RE: How To Operate a Standard Horizon HX851 VHF Radio

Hi Bruddahs,

I recently bought a Standard Horizon HX851 radio and could not  make any sense about operating the radio after reading through the user's manual.

Do any of you own a HX851 and can give me  quick and easy instructions about how to use the radio for kayak fishing purposes and about the GPS?

Mahalo,

Michael (Da Bruddah)

Have you looked at youtube ,
Maybe you can find some instruction there , I learned how to use my Lowrance ff/gps  on there a lot easy then i was having with the written. Directions.

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk 2

I own one also and it is not a well designed interface. I also have not learned a lot about its operation. As best as I can tell in order to use it for GPS purposes you have to enter the coordinate numbers. I don't think you can simply push a button to mark a location like most GPS devices. So I guess we would have to write down or memorize the coordinates and then enter them into the radio, which makes it almost useless to use out on the water. It will broadcast your location in the event of on emergency, so that is the one good GPS use it has. I suppose if you enter the coordinates of your launch or other spots before you hit the water it would be more useful. Because of this issue I haven't played with the GPS much yet.

For quick use, just set to Ch69 when out with friends, and Ch16 for Coast Guard in case of emergency.  Set your squelch and volume to desired levels and you should be good to go.  Now for using other features, that will take some reading and getting familiar/playing with the VHF. 

I have the HX850, which is an earlier version of the HX851.  My understanding is that the 851 can mark waypoints and it will even navigate you to saved waypoints.   The instruction manual was a lot of help for me, so you guys may want to give that another shot or check youtube videos as FTB530 suggested.   Good luck.

Here is what the manual says to store waypoints.


12 WAYPOINTS
The HX851 is capable of storing up to 200 waypoints and navigating to them using the compass page.
In addition DSC distress calls with position or a position received from another DSC radio using DSC polling can be navigated to.
12.1 STORING WAYPOINTS
1. Press and hold down the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until “Setup Menu” appears.
2. Press the [] key to select “Waypoint Setup” menu.
3. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key, then select “Waypoint Directory” with the [] / [
] key.
4. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key.
5. Select “Add” with the [] / [
] key, press the
[CALL(ENT)MENU] key.
6. Press the [] / [
] key to select the first letter of
the Waypoint Name you want to reference in the
directory.
7. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the
first letter and to move to the second letter in the
name.
8. Repeat step 6 and 7 until the name is shown. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU]
key to skip a letter if needed.
9. Press the [] / [
] key to skip the ID: entry and to the first digit of the
latitude.
10. Enter the coordinates of the waypoint POSITION, by
pressing the [] / [
] key to select the first digit in the
Latitude.
11. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the first
number and to move to the second number in the po-
sition.
12. Repeat step 10 and 11 until the latitude is shown in-
clude N or S in the last digit.
13. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until the first digit of
the Longitude is blinking.
14. Press the [] / [
] key to select the first digit in the
Longitude.
15. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the first number and to move to
the second number in the position.
16. Repeat step 14 and 15 until the Latitude is shown in- clude E or W in the last digit.
17. If a mistake was made entering in the MMSI number
repeat pressing the [H/L(  )] key until the wrong num-
ber is selected, then press the [] / [
] key to correct the entry.
18. After all information is entered, press and hold the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the waypoint into memory.
 

Isn't youtube great. I decided to see what I could learn watching videos and I stumbled onto this. As the video played it showed this menu and I saw mark position. That sounded like what I wanted. Neither the video or the manual explains how to use it, but I figured it out. I'm pretty sure it will mark your position with the press of a few buttons so you can have GPS or in my case backup GPS to return to port with. I'm glad I found it to use as I venture into ocean fishing.

A manual that doesn't cover this feature? I have a PDF manual and searched "mark position" and found nothing. What's up with that?

Since I can now mark a waypoint I thought I would try navigating to a saved waypoint. Even with nearly 10 years of GPS experience I couldn't figure out how to do it without looking it up in the manual. What a poorly designed interface. Navigate to a saved waypoint is under the setting "Radio Setup", go figure. Then to make sure it's not obvious, next you select "display". If I select radio setup/display I would expect to alter what is displayed on the screen, not start navigating to a waypoint. What were they thinking? Here is the text from the manual.


12.5 NAVIGATING TO A SAVED WAYPOINT
1. Press and hold down the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until “Setup Menu” appears.
2. Press the [] / [
] key to select “Radio Setup”.
3. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key, then select
“Display” with the [] / [
] key.
4. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key, and select
“Waypoint” with the [] / [
] key.
5. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key.
6. Select the waypoint name and press the
[CALL(ENT)MENU] key to show the waypoint
data display.
7. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to start navi-
gating the waypoint and show the Waypoint Nav dis- play.
12.6 STOP NAVIGATING TO A WAYPOINT
To stop navigating to a waypoint, the radio must be switched to Normal Mode with the following procedure.
1. Press and hold down the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until “Setup Menu” appears.
2. Press the [] / [
] key to select “Radio Setup”.
3. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key, then select “Display”
with the [] / [
] key.
4. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key, and select “Radio”,
“Position”, “Navigation” or “Compass” other than “Waypoint”, and press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the great response. I will look over your detailed instrctions and check out the Youtube video.
I'll let you know how it goes and report back.

Again.

Mahalo,
Da Bruddah ( Michael)

The GPS function on the HX851 is useful when sending out distress signal. It is not useful as a navigation aid unless you carry charts with you on the water, and know how to read them. A couple things to keep in mind using GPS on the water:
1) Your direction of travel according to your position over ground might not be the direction your kayak is pointed. You have to take current and wind into account. So if you are paddling into strong current and wind,  your direction of travel over ground may be opposite the direction your kayak is pointed.
2) Do not follow GPS headings blindly without consulting navigation charts. This is especially important in the fog or at night where there are no visual navigation reference. There might be a reef or land between you and your destination.

To navigate on the water, I use the GPS mapping function on my fishfinder.

Traildad, those instructions you listed are for Storing waypoints (12.2), not marking them, which is why it requires you to input coordinates.  Take a look at '12.1 - Marking a position', it should be more helpful.

Here is what the manual says to store waypoints.


12 WAYPOINTS
The HX851 is capable of storing up to 200 waypoints and navigating to them using the compass page.
In addition DSC distress calls with position or a position received from another DSC radio using DSC polling can be navigated to.
12.1 STORING WAYPOINTS
1. Press and hold down the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until “Setup Menu” appears.
2. Press the [] key to select “Waypoint Setup” menu.
3. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key, then select “Waypoint Directory” with the [] / [
] key.
4. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key.
5. Select “Add” with the [] / [
] key, press the
[CALL(ENT)MENU] key.
6. Press the [] / [
] key to select the first letter of
the Waypoint Name you want to reference in the
directory.
7. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the
first letter and to move to the second letter in the
name.
8. Repeat step 6 and 7 until the name is shown. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU]
key to skip a letter if needed.
9. Press the [] / [
] key to skip the ID: entry and to the first digit of the
latitude.
10. Enter the coordinates of the waypoint POSITION, by
pressing the [] / [
] key to select the first digit in the
Latitude.
11. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the first
number and to move to the second number in the po-
sition.
12. Repeat step 10 and 11 until the latitude is shown in-
clude N or S in the last digit.
13. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until the first digit of
the Longitude is blinking.
14. Press the [] / [
] key to select the first digit in the
Longitude.
15. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the first number and to move to
the second number in the position.
16. Repeat step 14 and 15 until the Latitude is shown in- clude E or W in the last digit.
17. If a mistake was made entering in the MMSI number
repeat pressing the [H/L(  )] key until the wrong num-
ber is selected, then press the [] / [
] key to correct the entry.
18. After all information is entered, press and hold the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the waypoint into memory.
 

Here is what the manual says to store waypoints.


12 WAYPOINTS
The HX851 is capable of storing up to 200 waypoints and navigating to them using the compass page.
In addition DSC distress calls with position or a position received from another DSC radio using DSC polling can be navigated to.
12.1 STORING WAYPOINTS
1. Press and hold down the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until “Setup Menu” appears.
2. Press the [] key to select “Waypoint Setup” menu.
3. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key, then select “Waypoint Directory” with the [] / [
] key.
4. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key.
5. Select “Add” with the [] / [
] key, press the
[CALL(ENT)MENU] key.
6. Press the [] / [
] key to select the first letter of
the Waypoint Name you want to reference in the
directory.
7. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the
first letter and to move to the second letter in the
name.
8. Repeat step 6 and 7 until the name is shown. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU]
key to skip a letter if needed.
9. Press the [] / [
] key to skip the ID: entry and to the first digit of the
latitude.
10. Enter the coordinates of the waypoint POSITION, by
pressing the [] / [
] key to select the first digit in the
Latitude.
11. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the first
number and to move to the second number in the po-
sition.
12. Repeat step 10 and 11 until the latitude is shown in-
clude N or S in the last digit.
13. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key until the first digit of
the Longitude is blinking.
14. Press the [] / [
] key to select the first digit in the
Longitude.
15. Press the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the first number and to move to
the second number in the position.
16. Repeat step 14 and 15 until the Latitude is shown in- clude E or W in the last digit.
17. If a mistake was made entering in the MMSI number
repeat pressing the [H/L(  )] key until the wrong num-
ber is selected, then press the [] / [
] key to correct the entry.
18. After all information is entered, press and hold the [CALL(ENT)MENU] key to store the waypoint into memory.
 

 

19. Get a GPS enabled fishfinder! 


Much easier

 

19. Get a GPS enabled fishfinder! 

Much easier

+1

Traildad, those instructions you listed are for Storing waypoints (12.2), not marking them, which is why it requires you to input coordinates.  Take a look at '12.1 - Marking a position', it should be more helpful.

What manual are you looking at? Mine does call it storing waypoints but it is 12.1. There are no instructions I have found for marking waypoints. As I said in the earlier post with the picture of the menu, I saw it in the YouTube video and learned from there. Below is a photo of the table of contents for the PDF manual I am using.

Looks like you may have an older version of the manual.  Take a look at the one I attached.  GL!

Looks like you may have an older version of the manual.  Take a look at the one I attached.  GL!

The copyright date on mine is 2010 and yours is 2013. On their web site it shows the manual uploaded just last feburary. I don't think the problem is that one is outdated, rather it just seems to be a defective manual. Thanks for the link, I'm tossing the old one.