Hand Held Vhf Radio's

[Darren Mc]

Would a hand held Vhf radio be sufficient if boating in Moreton Bay and close in offshore Moreton island and Stradbroke Island?

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

[scottar]

Very limited range Darren. A standard set is 25 watt output, a handheld is 5 watt. This coupled with an antenna that is less efficient means your average maximum simplex range (without a repeater) tops out at about 5 Nm. If you are looking at the quality brands like Icom, they are not that much cheaper and the batteries have a limited lifespan and are not exactly cheap to replace. Used in a commercial application on a daily basis we kill a battery in about 12 months. With careful management I would think you would do better with recreational use though. My recommendation would be towards a permanent in boat unit if at all possible.

[Darren Mc]

Thanks scottar, i thought that was the case but just wanted confirmation from more knowledgable people like yourself.
Looks might i might have to go the in boat type then. Thanks for the help.

[PROS]

I have a raymarine handheld radio as spare in the boat.
Handheld has a very limited range, definitely advise towards main unit.

[GBC]

I have a 5w submersible uniden MHS 125 for the kayak. I can transmit from Moreton island back to Coastguard Redcliffe no problem, and have spoken to Urangan from Coongul Creek no problem (on ch 73, not the repeater 22).
It is a few years old now and still stays charged for a whole trip no worries.
If it was my only radio for a boat I'd prefer a solid mount, but a handheld is a pretty good backup plan considering I got mine for about $150.00.

[madmaskbass]

After reading back through the long and extensive search history on this subject everyone says the same thing so I followed the advice and bought a decent fixed mount and decent aerial...if you type pretty much anything to do with fishing even slightly related into Google and follow it with ausfish you'll get years of great advice. I too had no idea and wanted the easiest and most effective method