marine CB radio question?

[Dahitman44]

Going to Lake of the woods ... Are the handheld units pretty good now or do you have to hardline in the radio?

thanks

[Sandmannd]

I have a handheld one that I use on the St. Croix as well as Mille Lacs and it hasn't failed me yet.

[Dahitman44]

any suggestions on what kind is the best?

[Dahitman44]

anyone else?

any brands?

or models?

[fiskyknut]

Not sure where you do your fishing but you may want a vhf radio rather than a cb.

On the LOTW you'd want a vhf for sure.

[Dahitman44]

Yeah - -that is what I meant.

any idea which kind?

[fiskyknut]

I have a Uniden Atlantis 250. No complaints.

[JimBuck]

A lot of guys like Uniden as fiskynut suggested. I have a Cobra and have no complaints. I would surely pick one up before hitting LOTW. Super easy install as well.

[metrojoe]

Marine cb radios and the FRS or GMRS hand held radios don't operate on the same frequency.

I bought a pair of FRS/GMRS radios from Radio Shack some 6 or 7 years ago and they work great. They are mainly used on the water (open or hard)

[311Hemi]

anyone else?

any brands?

or models?

Whats you main use for this when on LOW and how far out from shore do you plan to be......that may help narrow it down? emergency, talking to other boats somewhat close, national weather service reports?

[muddpuppy]

I have looked at both the Cobra and the Uniden handhelds. I was wondering how realistic the range is with these hand held models?

[JimBuck]

I've heard the handhelds have a pretty good distance but I can't say specifically what that would be. Typically you want to get as big of an antenna as possible to get the most range out of your signal. I have only owned a VHF Boat Mount radio but my range with an 8' antenna is pretty good. I can hear Tonka commercial cruise boats chatter from Channhassen.

A few good features I could not live without would be Weather & Auto-Scan. Any reason you want a handheld?

[Dahitman44]

yeah just using it for low and devils lake kind of stuff.

So which modal - -any more thoughts?

will not do the big model -- just the handheld

[metrojoe]

FRS is usually rated to 2 miles and GMRS are rated to 5 miles. That is of course with optimal conditions.

[kc0myy]

just go get your ham radio licence and be done with it. here is a link to get started http://www.hello-radio.org/ you need to pass a 35 question test which is easy. after that you can talk around the world and the 10 times better than CB or any other 2 way radio. if you get a 2 meter handheld (144-148 MHz) you can talk up to 5 miles where the FRS radios other go around 2 or less. If you have any questions about ham radio send me an e-mail at [email protected]

one more thing you can get a mobile rig in your car or boat and you can work with about 50 watts of power (the avgere output power for a mobile rig) and you can talk aound 20-25 miles with 50 watts. so if you want to put some time into this let me know you'll have alot of fun with this hobbie

[Dahitman44]

Somebody at cabelas said I have to call the fcc to operates the Cobra 425 -- anyone have any knowlege on this?

What is up?

[kc0myy]

Somebody at cabelas said I have to call the fcc to operates the Cobra 425 -- anyone have any knowlege on this?

What is up?

i think you have a buy a lic for like $50 or something like that to use that radio (or freq)

[Dahitman44]

Just ordered the cobra 425 - -I think it will be great. You don;t HAVE to register it if you are not using that "other" frequency.