Does anyone use a mast mounted antenna with repeater for extending the range of their handheld? Is that a reasonable idea?
-Will (Dragonfly)
-Will (Dragonfly)
Opinions on hand held vhf radios
- Thread starter pumpkinpie
- Start date
I'm confused - where would you put the repeater?
Such a system is common but it's hard to imagine how or why on a boat.
I have a Standard Horizon HX270S that is pretty old. Submersible. Has given very good service. Still using the original rechargeable batteries - that is amazing! Its small and has 3 power levels. I would definitely buy it again. Has a backup battery tray that uses AA batteries should you run out of power. I have never used it.
I have a Simrad RS35 VHF radio with Simrad HS35 handset that connects via bluetooth to the main unit - that's my repeater. Oh, and I do keep a separate handheld at the helm for backup.
I think that's a great choice. You have the range of a masthead antenna and cockpit function. I've posted before that the radio at the nav station is useless for the cockpit. A remote speaker and mic is better and less sensitive to battery issues.
I don't know much about these things, but what I had in mind was a repeater with a masthead antenna. The repeater would work with a duplex connection to a vest mounted handheld. This would give the sailor the power, range and listening sensitivity of a fixed system but the mobility of a handheld. I'm thinking about a solo sailors in an MOB situation. A handheld alone from 0 height above the water would have no more than a quarter mile range depending on the antenna height of the other party. With a repeater on board, the MOB's radio signal would remain just as strong as long as his masthead was within sight. After that, the handheld would revert to a simplex connection and he'd still have that 1/4 mile range or so.
-Will (Dragonfly)
I may be conconflating two unrelated posts, but bluetooth has a very limited range. Would not be suitable in a MOB situation. Unless you are a very fast swimmer.
No intention for the bluetooth unit to go overboard with me. That's what the other unit(s) are for. As @Stu Jackson says, the edge of the boat is a 1000 ft cliff - you don't fall off!
Two different, but not unrelated posts.
I don't plan to be an MOB, but I dare say, even MOBs don't plan to be MOBs.
How much more reassuring would it be to have a working radio with you if you find yourself watching your boat sail away without you?
-Will (Dragonfly)
Good idea. Unfortunately, repeaters require separate transmit and receive frequencies and a duplexer to simultaneously do both. The antenna part is easy but allowing it to do both simultaneously is the part which requires the additional equipment.
However, there are radios which can do it. The problem is the ‘sticker shock’ - my club has one but it costs around $2000 as I recall.
Will, I have not seen such a setup for a boat. Suspect it could be done. As Don says the land based units I found were more bucks than most would spend. We spend $300 on a radio and cry too much. Think about spending $2-3K to "repeat the signal" from your $300 radio.
Have a chart table mounted Standard Horizon GX2200 with AIS/GPS and masthead antenna with a remote mike by the wheel, and presently have a Standard Horizon floating hand held w/o GPS for dinghy and backup. We also run that attached to the dodger monitoring alternative channels.
Wife is also safety conscious and wanted to upgrade the hand held to the Standard Horizon HX890 floating hand held with GPS/DSC.
Wife is also safety conscious and wanted to upgrade the hand held to the Standard Horizon HX890 floating hand held with GPS/DSC.
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I upgraded my VHF with a B&G V50 fixed mount radio, and purchased the optional handheld unit for the helm.
The base is well equipped with AIS, DCS and NMEA2000 connectivity. It does not have its own internal GPS (but I networked mine to my Garmin N2K chart plotter).
The hand held replicates the functionality of the base unit, and communicates THROUGH the base, thereby using the mast mounted antenna. This gets far longer reach than a handheld at the water level.
I have this set up for a few years now and have not had any issues with it. I keep the handheld in it’s charging cradle (below deck) when I am not on the boat, and then move it to the helm when I am on the water. You could mount the charging cradle at the helm if you spent tons of time on the water (cruising).
Here is a review from 2014:
https://www.cruisingworld.com/gear/bg-v50-vhf-radio/
Greg
The base is well equipped with AIS, DCS and NMEA2000 connectivity. It does not have its own internal GPS (but I networked mine to my Garmin N2K chart plotter).
The hand held replicates the functionality of the base unit, and communicates THROUGH the base, thereby using the mast mounted antenna. This gets far longer reach than a handheld at the water level.
I have this set up for a few years now and have not had any issues with it. I keep the handheld in it’s charging cradle (below deck) when I am not on the boat, and then move it to the helm when I am on the water. You could mount the charging cradle at the helm if you spent tons of time on the water (cruising).
Here is a review from 2014:
https://www.cruisingworld.com/gear/bg-v50-vhf-radio/
Greg
I also have the Simrad RS35 and HS35 handset (very similar to the B&G V50). It is a very convenient way of getting the full masthead range when at the helm. Early versions of the firmware were pretty buggy (things like intermittently disabling the whole NMEA network), but now those bugs are mostly worked out. The volume range is a little limited, and it wouldn't work as a personal handset if you were separated by the boat, but I greatly prefer it over just having a radio down below, or being limited to the range of a handheld at the helm.
Yep. I have a small handheld I could take in a ditch bag too. But I do like the H50 handheld and the base station below decks.
Greg