Time for a new radio...

since I dropped mine into the bay...DOH!  I was looking at the Uniden Voyager, or the small Standard-Horizon, any words of wisdom appreciated.  Anybody use an external speaker/mic?  Its an option on both and it would allow you to keep your radio in its pocket.  After yesterday keeping it your pocket sure seems like it might be a good idea.  In case you haven't tried it my VHF sank like megabait....GONE!!!

Just bought the Standard 460 nice and small, looked at all the reviews it tested very waterprooof.
Stuart turned me on to "Planet GPS" good price no tax plus $7.95 overnight shipping. Got in less than 24hrs.
http://planetgps.net/stdhx460ss.html
 

Sean,
Bummer!!  I've had more than my share of losses this year too.

Weren't you guys fishing in 5 ft of water or so?  You should have felt around with your toes or just jumped in after it!!!

Stuart

I have the HX470S and it's been great so far.  Mine has VHF, Weather, FRS, MURS, Air Traffic, FM, and AM bands.

I also think it would be best to use an external speaker/mic with it.  I use one everyday for work at the airport.

Weren't you guys fishing in 5 ft of water or so?  You should have felt around with your toes or just jumped in after it!!!

True... since we were anchored it might have been worth a try.  I once recovered a cell phone that way at Lake Del Valle... but then again that was a lake.  The cell phone was only a few weeks old, so I returned it and got a new one.

Sean - West Marine will match a lower cost price with any of the VHF radios that they sell. Just look around in the web for a cheap one and print out the info and bring it to any West Marine to get the lower cost. That's what I did with my Uniden VHF 

I have the Cobra HH400 XVP and am very happy with it.
I got it on Ebay new for $121.
A little bigger than some of the others, not much, but should make it easier to find if I fumble it over the side.
Oh yea, it's JIS7..waterproof..submersible

You could sew some velcro straps on the front shoulder of your life jacket with heavy thread ( try boat stores for whipping twine, or 30-50# mono, and sailmaker's needles), loop the lanyard around the shoulder strap, secure it with the straps, then the radio would be near enuf to your mouth to transmit , you could operate it with one hand, and could see the readout by twisting it toward you.  And if you fall in, it should be mostly out of the water.

Stu-I dropped it when I was un-anchored and heading towards calmer water.  I breifly thought about it, but with the current and the mud I figured it was a no-go.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll have to go to West Marine and check them both out.

I have the HX470S and it's been great so far.  Mine has VHF, Weather, FRS, MURS, Air Traffic, FM, and AM bands.

I also think it would be best to use an external speaker/mic with it.  I use one everyday for work at the airport.

What brand is that Chuck, I still need to get a vhf radio.  Sean, I know nothing about these radios whatsoever, any info or likes and dislikes people have for theirs would be cool to read.

   The power of mud: It would have been pure luck if you'd retrieved it, let alone if it still worked.  I used to keep a boat in a berth and once  dropped  a heavy winch handle in the 10 ft of water and marked the spot on the dock, fished around for it for a long time; a relative even went down in scuba gear and couldn't find it in the mud.  I know it didn't drift away or drop to the side because it was so heavy and there was never any current or surge.

 Radios: Has anyone done any experiments to see whether there's a practical difference for kayakers in the differences in transmitting power and reception for different radios?   Do the signals go by line-of-sight?  Say I'm 15 miles up the coast (but just a mile out) from the nearest receiver,with mountains in between- is a cheapo as effective as a more powerful one at that range? From the chatter, it seems the commercial guys are a lot further away than the sports.   I've got an ICOM IC-MIV, which is a little larger than some of the cheap ones, and it has a 7" antenna sticking out of the top.  It works fine, but when (not if!) I lose it, I wonder if a smaller cheaper one would be just as good for my purposes.

I have the HX470S and it's been great so far.  Mine has VHF, Weather, FRS, MURS, Air Traffic, FM, and AM bands.

I also think it would be best to use an external speaker/mic with it.  I use one everyday for work at the airport.

What brand is that Chuck, I still need to get a vhf radio.  Sean, I know nothing about these radios whatsoever, any info or likes and dislikes people have for theirs would be cool to read.

JTF... it's a Standard Horizons HX470S.  I think it's been replaced by the 460 or 471.

JTF... it's a Standard Horizons HX470S.  I think it's been replaced by the 460 or 471.

Chuck's has been replaced by the 471. That one has all the bells & whistles ... FRS, WX, AM, FM ... etc. The 460 is VHF and WX only. I'm getting a 460 for Christmas and looked into the 471 after reading about all the features that Chuck's radio had. I'd could use the FRS for bike-to-bike communications while riding my motorcycle. It's too bad that the FRS feature only transmits at .5 watts.

Sean,
Bummer!!  I've had more than my share of losses this year too.

Weren't you guys fishing in 5 ft of water or so?  You should have felt around with your toes or just jumped in after it!!!

Stuart

  That would be scarry, I would be afraid a sturgeon would suck on to my toes and drag me under.  No way I would try that!

Sean,
Bummer!!  I've had more than my share of losses this year too.

Weren't you guys fishing in 5 ft of water or so?  You should have felt around with your toes or just jumped in after it!!!

Stuart

  That would be scarry, I would be afraid a sturgeon would suck on to my toes and drag me under.  No way I would try that!

Why... Travis?  Do your toes smell like ghost shrimp?