Fixed VHF Marine Radio or just Handheld?

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by thomm225

No, you are wrong there.
<snip>

Luckily my OpenCPN Charts were right on. I had my laptop out in the cockpit for that entrance.........had to decrease intensity though so it wouldn't blind me.

Not easy to find the intensity key. I was switching glasses from readers to distance.
<snip>

OpenCPN has a night mode. I think the 'c' key for color scheme. It's a black screen, with greys and yellows. Totally unusable during daytime, but if your eyes are adjusted for darkness it works ok.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by wholybee

OpenCPN has a night mode. I think the 'c' key for color scheme. It's a black screen, with greys and yellows. Totally unusable during daytime, but if your eyes are adjusted for darkness it works ok.

Thanks.

I'll try and remember that.

I have hit it by accident before though during the day ........ and didn't realize it was night mode.

The OpenCPN chart was right on though. That creek is very narrow and shallow in places so you need to stay in the channel close to the center.

4'9" in some spots and .9' just out of the channel. Once in you're good though. I anchored in 11' or so

https://www.waterwayguide.com/explor...82&mode=marina

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Jammer

You should come to the United States some time and see what the more remote parts of it are actually like before posting stuff like that.

I’m well aware for crappy the cell coverage is in places in theUS. Dark age crappy in places.

Mind you I sailed a lot in the Chesapeake and my cell worked well

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I’m well aware for crappy the cell coverage is in places in theUS. Dark age crappy in places.

Mind you I sailed a lot in the Chesapeake and my cell worked well

I've sailed the Chesapeake Bay a time or two also!!

Up North where the Bay is about 5-10 miles wide you had good reception or you were hugging the Western Shore as most folks do

Mid bay South and especially over toward the less populated Eastern Shore, it's quite a different story.

My generation is probably the last over there that was almost as isolated as those folks on Tangier with a similar accent as well.

The Southern Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel didn't get completed until 1964 and there wasn't many folks traveling down to the end of the DelMarVa Peninsula and riding the Ferry across

Northern Bridge was completed is 1952 or so

On the Eastern Side (ocean side) of the Eastern Shore out on the Barrier Islands there is almost no Cell phone reception at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upKqzxuJ5L4

[thomm225]

Not many cell phone towers on the lower Eastern Shore, but there are a few along the main highway....

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I've sailed the Chesapeake Bay a time or two also!!

Up North where the Bay is about 5-10 miles wide you had good reception or you were hugging the Western Shore as most folks do

Mid bay South and especially over toward the less populated Eastern Shore, it's quite a different story.

My generation is probably the last over there that was almost as isolated as those folks on Tangier with a similar accent as well.

The Southern Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel didn't get completed until 1964 and there wasn't many folks traveling down to the end of the DelMarVa Peninsula and riding the Ferry across

Northern Bridge was completed is 1952 or so

On the Eastern Side (ocean side) of the Eastern Shore out on the Barrier Islands there is almost no Cell phone reception at all.

Oh I know I owned a house on the eastern shore

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I’m well aware for crappy the cell coverage is in places in theUS. Dark age crappy in places.

Mind you I sailed a lot in the Chesapeake and my cell worked well

Right, try the southern shore of Lake Superior, the Mississippi River, or the border waters with Canada west of the Great Lakes (Namakan, Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods). Those are just the places I've actually been on a boat with a VHF (and a cell phone). Or anywhere more than a few miles from shore. In contrast, VHF coverage is typically available at least 20 miles offshore, even with a handheld radio. (https://www.federalregister.gov/docu...of-sea-area-a1)


The U.S. Coast Guard "does not endorse cell phones as a primary means of distress communications." (https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/maritime-telecommunications)


The Coast Guard VHF antennas are typically 300 feet above ground, are typically built on elevated sites along the coast. The stations are sited and operated to provide more or less continuous coverage on the water. Other nations have similar systems.


In contrast, the siting of cell phone base stations is variable with a trend towards lower antennas in recent years that provide more limited coastal coverage. As a rule there is no engineering goal on the part of the cell phone operators to provide coverage in these areas. The UHF frequencies and power levels (under 1 watt) in use do not provide the same useful range as VHF.

[George_SD]

Ideally both, but if you have cell service then getting a handheld with a better antenna (like the SlimDuck 5/8 2 meter)

[Jammer]

You really need one tuned to the marine band, not the 2 meter band. I have these on my Standard Horizon handhelds. It's necessary to trim the plastic skirt a little bit with a sharp knife, where the antenna meets the radio, to get them to fit:


https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-c...155-smv-detail

[goboatingnow]

Currently here in Greece I typically get 4GLTE out to about 30 nm offshore. Better coverage then handheld vhf

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Currently here in Greece I typically get 4GLTE out to about 30 nm offshore. Better coverage then handheld vhf

You have a bright future in American politics.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Jammer

You have a bright future in American politics.

And it goes around the mountains too.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

And it goes around the mountains too.

I'm thinking you have really good reception at your marina where you spend all your time posting on CF.

The rest you imagined or maybe it was a dream........

[team karst]

Originally Posted by George_SD

Ideally both, but if you have cell service then getting a handheld with a better antenna (like the SlimDuck 5/8 2 meter)

They quote a + 6 dB gain. Do u have one? Typical vhf helical is close to MINUS 10dB.

[George_SD]

Sorry, right not 2m, but 155Mhz.

https://www.smileyantenna.com/product-p/15520.htm

I have one of these and use on my Standard Horizon handheld. Works well.