I know he moved South but he still post’s. I asked a question about the best VHF radio for the buck and I get 1 response! That is lame. If I said that I wanted to talk Rap/Hip hip/Ebonex, ya’ll would have been all over it. How about some help?Who has any info on the best bang for the buck radio. Don’t make me have to get Skiniee move back up here,to answer questions.
Some of us don’t answer because we feel we do not have enough expertise to provide you with truly useful information. Hopefully someone with some real knowledge about radios will chime in.
i have 2 standard horizon and love them,when i had issues and their customer service was good.
most problems turned out to be the antenna’s
Icom
Get a good antenna!
Capt steve (tow boats us) would be a great person to contact as well as the Sea Tow member that posts here…
Thanks guys. Now that’s what I need ( INPUT ). Can I get some more from anyone else? Circle Hook, that is a good suggestion. Capt Steve should know, as he makes his living with a good radio.
ICOM is the only VHF radio we use…you want bang for your buck? put your money in your antenna…all VHF radio put out 25 watts max…bells and whistles are nice, but do you really need them (i.e. hailer/fog horn etc)I like ICOM cuz they are mil spec radios and hold up well in saltwater…but if I had a a choice between a high dollar radio or a high dollar antenna…i’d put my money in the antenna…that plus the antennas height above the water is whats gonna let you reach and and touch someone…
http://www.digitalantenna.com/prods/vhfantenna_8wideband.html
Mike Crouch
Sea Tow Charleston
843-881-8949
Sea School Charleston
843-747-1000
www.seatow.com
www.seaschool.com
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Connector(s) on your coax between the unit and antenna are just as important. The fewer the better. Put them on properly! Shakespeare makes a new solderless connector that works very well.
Antenna height is also highly important with VHF.
Icom is head and shoulders better than other stuff offshore at longer ranges. I pick up USCG jax, wilmington, seatow/towboat savannah, gtown, murrells, etc. when I’m 45 miles out, and all I have is a 70 dollar shakespeare 8ft antenna and the Icom 304. Talks to USCG or seatow crystal clear 60 miles out. That is what matters.
When I am 20 miles out I can hear sporties 35-40 miles away usually. On choppy days this is reduced, but you will be hard pressed not to hear and talk to emergency stations on land from where my boat can fish. This is with a mid-tier 6dB antenna and Icom’s cheapest fixed mount on top of a T top…
Have had Icom on all my boats with similar performance. Other brands- not even close.
www.scmarine.org
www.joinrfa.com
Luke 8:22-25
Thanks Mike and Phin! That is the type of info I needed to make a decision on what to buy. My current radio LCD crapped out and I need to replace it. Looks like I’ll be getting a good antenna to go along with.
Buy the best that you can, I personally like the ICOM 504. We have a 504 and its awesome. We originally used the cheaper radio’s but they kept crapping out and had horrible range. The GPS integration is also a plus. If I had more room, I wouldn’t mind having two mounted radios for monitoring 16 and another channel simultaneously.
icom and digital antennaes. no soldering necessary.
BRAINSTORM is for sale
2003 32 Albemarle with 440HP Diesels
Fast Cruise, Low Fuel Burn
$129,500 ($40,000 Price Reduction)
Gee, Carla Dee! I only need a radio not a whole boat! Can I get the Brainstorm for the price of a radio? That deal I’ll go for. mike 7653 sent me a web site for antennas. I think I am goin to go with an Icom. radio and a matching 8ft digital antenna. I’ll spend the bucks to be safe.I really appercieat (sp) you guys taking the time to answer my question! If I had to get Skinee involved, this could have gotten very techincal, which I would not have understoud, (SP) Andy needs a spell check on this site, so we don’t seem as dumb as we are. Again THANKS GUYS!
a while back the Gamm antenna’s were supposed to be the thing to have, I haven’t heard anything about them in quite a while
as far as spell check, try using Google Chrome, its faster than IE and spell checks everything for you
Appreciate, understood?
bulletsrcheap