Radio and flares

I will be fishing Lake Erie for the 1st time this spring and summer with my 18' Lund. Any recommendations for a radio and antenna combination? How about flares? Are the handheld ones adequate and meet USCG regs?

I've been using a handheld Cobra Marine HH350 for a few years now and it seems to work fine. It does not give the distance that I would like so I've been looking at going to a fixed mount with an 8ft antenna as my main radio and keeping the handheld as a back-up in case of a power failure.
West Marine has some nice 'compact' marine radios that would fit better in smaller boats. I'm looking at the Standard Horizon GX1600.
Your antenna is the key to distance/reception quality so dont skimp in that department ($150 for an upper mid range quality). Around $400 total for a good set up on a smaller boat.
Hand flares do meet CG requirements (some). I use Day/Night approved ones. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE EXPIRATION DATE ON THE FLARES BEFORE YOU PURCHASE THEM. You'd be surprised how many are expired hanging on the shelves in some stores.

As Doenut said, the antenna is the most important part of your setup so be sure to do your research and given that the price difference between low end and high end is not that much (maybe $100 for an 8'antenna) , seriously consider the higher end. That's not to say that a cheap radio is a good thing. Standard horizon are great, I'd recommend a model that has a distress feature that allows you to press one button to send your coordinates to the Coast t Guard. It's something that you may rely on to save your life so it's well worth every penny.

Also second checking the expiration date on the flares. They don't seem to have a very long shelf life so be sure to check the date to make sure they're not already expired or nearly there. Get those in - store instead of online to avoid getting a bad set. Any bait shop, West Marine and even Wal Mart will have them.

do you have a nema network in your boat already. If so the marine radios that work with nema 2000 are easier to hook up. You can get gps data for the distress button. Standard horizon does have a model with built in gps. Many people have had trouble getting the old 183 systems working right with the new locators. Enough people have used that distress button without ever hooking it up to gps. Coast guard did not get their gps numbers.

Yup, I bought flares at Walmart, the radio and antenna from amazon, many choices, but you do get what you pay for. Better quality better reception most cases.

I don't know for sure if the hand held flairs only is legal. I bought a kit with the gun and hand held flairs just for safety. now I just replace the flairs every few yrs. my safety is very important out on erie so I like having both.

you can get a good radio with the gps built in for around 220.00 on ebay or amazon. but you have to pay taxes at amazon and most of the time you don't on ebay. I plan on upgrading my old radio to the icom m324c this yr. you can get one that connects to your gps for less money. the Shakespeare 5225 xt is a great antenna, about 110.00 on ebay. I'm using the Shakespeare 5399 now. its a 9'6" antenna and I just love it. I bought mine for 168.00 off ebay. but they cost about 210.00 now on ebay, but they are worth the money. but if your on a tight budget the 5225 xt is a great 8' antenna.

In 2005 I didn't want an 8' antenna on my 195 Alumacraft....I followed Kas' advice and been very happy with this...great coverage....will a quailty 8 ft fiberglass out preform....probably....but is it necessary???

02-24-2007, 05:34 PM
I went with a 4 ft. Maxrad after getting some good info from Kaz. Here's a copy of his post about the antenna. He's a ham radio guy and knows his stuff. I like the antenna because it's easily removable. Here's his email, [email protected] If you have any questionsask him, nice guy that Kaz.Here's his post:


If you do go with the shorter one, go to a two-way radio shop and get a tuneable 46" 5/8 wave base loaded one, Maxrad is one brand. You can also get a mount, NMO, which only requires a 3/8 hole. You can unscrew the antenna and there is just a 1/4"x1 1/2" high disc which is never in the way when you cover your boat. This tuned antenna will give you maxium performance, and you will recieve better and transmit the full 25 watts output, instead for the often time mismatch, from a broad band marine antenna which cuts back the power automaticly to protect the transmitter. You will need to tune, cut, the rod to match your installation on the boat. A radio shop can help you with that, for very little cost if you bought the antenna there. Several of my buddy's have this setup and use it on LOTW, and are very happen with them. We have never had a problem communicating within a ten mile radius. Good Luck......Kaz

Kaz
drbrand

This came from walleye central