New handheld VHF required.

[SPR]

icom M91D is the icom DSC model - nice bit of kit

S.

[kerny]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

I'd choose the M71 personally, simply because after 5 years it's still holding charge like new.

I agree, I've had mine for 4 years and it still holds the charge the same now as the day I got it

[Channel Ribs]

The M71's good battery life comes from Icom including a smart charger with it, this is what helps to make sure the battery gets a proper charge every time it is left on for any length of time. Another point in the M71's favour is the very neat size.

But at about 160 for the Icom and fifty quid less for the Horizon, I would still personally go with the latter.

Standard Horizon have a HX300 in the US, we are waiting to hear if they are going to offer this to the UK market. It is very small and charges from any USB socket.

[Max...]

Big recommendation for the SH HX751 - more powerful than others, very loud, great features, waterproof, floating etc and very rugged - built like a brick and really pleased with mine. The DSC version is a lot more money and battery life is poor.

[Copinsay]

Hello there

I'm very pleased with the SH HX851.

Personally I would not buy an non-DSC handheld if that's what you are going to be relying on, especially as other crew can so readily call for help at the push of a button (but see other threads on this issue too). Of course, good to have the licence and training for it too :o)

Plus being able to give coordinates at the push of a button in an emergency is to my mind invaluable, given the much reduced extra cost now.

Yes I'm sure there is an issue of greater battery drain, but you can switch off or reduce the GPS usage to minimise that.

Very happy with VHF prices from Channel Ribs BTW so worth asking them, as well as supporting other trade members on here.

Hope this helps - happy and safe Ribbing

Steve

[PeterM]

I'd echo the ICOM or SH offerings . I've had both - but after I dropped the ICOM ( it sunk) I went for a floating SH as the ICOM floaty one was noticably more expensive .

I ended up with a floaty and non floaty SH for the cost of the floaty ICOM .

Both are doing well after a couple of years of weekend / holiday leisure use.

DSC handlheld is whole differing question...great idea & the way forward but I think the next gen of these wil be the ones to get - I feel they will have sorted the battery drain issue & will have combined more of the small plotter features.....and of course reduced the cost.

[Nick Hearne]

I have had the Standard Horizon HX270E for nearly 6 years with no problem!

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

I have had the Standard Horizon HX270E for nearly 6 years with no problem!

Thats the non floaty one i have and an HX750 for floating ...

[Paul Cannell]

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

I have had the Standard Horizon HX270E for nearly 6 years with no problem!

Me too with a HX270 which is 6yrs old + a 751 which is great.

[SimonStDavids]

I have also got the M71 and in the three years that I have had it, I have been nothing but impressed.

It has been dropped, submerged and generally knocked about a bit. But it still works just as well as the day it came out of the box, I can't believe how well the battery holds a charge, if only my iPhone had the sane battery

[gotchiguy]

Have Standard Horizon HX751 & HX851. The 751 is an excellent all round radio, little larger than some but better functionality. The battery on the 851 isn't great but as mentioned before you can just turn the GPS off in general. You only need it when transmitting DSC distress when it will come on automatically. On a small boat it can even be used as a plotter!

[ShinyShoe]

switching ur gps on only when you hit the big red button is a flawed plan. it can take 3 minutes to lock on sats to get a position. If you are on fire 3 mins is too long! So the red button will send an old pos instead. On a Rib doing 30kts if you've not had the GPS on for an hour thats not a whole lotta use! (Even 10miles out is a lot of searching (thats a 10m radius so potentially 314sq.miles) for a 4 or 5m rib especially if there are several other 4 or 5m ribs to look at. If the worst happened you might be 4 or 5 heads in the water in 314sq mile!

I have two M31s that both leaked like seives Icome replaced both immediately and the second time upgraded to a Euro M5 I think it is. It lives in the bottom of a boat in 6inches of water quite regularly.

As for charging from an invertor from your caravan solar charged battery - just get the cigarette lighter connection for the charger and run direct - my invertor sucks the life out of my 100Ah battery but the radio charges all the time quite happy. ... not sure if anyone's found a good waterproof charging mechanism to power it from the boat...

Use SHs regularly and several other icom versions all good.

when i bought mine floating ones didn't exist... that would be a must have these days.

[gotchiguy]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

switching ur gps on only when you hit the big red button is a flawed plan. it can take 3 minutes to lock on sats to get a position. If you are on fire 3 mins is too long! So the red button will send an old pos instead. On a Rib doing 30kts if you've not had the GPS on for an hour thats not a whole lotta use! (Even 10miles out is a lot of searching (thats a 10m radius so potentially 314sq.miles) for a 4 or 5m rib especially if there are several other 4 or 5m ribs to look at. If the worst happened you might be 4 or 5 heads in the water in 314sq mile!

No it won't send an old position. Besides, if it was on fire then I wouldn't be using the handheld DSC, I would still be on the boat and therefore able to use flares/fixed DSC/AIS not to mention PLB permanently on my lifejacket

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

switching ur gps on only when you hit the big red button is a flawed plan. it can take 3 minutes to lock on sats to get a position. If you are on fire 3 mins is too long! So the red button will send an old pos instead. On a Rib doing 30kts if you've not had the GPS on for an hour thats not a whole lotta use!

Well whatever DSC Handheld you use, I suggest you upgrade. It sounds more like a liability than a safety device. As Gotchi says, the Standard Horizon 851 does not suffer with any of those problems...

Even if a DSC radio were to send an old location, it would mark it as such and the speed and direction info would still be valuable to the rescuers.

[Erin]

Speak to Avocet about Icom resilience. He sent his through the washing machine and it still worked fine afterwards. A Bold thing to do

[Avocet]

And the only damage was that the Ariel is no longer as straight as it once was!

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Avocet

And the only damage was that the Ariel is no longer as straight as it once was!

Daz good Ya!

[Copinsay]

Hi All

In case it helps, from completely switched off (for 5 days) my HX851 got a GPS fix just now in 38 seconds - the spec says 1 min typical from a "cold" start, and 40 seconds from a "warm" start.

The GPS power save mode allows you to set the GPS fix frequency from every 5 seconds to every 5 mins, which does make a big difference on battery drain, at no real sacrifice from how I use it.

And even at a minute from cold, I'd say still much quicker than sorting out an accurate position fix from a chart and verbally passing that on in an emergency situation.

Hope that helps

Steve

[buzzin hornet]

As an update I bought an ICOM M71. Bit more than what I really wanted to pay, but Ive bought cheap in the past and had to pay again. Should see me right for a good few years.

Cheers for all the advice.

Buzzin

[EnglishLes]

Originally Posted by Erin

Speak to Avocet about Icom resilience. He sent his through the washing machine and it still worked fine afterwards. A Bold thing to do

Was reception a lot cleaner afterwards?