I own a Standard HX350 VHF radio. It’s a solid unit that has held up well, albeit a bit bulky. I’ve been storing the radio in my PFD pocket. I’ve noticed that the speaker doesn’t work after being submerged. The directions indicate holding it upside down so the water can drain out. This has been met with mixed success. The issue of course is that I can’t use the darned thing after submersion or at least until it dries out. My alternative is to place it in a waterproof bag - which is fine - but I am curious if this problem is unique to my VHF or if others have encountered similar problems.
VHF submersion
I own a Standard VHF radio, but a smaller version that is submersible. On my radio, after submersion, all I have to do is forcefully blow out the water from the speaker. This always works well, at least on the model I have. Try it on yours.
Tony
Same for me, blowing it out works
next time I’ll ICON. thats it for me
It’s normal
I’ve tried several VHF radios and they all react the same way. Blowing the water off the speaker solves the problem quickly.
Speaker reliability
The issue I’ve encountered is that only sometimes does blowing work - not all the time. Perhaps this is unique to my unit, but I’ve had several situations where the speaker needed over an hour to dry out before it worked again. I called Standard Horizon about this problem and they said it will vary and blowing water out of the speaker doesn’t consistently guarantee that it will work again before drying. My primary concern is that if you ever needed this in a situation where you’re declaring a mayday - and in your in the water, for example - it might not work, which is not at all ideal. Thanks to the craftiness of my kayak partner, I will be placing my unit in a customized dry bag that isn’t as bulky as some of the more popular bags on the market. My goal is to keep it dry and keep it on my PFD where it should be. Perhaps ICOM and other good brands don’t have the same problems, but my impression is that water in the speaker is a weak point for these radio units.
Blowing on it has always worked for me
It’s worked with the HX460, the Icom M1V and M88 and the Uniden Voyager. Perhaps it’s less effective with other models.