Vhf radio

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

PLB vs VHF
They do different jobs & are not mutually exclusive. It’s a bit like comparing a spanner to a screwdriver.

Originally Posted by Wazzajnr

The money isn't the issue just the time. However, I think I would rather have a radio sooner at the risk of having to use it illegally in the event of an emergency. That has to be better than not having a radio at all.

Yes - and you are certainly not the first to follow that route.

Originally Posted by neil.mccrirrick

True but even trained, panic can cause that. I’ve been on a dive boat and listened to a competent person completely mess up a call for help forgetting the name of the boat we were on, location and so on until they calmed down.

Kind of lends itself to having the instructions on laminate snd to hand

Absolutely - the words, calmness etc, but I think you are more likely to be effective if you've practised, and someone has told you some things we tend to do wrong (mic too close to face, talking too fast, not releasing PTT when finished, not waiting for other end to finish talking before pressing PTT again). And I'd say the more you use the radio the more likely a critical call will be effective, and the "I'll only use it in an emergency" argument prevents that familiarity.

[HDAV]

Originally Posted by jakew009

What is the response time for a PLB compared to a VHF DSC distress call? How long does it take for the umpteen other boats in your immediate vicinity to realised you have sent out a PLB distress signal?

In your hypothetical situation, I’d still argue you are much better off with a VHF and just familiarising yourself with how to make a Mayday call and writing it down easy to hand somewhere.

Depends on the location is a maximum of 15 minutes i have ben told but likely in waters near populated shores a lot less not sure IF CG can pick up 401Mhz distress direct or they have to wait for it bounce of the sat and down to the ops centre (Fareham?).

there are PLBs with DSC built in too
https://www.mrtsos.com/commercial/pr...cons/smrt-v100

Originally Posted by Iankristy

A few things:
The VHF exam is the only bit that is ‘instructor facing’. The actual course is online.

I did a fully instructor facing course, the instructor can't be the examiner.

At the moment there are a few places in person courses its much better IMO than the online course.

Originally Posted by Poly

Absolutely - the words, calmness etc, but I think you are more likely to be effective if you've practised, and someone has told you some things we tend to do wrong (mic too close to face, talking too fast, not releasing PTT when finished, not waiting for other end to finish talking before pressing PTT again). And I'd say the more you use the radio the more likely a critical call will be effective, and the "I'll only use it in an emergency" argument prevents that familiarity.

I use mine as often as i can chatting to Coast watch on CH65, doing radio checks asking about sea state etc, listening on CH16 etc but even then Im not so confident that i would be that calm when it really mattered

[Iankristy]

Originally Posted by HDAV

Depends on the location is a maximum of 15 minutes i have ben told but likely in waters near populated shores a lot less not sure IF CG can pick up 401Mhz distress direct or they have to wait for it bounce of the sat and down to the ops centre (Fareham?).



there are PLBs with DSC built in too

https://www.mrtsos.com/commercial/pr...cons/smrt-v100







I did a fully instructor facing course, the instructor can't be the examiner.



At the moment there are a few places in person courses its much better IMO than the online course.













I use mine as often as i can chatting to Coast watch on CH65, doing radio checks asking about sea state etc, listening on CH16 etc but even then Im not so confident that i would be that calm when it really mattered

Yeah that’s true with instructor facing courses online is a reasonable alternative for the same qualification. I though the online was really good and prepared you well. My point was really better to do online now and take radio and have an idea how to use it than do nothing [emoji4]