Might be dumb, but VHF vs cell phone near shore, say near shore reef or C buoy.
Especially thinking of hand held VHF.
BOTH;;; never short yourself on ability to call in for help!!![:0]
George McDonald ; MAD Charleston
[http://www.militaryappreciationday.org
When you see “Old Glory” waving in the breeze, know that it is the dying breaths of our fallen hero’s that makes it wave.
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X2 what gail says:wink:
If you go out of a short swim from land have BOTH! + flares, whistle mirror and learn to yell loudly. I know a guy that had to overnight in Bulls Bay out of fuel, tank leak, no VHF had a cell but no service = no help.
You may want to consider installing a real vhf with antenna instead of one of the hand held models. That long antenna will get a lot more range.
You can drift a long way in a short amount of time.
quote:
Originally posted by MuddyWaterFisherYou may want to consider installing a real vhf with antenna instead of one of the hand held models. That long antenna will get a lot more range.
Handheld should be fine for those distances, but redundancy is important. I like one hardwired on the boat, and one on my person (in case I’m separated from the boat). If I had to choose just one, and I was staying less than 25 miles out, I’d go with handheld and I would keep it on me at all times.
I know it’s a slight tangent, but for $350 you can have a handheld vhf and an EPIRB. I can’t overstate how much it’s worth it. A few years ago 4 people floated for 16 hours before they were found, and they were only about as far as the nearshore reefs. The same month, 2 guys went overboard at the jetties and I don’t think their bodies were ever found. Things can go bad very quickly, and $350 is cheap insurance.
1994 Hewes Redfisher 18, 2004 Yamaha 150 VMAX
Malibu X-Factor Kayak
Definitely VHF of some sort, Im sure you already have a cell phone so thats a non new expense. Cell service is very unreliable on the coast because they dont need towers on the beach, just reach the beach. Did a test a few years back with my personal Verizon phone, about 5 miles out is all it would do… for some reason my work Nextel believe or not was pushing 20 miles on the direct connect… Thats crazy far… my 2 cents
Offshore two is one and one is none. Both.
Capt. R. Killin
Sea Hooked Charters
I realy miss Nextel!