Dunno about VHS, but I might have an old Betamax one you can have

[narrowman]

I have an old one you could borrow,as Iam moored in goole you could come and collect it at the weekend if you wanted.

[Midnight]

Thank you for the replies

About £50 on ebay.

 

I'll have a hunt for a link

 

Edit - here we go :

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cobra-MR-HH125-Handheld-VHF-Marine-LCD-Radio-for-Boat-Vessel-Yacht-/261735531415?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cf0a74397

 

£49.90 inc delivery or collect from Argos

 

Thank you Alan I will check that one out

 

I have an old one you could borrow,as Iam moored in goole you could come and collect it at the weekend if you wanted.

 

Thank you for the offer but as I will probably use the Trent this year I may as well buy one.

 

Dunno about VHS, but I might have an old Betamax one you can have

DoH! senior moment, but if you have a Betamax VHF radio I would be interested :-)

[Puddlejumper]

dont waste money get a good one then sell off later

[Midnight]

dont waste money get a good one then sell off later

 

 

Can you recommend a 'good one'

[Timleech]

Pick one with good audio, especially if you will be out in the open on the back of a narrowboat. I have an Icom M-71, the sound is excellent, better than some fixed sets, plus it is waterproof, but it seems to be a discontinued model. The M-73 claims to have even better audio and is apparently still available. You won't go far wrong with Icom anyway, though cheaper brands are available.

 

Tim

[Alan de Enfield]

 

 

Can you recommend a 'good one'

 

Unless you are going to pay several £100's and buy a brand name in the industry (such as Yaesu) then they are (under the skin) all pretty much the same and virtually all built in one or two factories in the Far East.

 

All radios have to met certain specifications laid down by the Government (Channel spacing, bleed over, harmonics etc etc).

 

The maximum power for a handheld is 5 watts - the one on ebay I linked to Is 3 watts - more than suffficeint for what we need to call a few miles on the River.

We are not at sea and trying to get a Mayday Call 60 miles back to land.

 

The other difference is 'waterproofness'

 

Type Approval

 

. R&TTE Directive All radio equipment (with certain exceptions – see Section 5.3 below) must meet certain essential criteria. This is a legal requirement under the Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (R&TTE) Regulations 2000, which implemented the R&TTE Directive (EU Directive 99/5/EC).

 

Under the Regulations, any person who places radio equipment on the market or takes it into service must ensure that:

 

•the R&TTE Directive’s requirements are met;

 

• the equipment is marked with the ‘CE’ marking; and

 

• a written declaration of conformity has been drawn up for the equipment, together with information for the user on its intended use (e.g. maritime radio). The R&TTE Directive, which replaced the older type-approval regime, came into force on 8 April 2000. Until then, maritime radio equipment had been type-approved under section 84 of the Telecommunications Act 1984. No new typeapprovals have been issued since 7 April 2000. All equipment now placed on the market (i.e. sold) must comply with the R&TTE Directive, although equipment already type-approved may still be taken into service. Moreover, any such equipment already taken into service does satisfy the licence terms.

 

[Timleech]

 

The maximum power for a handheld is 5 watts - the one on ebay I linked to Is 3 watts -

 

Not strictly true - the two Icom models I listed are both 6W max., no doubt there are others, though you're unlikely to be able to detect any real world difference from 5W sets.

 

Tim

[Alan de Enfield]

 

Not strictly true - the two Icom models I listed are both 6W max., no doubt there are others, though you're unlikely to be able to detect any real world difference from 5W sets.

 

Tim

 

Sorry - 'fat finger' - you are absolutely correct 6w is the max.

 

Output power has very little to do with distance (in the old days I could radio Australia with 12w by using the Skip), VHF radio is line of sight of the aerials - and if you are holding the 'hand-held' to your ear and standing on your boat, the aerial is probably about 3 metres high. The Aerial at the lock keepers 'hut' will probably be 6 or 7 metres high - this will give you a 10 mile range.

 

Boat to boat with each at (say) 2 metres high gives a range of 6 miles.

 

Even if you had a 100w radio the distances would not improve.