Longer range handheld options

[Photobug]

Your 14’ sailboat doesn’t have a mast?

That is a very small boat to have a mast-mounted antenna, not impossible though...

Was your handheld VHF’s antenna in the up/down orientation when trying to reach your wife at camp? That’s the one that I often forget about.

This was the maiden voyage on this boat. I have a 14, 19 and 26' sailboat. The larger has a masthead antenna, the 19 has the wiring on hand to make it happen. I don't plan on adding this to my tiny boat. The small boat would have been sold this summer if things were different, but since it was not I had a great maiden voyage on it.

What I would like to have is a communication system that can work from the cockpit to a person on the shore. Something that i can take from boat to boat, truck to truck or boat to person. If LOS is a limitation outside of HF, then I am SOL in this quest.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Yeah, some laws are immutable, such as those of physics.

There are ways to make VHF+ travel way beyond the horizon but it's not predictable. For example you can leverage tropospheric ducts that form but instead of 20 miles you might just as likely get 200 and go completely over the head of the station on the shore.

This is why HF and satellites are what ships rely upon.

 

[highwest]

This was the maiden voyage on this boat.

Sweet looking pocket cruiser, what is it?

I’ve gone back and forth with this decision on our boat (23’) too, but so far, I always go back to the simplicity of a handheld VHF over the additional safety/convenience of a masthead antenna and VHF mounted in the boat.

One thing I thought that may help, but still allow flexibility, is to have a have a masthead antenna that plugs into the handheld. Best of both worlds? I never invested much time into researching this option.

 

[dreadlocks]

Would be very simple to plug a handheld into a masthead antenna.. you simply need a handheld w/a detachable antenna, and either an adapter or have the feedline terminated in the connector the handheld uses..

If there's a HamRadioOutlet, or any local ham-clubs near you, check em their tackboard at the front where all the elmers who radio installs.. I'm sure there's a few HAM's near yeh tha'd love to help you get a radio all setup properly on your lil sailboat for a lil quick cash.

If he gets the antenna on his boat 20ft off the water, his 2-way simplex range on the water goes up to ~9 miles if he needs to talk to someone at waterlevel on shore.. not a huge boost, but likely had better luck 5-6 miles out than with human height antennas.

 

[Photobug]

5 watts over water should give you plenty of range, make sure both transmitting and receiving antennas are in the same orientation, preferably straight up.

Our backup 5w VHF was in the other boat. I had my handheld for emergency only but considering future options.

In my little boat I would be lucky to be 3 feet above the water. There is also a potential of peninsulas and islands between me and my wife.

This trip was an anomaly. My wife had something to do that day and the campsite was a rare drive up opportunity where she was while I was sailing to the campsite. All other campsites are boat or hike into. Just planning on communication options for future adventures.

 

[Photobug]

Sweet looking pocket cruiser, what is it?

I’ve gone back and forth with this decision on our boat (23’) too, but so far, I always go back to the simplicity of a handheld VHF over the additional safety/convenience of a masthead antenna and VHF mounted in the boat.

One thing I thought that may help, but still allow flexibility, is to have a have a masthead antenna that plugs into the handheld. Best of both worlds? I never invested much time into researching this option.

This is a West Wight Potter 14, same as the 15 but the early models did not come with motor mount and was called a 14. I also own a WWP 19 but its registration is stuck in California so i am sailing the Potter 14 for this summer. I also have an S2 7.9 stored mast up 3 hours to the south. I hope to be racing it next summer.

I need to have both boats up and running to evaluate their position and my needs but I don't want to invest any more money into the 14 as I figure the 19 will be the goto boat in the future. I might trade the 14 for a true dinghy like a Flying Dutchman.

It was blowing pretty hard on my sail 15+ knots and I was just holding on trying to get there and keep the boat upright. Wiring the VHF into a mast head antenna was not an option. I kept it on attached to my PFD, hoping if I fell in the ability to shout an SOS or activate the DSC would help me if I ended up in the water.

 

[highwest]

Love that S2. It was on our short list, but we found a Santana 23 first.

DSC? Must be plenty of other traffic around with newish VHFs. I can’t imagine there are many other DSC radios in our area except the harbormaster.

Good call on keeping the handheld on your person, that’s what I do when I’m alone also. I also recently got a Spot PLB to carry.

Is it possible to keep a handheld on your person and another one semi-permanently attached to a masthead antenna? Maybe in the cockpit somewhere?

 

[craig333]

Are there any repeaters near you? It may be worth your while to get your ham license if there are. That would solve your range problem. Its a little studying but not bad. https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=none

 

[dreadlocks]

Yeah you and your wife could get amateur licenses and try to use local repeater infrastructure, we HAM's tend to stick repeaters up high over most popular recreational areas..

However you guys will be guests on some one elses setup, so be very respectful when using em for personal comms and if the repeater is active dont tie it up too much trying to make contact with your old lady.

 

[BigDaveZJ]

Are there any repeaters near you? It may be worth your while to get your ham license if there are. That would solve your range problem. Its a little studying but not bad. https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=none

That's what I would do. I held off on doing it for too long. The test really is easy. I took a class and self studied a bit, my wife spent a couple hours doing practice tests and we both got 34/35. We're used to substantially harder tests (FINRA securities exams) and originally went into it with the mindset of studying for those. We found out pretty quickly it was not going to be anywhere near that hard.

 

[Photobug]

's a HamRadioOutlet, or any local ham-clubs near you, check em their tackboard at the front where all the elmers who radio installs.. I'm sure there's a few HAM's near yeh tha'd love to help you get a radio all setup properly on your lil sailboat for a lil quick cash.

I have my basic HAM, license. My big boat has a mast head antenna and a full power radio. Just not sure I want to invest any more into this boat, being it is as basic as it gets, and I want to keep it simple. I would likely use my medium boat 19 footer for future backcountry adventures.

Even with unlimited phone time I don't like spending to much time on a phone, I would not be clogging any airways if I use a repeater which there are in two locations in my county. I don't know I could motivate the wife to take the ham test, until we live on a boat full time.

This might be less of a concern in future, as my wife will likely be onboard but this was a unique drive up campsite I could also sail to. Since I did not have a GPS it was nice to have her spot me and point me towards the campsite so I did not overshoot it.