Best VHF

[tanglewood]

For all you radio aficionados, what is the best performing VHF available? I don't care about AIS, I don't care about NMEA 2000 support. I just care about VHF performance talking to other people, and am wondering what units are the best.

We just completed a rally on about 25 boats, and VHF performance across the fleet varied widely - really widely. So if someone wanted to refit with the very best, what would it be?

Thanks

[BlackHeron]

Antenna...Antenna...Antenna.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by tanglewood

For all you radio aficionados, what is the best performing VHF available? I don't care about AIS, I don't care about NMEA 2000 support. I just care about VHF performance talking to other people, and am wondering what units are the best.

We just completed a rally on about 25 boats, and VHF performance across the fleet varied widely - really widely. So if someone wanted to refit with the very best, what would it be?

Thanks

The best performing VHF is the one that is installed properly (i.e. to best practice). The installation is by far the most important aspect of a radio's performance. Any name brand radio (Icom, Standard Horizon) will have similar specifications (although there are minor differences between them) but all will operate poorly if not installed correctly.

You need:

• Good Antenna
• Low loss coax
• Antenna height
• Quality connectors
• Coax and connectors well supported and sealed
• Good DC wiring

The above is a start and should ensure a low VSWR for the antenna feeder / antenna and good Tx power. However miss any one of them and performance will fall off quickly.

[Jim Cate]

^^^^^^

Wot Wottie said! Nowadays there is not much difference between radios in terms of performance... the differences are all in the bells and whistles, most of which are not particularly useful.

Jim