VHF RANGE

[mju_75]

hey there ausfisher's

I know there is a lot of factors too consider but on average what range would u get from a vhf currently i have 27 meg which is good but went out too mud island the other night and logged on which i usually do especially when going of a night timei put in at manly there and when i come home the paticular night i manly was closed as it was after 9.00pm and the closet VMR,Coast guard that was till was Redcliffe and the old 27 meg from manly did'nt cut it so ended up ringing them up which is always an option but be nice too know u can get too coats guard whereever you are

Cheers

Mark

[joey_1987]

As a general rule, VHF range is said to be 'to the horizon+a little bit' or basically line of sight. The height of the antennas plays a role in the range, and coast stations usually have very high antennas so they can transmit and receive long distances. How far away were you from the coast stations? Cheers.

[mirage]

I don't have any accurate figures but I reckon a VHF radio will have at least twice the range of a 27Mhz. Of course it will depend on your antenna set up, power output etc.

I can talk to Redcliffe Coast Gaurd when I'm 20Nm NE of Mooloolaba on the VHF. That's probably about 60Nm. Wouldn't have a chance doing that with a 27 I'd reckon.

Cheers.

[seatime]

G'day

Joey's got it, line-of-sight is the general rule of thumb, maybe a little further, but work on the minimum.
There are some variables, mostly to do with the set-up on your boat:

power supply and connections - the main cause of faulty radios

coaxial cables and connections - corrosion, cable joiners

2 metres, for argument sake, is about average for someone standing in their boat, this will give you an horizon of about 12 miles, atmospherics not included. Add the height of the aerials ashore and on the boat, and you can do the maths. This will be in range of the typical trailerable fishing boat, and the output and recieving power of a VHF radio on board.

regards

[marlinqld]

I wqould have thought 27meg would get to redcliffe from where you were.

I would check your connections for corrosion/oxidisation.

should do a bit better than that,

Mike

[subzero]

Plus of course you can use repeaters on VHF. Even from Mud, using a repeater you SHOULD most likely get VMR Southport without to much difficulty. Repeaters CAN extend your range by as much as up to 100km. Its always a very difficult Q to answer, lot of variables as stated above.

Cheers Lloyd

[Dave]

I tested mine down at the Pin near the bar and could clearly hear and talk to boat up past Caloundra and Mooloolaba. That was on ch 21 using the repeater.

Dave

[ozscott]

is there a list of the repeater stations Lloyd?

[banshee]

These figures taken from GME GX 600 manual, depending on antenna height, ship to ship at least 8nm and up to 27nm, ship to shore 25nm to 50nm.

[subzero]

21 Lighthouse - Cape Moreton
22 reservoir Viewland Drive - Noosa Heads
80 Mt Wolvi - Double Island Point
80 Point Lookout (Lighthouse) - North Stradbroke
81 Mt Glorious - Brisbane
82 Big Angle - Sandy Straights
82 Yellowwood Hill - Benleigh

Courtesy of wichway

[charleville]

I wqould have thought 27meg would get to redcliffe from where you were.

I would check your connections for corrosion/oxidisation.

should do a bit better than that,

I agree. I use 27MHz and hear Redcliffe all the time from Manly to Mud.

With 27MHz, there do appear to be a lot of freaky transmissions, though. eg I have sat in Cobby Passge and heard traffic from South Australia and transmissions from Jacob's Well are often heard at night at Mud but I am not sure that the opposite would happen such that transmission would be impeded between Manly and Redcliffe.

However, I always notice that transmissions from the Moreton bay Trailer Boat Club who monitor to 9.30pm on behalf of the Manly Coastguard and others on weekdays are much weaker than those from the Manly Coastguard itself which really boom over the loudspeaker. I really notice that difference when I am right inside the Manly boat harbour so that makes me think that the Coastguard has a much stronger transmitter.

Accordingly, I wonder if Redcliffe is likewise not as strong.

Also, I did come into Manly late one Sunday night and tried to radio to the Manly Coastguard on Channel 88 to log out after my trip and they were not receiving me. I eventually had to drive around to see them after loading the boat on the trailer to tell them that they were not receiving me and they said that it was all ok at their end. Kinda strange as my gear worked perfectly well the next day and every day since. I still wonder if they wer eoff air at that time without knowing it.

It was good to see that they had highlighted my callsign though as being a boat that had not called to log out after the trip.

Anyway, what a long tale. I agree with Marlin Mike though, a bit of a check for corrosion and a spray of connections with WD40 might help.

[nofrills]

hey mark

most of the fishers northern moreton bay chatter on VHF21.i just have the normal old GME/VHF and i can talk to mates that are out off Double Island Point clear as a bell,this is using a repeater channel.

i can also talk to people fishing caloundra wide when my boat is in the yard out the back of morayfield.my record is talking to dazza [ausfish member}from inskip point to morayfield.

cheers scotty

[subzero]

This might help, I knew I had it somewhere... out with the calculators

[Mr__Bean]

Resized

[subzero]

Thanks for that Mr_Bean, must learn how to do that one day. I have deleted my version and saved the resized one.
Cheers Lloyd