vhf

[Steve Care]

what would you recommend fo about £300
I'm good at direction and can be loud

[Ribald]

Yeah, but "When connected to a two-way hailer horn, communication with other boats and deck or dock hands is easy. The built-in amplifier increases talk power to 22W making your message loud and clear. "

That would be handy - you could order your pint before you tied up - save valuable drinking time

[marknj]

For £300 save £100 and get an Icom 401, nice and compact and you can add DSC later they retail at £189+VAT but you should get one for about £200 inc. For around £300 you could get a cheaper make but will it handle being in a RIB???

[Dirk Diggler]

VHF on E bay:


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...category=15263

[marknj]

Not a UK model so zero backup? Also not approved for sale in UK?
Much better to get from a Local dealer and pay an extra £10ish, if it goes wrong at least you have someone to shout at and wont have to pay the return carraige if it cant be repaired in house and should have a 'loan set'. They may be good but all things go wrong!

[Austen]

I would suggest going on the RYA VHF course asap to get an understanding of the principles. I recommend Bisham Abbey Sailing School www.bishamabbeysailing.co.uk for this as they use real sets, not computer simulation.

Steve,

I did the same sort of exercise your doing now about a year ago when I bought my first RIB.

First, I must say, YOU MUST DO the Maritime Radio Operator Certificate of Competence, oh, and pass ! There are big fines and your radio and/or boat could be impounded. You will also need either a Ships Radio Licence, or the portable equilavent. I must admit, I have never been asked for one, but then I don't tend to use the busy mariners in the summer.

I looked at the Simrad RD68, but found that it is NOT fully waterproof, if you flip your RIB, and get water in your console, then the rig will be ruined.

I almost purchased one of the ICOM 602, fully waterproof and DSC ready, even if your not!

Simrad do a DSC HH, very good bit of kit, only problem is that they expect it to be kept in a holster in the console, this is where it gets it's GPS position from. If the DSC unit is activated, it sends the last position it new about before it was removed from the holster.

I would agree with everyone else, even if you have a rig mounted on your console, keep a HH with you, just incase

[Steve Care]

Hi Austen

Thanks foe your help there and hope your enjoying your rib a year on.

What radio did you end up with?

I do intend to do the radio course asap have done my RYA level 1 & 2 Not sure if I should do day skipper next but thought I would get some practice with the rib first

[Austen]

Steve,

A year on, well, bought a bigger RIB, collect it this Saturday (22nd Nov), yes, I am still enjoying it!!

Like most people, getting the RIB was probably the cheapest part, well, it was budgeted for any way. It was the purchase of everything else that crippled me! So, I have to admit, I did scrimp on the radio, it was always my intention to get a Fixed set, when the finances allowed.

I ended up with a £80. Silva HH. Not bad for the money and since most of my ribbing in the first part of the year was spent in and around Poole / Bournemouth, I wasn't to worried.

I will be replacing the rig on my new boat for an ICOM602 in the early part of next year (London Boat Show perhaps), I know the current set is only a year old, but for some reason, the previous owner didn't install a DSC unit, and as I'm going to use it commercially, when it gets re-ticketed, it will be in my favour to have a DSC unit.

Early next year I will be doing my Day Skipper Theory, Adv Power Boat and Rescue Boat. The final course before I can go for my Commercial Endorsement will be my Sea Survival Course, so I'll be talking to those nice people at PowerBoatTraingUK (any discount for the plug Paul?)

Good luck with your courses

[Daniel]

Don't know how i missed this thread till now but i think i have some useful input (makes a change i hear you all shout )

Richard:

Icom never released the DSC unit for your radio in the UK - i know because i tried to buy it for grayswish some months ago and contacted Icom about it. Sorry to bring bad news.

Also don't mock my new "Loud Hailer" function i'll be able to shout AT YOU IN YOUR RIB ONCE I'VE INSTALLED A SPEAKER ON THE A-FRAME

Steve:

Get a fixed set first and consider nothing but Icom and Simrad. Most manufacturers are bringing out a h/h with DSC but it's little more use than a chocolate tea-pot unless you potter along at 5 knts with a rag and stick and can keep it in the nice dry cabin and update your position every hour...

IMHO Icom are the best radios for RIB use - everything else we have tried at the Sailing Club has failed (handhelds) and their DSC units are exceptional and fully waterproof.

I have a 601 (integrated DSC) but that was over £500. If you are on a budget then why not get the M503 and add DSC later? I'm sure you could get one of those for about £250 now - i've installed a couple and they are very, very good. If you choose this option then make sure you have enough room in the console - they are both big units.

Finally, whatever you get, make sure it's got a speaker-mike, thats invaluable for trying to hear the thing over the wind / engine noise.

[Steve Care]

Daniel

Thanks for your help, I will look into the icom 601 and see what type of deal I can get, Would you wait till the boat show to buy that type of kit or just get the best deal now? I don't get the rib till about Feb

[Daniel]

Given that you don't have the boat yet i'd wait unless a superb deal fell in my lap.

Icom give dealers special discounts for boat shows, for example i got:

My 601 @ the ex. VAT price (but incl. the VAT)
+ A free "CommandO Mike" which i might install for the co-pilot

Either way i got a £100 - £150 free bit of kit and a 17.5% discount.

The company were called Nautequipe, i've mentioned their contact detials on other posts, do a search if you want to call them. I've used them since, most helpfull.

It spounds like you might be increasing your budget! If you are i think it's a good move. I set myself a £1000 electronics budget and, although i blew it to £1200 1/2 of that was on the VHF! I decided to skimp on the chartplotter rather than the VHF. All IMHO of course.