VHF handheld

[OBXDIVEGUY]

Does anyone recommend a small, handheld vhf radio that can be carried while diving. Also, what case do you recommend?

I've carried an epirb before, but I don't have it anymore. In the areas I dive nowadays, a vhf would be more practical anyway.

Thanks!

 

[Kevrumbo]

Uniden Mystic GPS/VHF Handheld; I stow it inside my X-Scooter (have to detach the rubber antenna though to fit). Unfortunately Uniden has discontinued this model, and is difficult to find a unit under $500. . .

I also carry a McMurdo Fastfind Plus PLB/EPIRB in the Depth rated Canister (150m) for long range Scooter Dives and Divetrips to remote areas of the Tropics. . .

 

[DA Aquamaster]

VHF is line of site, which for a diver in the water the radio horizon is only about 1 mile away. If a boat you are trying to hail has an antenna 8 ft above the water, you have a range of about 5 miles. If the antenna height is 16 ft, it increases to 7 miles. With an antenna 40 feet above the water, the range to a diver in the water with a handheld is still only 10 miles.

And unless you also have a GPS, you can't exactly tell anyone where you are at anyway. On top of that battery life is pretty short, so the time you can spend broadcasting in the blind is limited.

So in short, if you drift very far from the boat you are pretty well hosed until a search aircraft arrives in the area (at a 500' search altitude, an aircraft could pick up your signal at 33 miles).

An epirb (along with a signal mirror and a strobe) make a lot more sense than a handheld VHF if you plan on getting lost at sea.

 

[cmburch]

I have a small ICOM I carry in an Otter Box inside my kayak or inflatable. It is not waterproof and would not work while surface swimming.

 

[Kevrumbo]

VHF is line of site, which for a diver in the water the radio horizon is only about 1 mile away. If a boat you are trying to hail has an antenna 8 ft above the water, you have a range of about 5 miles. If the antenna height is 16 ft, it increases to 7 miles. With an antenna 40 feet above the water, the range to a diver in the water with a handheld is still only 10 miles.

And unless you also have a GPS, you can't exactly tell anyone where you are at anyway. On top of that battery life is pretty short, so the time you can spend broadcasting in the blind is limited.

So in short, if you drift very far from the boat you are pretty well hosed until a search aircraft arrives in the area (at a 500' search altitude, an aircraft could pick up your signal at 33 miles).

An epirb (along with a signal mirror and a strobe) make a lot more sense than a handheld VHF if you plan on getting lost at sea.

But if you're only less than one mile away on the surface, totally shrouded in a fog bank --a VHF/GPS unit like the Mystic would be invaluable. (Lessons learned from two GUE Instructors a few years ago, up north in Monterey, whose diveboat & surface support crew lost them in the fog after scootering and a drifting deco scenario --the two on the surface, tantalizingly could hear their diveboat searching for them nearby, but could not see them). . .

 

[OBXDIVEGUY]

VHF is line of site, which for a diver in the water the radio horizon is only about 1 mile away. If a boat you are trying to hail has an antenna 8 ft above the water, you have a range of about 5 miles. If the antenna height is 16 ft, it increases to 7 miles. With an antenna 40 feet above the water, the range to a diver in the water with a handheld is still only 10 miles.

And unless you also have a GPS, you can't exactly tell anyone where you are at anyway. On top of that battery life is pretty short, so the time you can spend broadcasting in the blind is limited.

So in short, if you drift very far from the boat you are pretty well hosed until a search aircraft arrives in the area (at a 500' search altitude, an aircraft could pick up your signal at 33 miles).

An epirb (along with a signal mirror and a strobe) make a lot more sense than a handheld VHF if you plan on getting lost at sea.

Preaching to the choir, my friend. I have vast experience in search and rescue, in both surface and airborne assets. When I was in NC, it was a different story. I'd be 20+ miles from shore, and if I ever had to free ascent off a wreck, I could've ended up surfacing miles away. EPIRB is definitely the way to go there. I had the same Pains Wessex model mentioned. Now that I'm in S. Florida. it's a different world. I can easily see shore from any dive and there are boats everywhere. EPIRB would cause more problems here, and by the time there is a proper response to it, I probably could swim to help (or shore for that matter).

 

[mike_s]

For the question about using a VHF and not knowing your posistion....

Don't they make VHF's that are also GPS's?

find one that is waterproof I think I think you've got your problem solved


EDIT: I should have looked at the link provided above. The uniden he's talking about is exactly that... it's a VHF with GPS.

 

[OBXDIVEGUY]

ya, that seems to be the way to go. A handheld with GPS and DSC.

 

[ba_hiker]

if you store your VHF with the antenna removed, be sure to not get water in the connector when you reconnect it. The water will short the transmitter and it is likely to fail.

Also only the coast guard can home on a VHF, so that even if you can reach someone they may not be able to find you. Finally even "waterproof" hand held radios are really only water resistant. I have lost two kayaking, and would not count on one diving.

 

[Darnold9999]

I have a waterproof one, don't remember the model - it is on the boat - and used as a quick way to communicate from land. For example when buying groceries and you forget what you are buying

Antenna on the fixed VHF on the boat tops out at about 20 feet. 7 miles is a good long way. Don't plan on getting separated, but if I do the ability to communicate with the boat is something that will reduce the stress levels on the boat considerably. However, I have not found anything that I trust to put it in. Waterproof to a metre so only useful on the surface - I need something waterproof to 100+ feet.