Posts Tagged ‘Hand held VHF Marine Radio’
Time to do a safety check for the new boating season!
It’s time again!! Well – almost time as we still have a bit of snow on the ground and the ice hasn’t even started to turn black yet on the inland lakes. Time to review your list of required and needed safety items for this summer’s boating season. Of course, there’s always the essentials like life vests, air horn, compass, flares, life raft, and emergency rations. What isn’t included in that list that should have been is a hand held VHF marine radio. These radios need to be checked annually for good batteries, but other than that, they are really trouble free. Besides that, if they fell into the water, they’d float!! Water won’t hurt them up to about a meter below the surface so you could maintain constant contact with the emergency personnel at the USCG until your rescue is a success. The radio will help them locate you and your passengers. Don’t overlook this most important item this year. Happy Boater.
If you’re a klutz, you need a VHF floating radio…
We all have our moments, but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to rest assured that your “lifeline” is safe? You know – it’s something like having your glasses in your vest pocket and reaching over the edge of the boat to land that big one and in one big sweeping pass, you net that big lunker and watch your glasses fly out of your pocket and into the drink – down – down- down and feel that helpless feeling that one has to experience rather than describe. If this sounds like a road that you may have traveled down, then you need to pick yourself up a little hand held VHF marine radio! These little radios will be your link to everything from the weather to a lifeline if needed due to the 24/7 direct link on channel 16 to the USCG for emergencies. Besides that, if the others in your party have a radio also (which they should) you can communicate with them on one of the other frequencies. What a way to go!! Happy Boater.
You never know when you may have to use your VHF radio…
This past weekend I was enjoying an ice cream treat with my wife while riding around in the car. We always enjoy sitting by the lake shore and watching the action of the waves as well as boats coming and going out of the harbor. This particular evening (and it was beginning to get dusk) we spied a lone fisherman out on the lake…literally jumping from one ice flow to another to do a bit of ice fishing. Now, I enjoy ice fishing, but there’s limits to everything! No fish is worth what he was doing!! These ice floes were approximately 10′ square and he was out about 250 feet from shore in about 30 feet of water. I really thought that I’d be the one calling in an emergency call when he either slipped of the floe into the drink or simple broke through. Well that didn’t happen while we watched and I don’t know if he caught any fish, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was (in my opinion) a foolish action on his part. If a person were to try something like this, though, it would be foolish to try it without equipping your fishing outfit with a hand held VHF marine radio – one that floats!! Happy Boater.
When outfitting your “emergency pack” think VHF…
Every boat should have an emergency pack. This pack can, of course, hold just about anything that you consider important but there are a few items that every bag should include. Aside from the obvious items such as a life raft and life vests, there should be flares, a knife, an extra tarp, and a hand held VHF marine radio with extra batteries. These little radios provide a BIG service to you in case of an emergency. They have about a 20 mile broadcast range over water and will actually float if you accidentally drop the radio into the “drink”. With one of these on board, one can stay in constant contact with the USCG until help arrives. This little radio also has the capability of receiving weather updates via NOAA 24/7 so you will always be in touch with the latest important information. Happy Boater.
Ice fishing? …Don’t forget your hand held VHF marine radio!
Nearly every week in the northland we hear of a stranded ice fisherman who found himself floating on an ice flow which broke away from the main ice. …afloat at sea…not a great position to be in! Sure, a lot of the wiser fishermen drag a boat out there with them so if that happened, they’d be able to get back to shore or to the main ice flow. Trust me – not everyone is that wise! A hand held VHF marine radio fits nicely into your vest pocket! Why wouldn’t you take one with – that is, of course, if you didn’t have one! Make this the day that you remedy that problem. Take the bull by the horns and buy yourself some 24/7 direct communication with the USCG plus constantly updated weather advisories so you know if you will be facing a strong winds that would tend to break off ice flows – hopefully without you on them! Peace of mind is priceless and a hand held VHF marine radio is very affordable – check it out! Happy Boater.
Boating season is a day closer every day!
Sometimes waiting for spring to pop into full bloom is like waiting for your birthday as a child…it just seems like it never gets there! Now, those of us that have had maybe a few too many birthdays find them sneaking up on us faster than they maybe should – right? Oh well – it’s just a number as long as we feel good. With spring comes that boating season with all the expectations of a great summer and loads of fun on the water. Is this going to be that season for you that you make good on your promise to yourself to upgrade your boat speaker with marine speakers? …or maybe simply adding a VHF marine radio on board (either a fixed mount VHF Radio or a hand held VHF marine radio) to allow that added safety aspect that maybe has been missing on board your boat?? Whatever your situation, use this spring which is rapidly closing in on us to make those critical changes and improvements You won’t be disappointed!! Happy Boater.
So you think you only need a VHF marine radio in the summer?
That ice on the lakes feels real hard and looks thick – …and it really could be thick! But, if the ice isn’t frozen from shore to shore, there’s always a chance of the wind shifting and blowing you out to sea on what will become your own personal ice flow. Just this year in our area several ice fisherman have had to be rescued from an ice flow that broke off and went on it’s merry way to who knows where! At these times, it would be a wonderful idea to have carried with you a hand held VHF marine radio. Maybe you rarely use it, but in this case it could literally save your life. These little wonders have the ability to communicate with the USCG on a 24/7 basis. Weather updates are issued regularly and if you were the one stuck on an ice flow and on your way to who-knows-where on it, this little radio would keep you in touch with the coast guard until a rescue was accomplished. Never underestimate the weather – or the elements caused by the weather like a frozen lake. Winter can be fun, but do it in a safe manner.
Happy Boater.
Is a safety kit necessary?
How many times have you heard someone say…”ahh we’ll be ok – I’ve done this a thousand times”. Then, the bottom drops out. Everything that shouldn’t happen, happens. At that moment, if you’re the one in charge, you’d look pretty foolish to those with you if you didn’t have a plan in place to aid the situation. Why not avoid that embarrassing situation and have a safety kit all the essentials in place. What are those items??? Well, if you’re on the water, a hand held VHF marine radio would be on the top of the list according to every authority I can come across with. An inflatable raft, of course, paddle, and maybe field glasses, but the most incredible thing is that you know that you will have communication unbroken until rescued with your VHF marine radio as it will provide direct communication with the USCG 24/7 on channel 16 as well as weather advisories. Besides all that, your radio is waterproof so you don’t have to worry if it gets splashed with water and it will float if dropped into the water! Wow. No wonder why it’s on the top of the list. Think about putting together your emergency kit this year before the boating season really kicks off. Be prepared. Happy Boater.
Be informed to stay on top…
I think there is nothing sadder than those of us that keep doing the same things over and over simply because “it’s always been done that way”. There is nothing to be gained by accepting the “old way of doing things” unless you can verify that it has some merit. Now, don’t get me wrong – a lot of the old ways of doing things are usually that way because a lot of folks have tried them and proven their effectiveness so don’t be too hasty throwing out the old ways of thinking!! I’m thinking more of those who simply accept some things because they don’t know there’s something better that’s just out of their reach. Case in point….when I was in elementary school, my brother (2 years younger than me) received his first pair of glasses. During supper one night I simply tried them on and discovered that for the first time in my life I could actually see individual leaves on the trees instead of a green blur and that same night I discovered that the clock on the wall had a second hand. Now, I was in the 6th grade so was not a little tyke, but the sad part of this is that I always thought I could see as well as anybody else so why complain?? It’s great to see the light!! I feel the same way about the large gap between what communication equipment used to be vs what it is today. I generally like to focus on VHF marine radio equipment as well as marine speakers because these items are among those whose day has come to step up and be noticed. They also fit keenly into the slot of being one of – if not the top item when considering safety items on a boat. These marine speakers are waterproof and the VHF radios are even available in a hand held VHF marine radio to allow portability and safe communication even if they are dropped into the water! Let’s get on board with some of these ideas and keep your friends and family safe this upcoming boating season! Happy Boater.
VHF doesn’t have to be bulky!!
As with everything, necessity is the mother of invention. Over the recent years, we’ve seen VHF marine radios change in style and color, but the most important change is size! Yes, today you can actually have a hand held VHF marine radio in your vest pocket! Now that’s nice. These personally sized units are designed to literally save your life as they are sized to be part of your “emergency exit pack” on board your life raft. They are waterproof to about 1 meter and limited time, but if they get wet, no sweat – they will keep you in communication with a rescue vessel until they find you and arrive. If they get dropped in the water accidentally, they float! As with the larger, fixed VHF Marine Radio, the hand held VHF marine radio will receive the weather advisories as well as give you instant 24/7 communication with the USCG at the push of a button on channel 16. Although these units are not approved in some areas like England, they are widely used throughout the world. Just think how many of these units are being used today in Australia with all their flooding to coordinate rescue efforts in that country. Don’t let another season slip by without putting that on the top of your “NEED” list and be safe. Happy Boater.