Hand Held Marine Band Radio suggestions needed.

[goose89]

I'm in the market for a marine band radio. I've never owned either a permanent mount of hand held before. I'm not to keen on mounting an antennae on my boat, and am leaning towards a hand held model.

Any words of wisdom on features I absolutely need, or that you've found very helpful, brands / models, or what not to get are appreciated in advance.

[Dbl]

I've used a Hummingbird VHF5 for a number of years with good success. 5 watts of max transmit power and the antenna are major range factors. I also have a fixed marine band radio so this is mainly used for buddies that don't have one or for weather reports on shore. If you stand on your highest platform on your boat and extend the radio as high as you can and use an external mic you will get the max range out of it. I've never been able to transmit more than 5 miles or so, receive I've done a bit better.

A scanning feature, external mic jack, external power jack are a few features I would look for.

[Northlander]

Get the perm mount radio with a good antena mounted. WAY better reception than any hand held. Unless you want to hold a hand held with a 4' antena while talking all day.

They arent very expensive and worth their weight in gold.

[moviking]

we use a hand held when fishing in the Laguna Madre in south tx in the winter, and they work well. the only thing I would suggest is make sure you can get a cig lighter hookup. You won't have to worry about about batteries

[JimBuck]

+1 for the permanent mount radio. I picked one up this spring and love it already.