i know that people have asked this in the past...
"is there a VHF radio that i can use with my FRS radios with"....what about this????
is this new??i dunno...just saw it in the store...
http://tinyurl.com/pm6h4
not bad....100$ less than an icom....and had FM/AM too!and a great size too....
Looks Great…
But did you read the reviews… about half returned the radio…
i did…
honestly i take any reviews with more than one grain of sand…
sounds neat though…
Garmin
Garmin has a FRS GPS VHF combo. Rhino 530 has FRS and GMRS AT UP TO 5 watts giving a range of about 12 miles plus gps with map downloading. W.M. has it for about $500.
as a ham operator
i shouldnt say this but there are mods available for most ham radios on the market, there are certain legal issues when it comes to operating out of band–i’ll leave that for your morality to deal with (and the fine you’d pay if caught), but there is a yeasu radio the VX-7R which can do it all and its submersible…of course you’d have to get a basic ham liscense to operate it and then deal with the morality issues above but this radio can be phenomenal
CQ CQ
Yaesu is on my Christmas wish list. A friend of mine showed me his. Nice.
With the Yaesu, you can only receive marine band frequencies, not transmit.
KD2BT
Over
One problem
If you’re on an extended trip, the temptation to eat up your battery by listening to AM or FM can be a problem. Is listening to a few tunes really worth your life?
If I want to listen to commercial radio, I’d bring a separate unit & save the VHF battery for things like emergencies or necessary communication. But that’s just me.
Wayne
Yep The radio is the last line
of defense. Make sure it’s ready to go.
2m mods
That’s one of the interesting things about 2m handhelds – many of them are designed to be modified for out-of-band operation by changing internal jumpers, bridging solder pads, etc., but it’s illegal to do so without special authorization(CAP, MARS, etc.) What’s frustrating is that there’s no technical reason you couldn’t have a multi-band 2m/marine VHF/commercial VHF handheld transceiver(other than getting a good antenna match) – the restrictions are all regulatory.
As a volumteer EMT I can carry a programmable multiband radio that does all that(136-174MHz Tx & Rx), but only for use in my official capacity.
Arrrgh.
for the back-ups to back-ups crowd
a small pelican box is ideal for carrying a fresh set of spare batteries
line of site
Hi all,
Don’t forget VHF is line of sight.
You sitting in your kayak a few inches above the water with you VHF radio and a 6 inch antenna the range of your 5 watt radio is very limited.
Make sure if you have a drama go to the high ground to achieve the aim. A bit hard whilst on the ocean (laugh)
I could go on with Antenna theory but I left the Army to go kayaking instead.
Solar panels
Guess it is time to glass in solar panels. Who’d a thought !