buying a vhf radio

[scottar]

Shade under $300 is a good price for the Icom in Aus. You do see them a lot cheaper OS but can not guarantee they are genuine.

[chocolatemoose]

i would be looking at the new VHF units from raymarine. thew ray50. all come with dsc and nmea2k as standard "not that anyone uses it "but the right power. the right quality and price...... i wouldnt really of recomended them in the past. but... here we are

[Scott79]

Couldn't really find an Australian price on the Ray50, do you know what the RRP will be Moose?

It is replacing a flush mounted GME, I am yet to do a measure up but the Raymond looks to be a bit of an odd shape anyway.

[Crunchy]

Couldn't find any units same size as GME I was replacing but let me know if you do. The icons were higher / narrower

[chocolatemoose]

hmm yeah gme have their own sizes.. most brands have their own size . there isnt a DIN for communciation.
the Ray50 is RRP at $330

[Lovey80]

Is there a unit that does 27mhz, VHF and AM/FM? All in one? Even in more expensive units?

[scottar]

Is there a unit that does 27mhz, VHF and AM/FM? All in one? Even in more expensive units?

Not that I know of. There was/is? a receive only GME kicking around but nothing that will do transmit as well.

[chocolatemoose]

i had a customer come in a week or so ago looking for a waterproof case for this radio of his....he went home to bring it in and show me. it had UHF/VHF and.... some kind of CB with am/fm..............and tape...........circa early 90s? out of a mining truck he said. so. yeah i guess there has been. it was fairly wide however

to my knowlege however nothing really recreational grade and marinized atm

[Fed]

Lowrance made a VHF / FM radio now discontinued but still available.
http://www.chsmith.com.au/Products/L...-FM-Radio.html
GME make an oversized flush mount kit which may or may not help you Crunchy. I think we're in the same boat...
https://www.whitworths.com.au/main_i...tAbsolutePage=

I've come to the conclusion the best way to go is find a VHF radio that also has FM then make up my own escutcheon plate.

The PO of my boat cut a big ugly hole right in the middle of the dash and at the time the standard GME flush mount kit saved the day but now I want a combination unit that slots in with minimal fuss.

I did call GME a few years ago to see if they had a VHF/FM in the pipeline but sadly they didn't.

[chocolatemoose]

the reception issues with a combind VHF/fm just makes for such a bad listening experience. IMO.. stereos cost peanuts, please bless your ears with a decent head unit as well as a coms radio

[scottar]

What Moose says. Probably easier to find a stereo to cover the hole the old GME has left if you don't want an adapter /cover plate and find a different home for the VHF. Any combination radio in relation to VHF/27 Mhz would still require multiple antennas to be effective due to the requirements being so vastly different. Chances are it would cost a heap too if there was any sort of quality about it. Australia is one of the last strongholds (and that is a debatable statement) for 27Mhz in the world so the numbers simply would not be there for any company to invest in the R&D. You would be better off with seperate sets in any argument apart from space saving.

[chocolatemoose]

gme and uniden were the only 2 major players creating 27mhz. last year uniden stopped production of 27mhz and ... pretty much has been letting stock dry up since. . GME is it really

"there was one other brand whos name escapes me.. budget dick smith style?"

[Rip it up]

I add a little to this topic.

I recently installed the lowrance link 5 dsc vhf radio unit and a fusion ra 50 stereo unit. A band splitter is used to wire the one aerial to both units. And I have tested the unit from 100km away from repeater station out at sea and still can contact VMR clearly. The radio operated actually commented that we were doing well to report our position from that reef as most boats come across scratchy. So I don't think the band splitter was doing me any harm.

I can't speak for the waterproof nature of the new lowrance units. But I'm pretty happy with the build quality and it was only $250 online.

Like others have said most boaties don't bother to get the MMSI number for the dsc radio as it involves a radio course and certificate. I did however go through the whole arrangement to get the boat fully compliant with the authorities. And it adds a certain amount of comfort when headed 100kms offshore that my epirb, vhf, and personal details are all on the database in Canberra. The rescue guys do an incredible job when they need to help us out. So any little detail that can help them to pick me and my crew out of the big wide blue ocean, sounds good to me.


Damo's dodgy boat building factory.

[catfish55]

I have a icon with dsc mate almost new in very good as almost new cost 350 sell for 250 ! Wanting to upgrade to ais
$250 pm me if your interested in boat now
pat

[Scott79]

Pass, thanks mate.