Effectiveness of handheld VHF when in dinghy or kayak

[Peter & Judy]

When my wife and I kayak on the west coast of British Columbia we both carry Standard Horizon HX870 VHF radios. I consider these mainly for local communications to a boat or land station nearby. Even with our C-Dory and an 8 foot antenna on top of the boat and a much stronger radio, we are often in dead spots where no communications are possible. For that reason we also carry a McMurdo Fast Find Ranger PLB and an InReach Explorer. Previously I carried a Spot, but switched over the the InReach a few years ago, as I wanted two way communications.

Typically we both carry our VHF radios and I carry the Fast find and a regular Garmin GPS. Judy carries the InReach. This way we both have a PLB of one sort or another and we both have the GPS.

I consider the PLB the long range signal device and the VHF the short range device. The coast guard, RCMP, Park Wardens and Rangers are all now recommending that every party carries one of these PLB's. Rescue can be initiated almost immediately on receipt of one of these signals. I have in my past life as a mountaineer been rescued twice. In both cases the rescue took anywhere from 12 hours to two days to take place. This is because there was no way to communicate from the backcountry and we either had to send a runner out to call for help or be reported missing. With todays technology there is much less risk of this happening. But this is also not a excuse to be reckless, you still have to be prepared with the skills and equipment to keep yourself safe and be able to help yourself. On that note, these above mentioned items are all dependant on batteries and that is the weak link in electronic safety equipment.

[tomherrick]

Thanks all for the informative discussion. Just finished my orders with The GPS Store for two HX890s and two ACR 2921 ResQLink 400 PLBs. I think these'll do us for the time being as we're just getting started with this technology.

All the best to y'all...

T

[hardee]

BRINGING THIS BACK --> New interesting info.

About a month ago, I had a USCG Safety Training instructor on my boat and we were doing "person in the water recovery drills." (PIWRs). He showed up in full uniform (and his wife did too -- she was the PIW for the watch me do this part, then you do me). It was a great learning experience, done in open water with 1 to 2 foot waves and 15 to 20 knot winds. (Silly me, I was sitting in the boat thinking maybe he would call and say there was too much weather to go do the drill. Ha, He called it calm and they always work in "weather").

Back to the full uniform. A dry suit for each, a PFD with knife and hh VHF securely attached.

The VHF was of interest -- I know mine are "water proof" IP67 or better so I asked about his. It is the same on the USCG Rescue Swimmers use when they go into the water from a helo. He also told me that he had forgotten to take it off his buoyancy compensator before he did a deep dive one day. He spent 10 minutes a 100 feet and did not realize he still had it on until he was getting onto the boat after the dive. It still works.

ICOM M-73. His recommendation is that if you get it from West Marine to add the extra 3 year warranty coverage (about $50) and you have a lifetime coverd hh VHF.

ICOM LINK:
https://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/marine/handhelds/m73/specifications.aspx

Harvey
SleepyC

[tomherrick]

Hmmm, I probably shoulda gotten that warranty, Harvey. The batteries on both of our HX890s appear to be toast. When we first moved to Gold Beach I had them both in their charging cradles full time here at the house. We weren't using them over the winter and I just got mine out for a bit Pacific kayak fishing. It worked briefly, but I found it dead after a few hours out on the water. Now I see no indication that the battery is charging on mine, although it'll come on for a minute or so then squalk a battery warning at me.

One thread a few years back on some website, folks were complaining that the GPS would stay on when the unit was off. This can be user-controlled, but a lot of folks, including me, didn't know about it. That might be our problem, but the batteries don't seem to be responding; there is no charging indicator.

On edit, I checked the voltage on both 7.4V batteries ; mine was 7.2V, LL's was 6.4V. Hmmmm.... I also just saw this note in the user manual:

[hardee]

Tom, Good info. I have taken the batteries out of my SH handhelds for over the winter.

I did check on the ICOM M-73s and they do not have a separate battery tray for non rechargeable alkalines. BUT, there is an option to purchase a second rechargeable battery pack. I think I would do that if I was getting one of those radios. To keep a charged pack in my ditch bag.

Harvey
SleepyC

[tomherrick]

Wierd, but welcome, change... This morning, both radios showed full charge, but the charging icon wasn't on while they were in the charging cradles. Only info I found in the manual was that the icon was supposed to display while in a plugged-in cradle. So I called S-H tech support and asked if I was missing something. While on the phone with him, I picked up a radio and the icon came on - for a coupla seconds - then off again, then on-off-on-off several times. He had no idea why, but did say that they should be charged about every six weeks if you're not using them.

That's all for now. All's well that ends as well as it could.