I’m trying to find a real waterproof, not just splashproof, VHF radio for a decent price. Short of buying a copy of the CFR46 Federal Regulations, I was not able to find any info on this spec. Better yet, what is the specification code for electronics truely submersible to say 1 meter? Thanks in advance.
Jim
No need to buy it
CFRs are available for free.
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=8bd1dac656035dc61474dc7f03596bdd&c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title46/46tab_02.tpl
usually defind as jis 5 or 6 or 7
google the term and definition and no doubt it will find out.
You left out JIS 8 or IPX 8
My new Icom radio meets IPX and JIS 8 standards. The standard says:
Grade 8 Protected against the effects of continuous immersion in water. Ingress of water in quantities causing harmful effects shall not be possible when the enclosure is continuously immersed in water under conditions which shall be agreed between manufacturer and user but which are more severe than for numeral 7.
The big difference is that the water depth is increased by 50% for the test to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes.
My new radio also has a feature that has a loud vibrating tone that causes the water in the speaker grill to be forced out. It works well.
when you can read the word usual
let me know.
I’m hoping that
all of the VHF manufacturers start following Icom’s lead and manufacture their radios to AT LEAST the new IPX or JIS 8 standards and that a new more robust definition of submersible becomes the standard and is the usual.
that’s saying something
Icom is definitely taking the lead IMHOP
Having been a diver
for a lot longer than I’ve been kayaking, I’ve never been too pleased with this one meter for half an hour standard. Why can’t they make VHF radios, GPS’s, etc, good to FIFTY meters? Dive lights, cameras, etc. do this with no problem. It’s NOT rocket science! (Hope some engineers who design equipment used by kayakers are listening). You may say a kayaker doesn’t need this kind of protection, but when I get pummeled by a ten foot breaker while surfing, my equipment will experience pressures far greater than they would during a one meter submersion.
Tony
The problem is…
…that you can’t make a radio that’s both compact AND submersible to substantial depth, at least not at a price that the public would be willing to pay. There are too many openings in the case, with the antenna, charger ports, aux speaker/mic ports, and all the buttons. It’s pretty simple to do it with a light, but look at all the gyrations and bulk that are necessary to make a deep submersible camera housing.
Besides, for a radio used for boating, it’s simply not necssary. The only time it would be an issue is if the radios is dropped overboard. What kayakers need is a radio that’s submersible to 1 meter AND highly resistant to hard splashing, such as occurs in surf. There are already radios on the market that meet that requirement, though not enough of them.