For Horn - upping the Ante
For years I've used the Standard Horizon LH5 and it has sufficed well. This model has been discontinued for awhile but it has a lot of bells and whistles. (bad pun). Besides having a no-brainer button panel for being able to select the appropriate signal for under power in fog, under sail in fog, aground in fog, etc., a REALLY nice feature is the Listen-Back one.
While the first thought might be to broadcast ones presence via the horn (whistle) function, the Listen-Back feature, in conjunction with their horn, allows those on the vessel to be able hear better what is ahead. This is really handy, especially in pea soup fog while proceeding slowly because one can hear motors, people talking (but not really understanding what they're saying though), and hear other noises that would otherwise be missed.
To keep the horn as far from the cockpit as possible, it is mounted on a board then temporarily clamped to the push-pit with a reasonably sized wire running aft via the forward hatch to the loud hailer.
Due to the increase in the number of powerboats in recent years, many of whom retire to the inside when it is foggy and cold outside, the plan is to up the ante to an air horn. Unfortunately, this can bring along some complications with regard to installation as the wire size will need to be increased and a solenoid used to operate it with the loud hailer.
Anyway, nothing like having another project in progress.
Remember the sailboat on Clear Lake in California that was T-boned by the out of control deputy sherif and the sailboat operator was cited? Well, it pays to make sure ones actions meet the letter of the law, not that this will necessarily get one off the hook as we so well remember. Okay, so a little bit of sarcasm.
Reference:
http://navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/navRules/navrules.pdf
Forgot to mention, the SeaDog below was one I had been looking at last week. 123 dB and it's an air horn with an air pump. I'd really like a louder one but this one is interesting.
