Quote:
Originally Posted by ke7vvt  I know some "huntin" (hunting/trapping/running deer/bear/bobcats) guys that use the marine hts while they are out in the boonies. They opted for them because of the tx range I imagine. No doubt they will probably never be bothered by the fcc or anyone looking to turn them in. I planted the ham radio seed into one of them though. The marine HTs caught their eye most likely because they are available to anyone at a boat/sport shop and are more powerful than the frs radios. They should really be using a ham radio out there because it would be better suited to what they are doing. But ham radio and doctrine is much much more complicated than an 88 channel marine HT, so I don't blame them for going that route.
Glad to be in good company around here too. I've never been apart of the qrz forums but am sure they are mostly a nice bunch of guys.
vvt |
Breaking it down to the functionallity of it all, there's no real practical difference between a 5 watt VHF Marine
HT, and a 5 watt Amateur
HT.
The Marine
HT will
Tx &
Rx between (approx) 156.00 Mhz to 158.00 Mhz.
The 2 meter Amateur
HT between 144.00 Mhz. and 148.00 Mhz.
That puts then relatively close frequency wise in the over all scheme of things, making the range, abilities and disabilities about equal.
What they are ding with those VHF Marine radios is technically not legal.
If they chose to use the Amateur 2 meter band and
HT's it would be in their best interest to study for, take the Technician class test, and get licensed before using any amateur frequencies. I say this because they are far more likely to be heard by, or run the risk of interfering with other licensed amateur radio operators, who in turn will make issue of their activity, and possibly report the same to the
FCC.
Using the Marine
HT's will not likely interfere with any marine craft providing they are not operating within a few miles of a large lake, river, or ocean, and would be far less likely to drawl the attention of someone that would see fit to rat them out to the
FCC, but again this is assuming they are smart about how they go about using them, stay away from a few key frequencies, and don't transmit any distress signals.
The choice by virtue of practicality would be to buy the VHF Marine
HT's and just be careful how and where you use them. It's cost effective, does not require any licensing, and less likely to drawl unwanted attention.
Now if you or your friends want to ungrade to mounted mobile type radios, then the pendulum would swing the other way, and I would suggest they go the legal amateur radio route. The standard VHF Marine mobile radio now
TX's at 25 watts, carrying that signal much farther, many amateur 2 meter radios will do between 50 and 75 watts, making them a little more effective, especially in the woods. Pick a simplex frequency nobody in that area ever uses, and have fun, just remember to identify yourself every 10 minutes or so just incase someone is listening in......
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