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Random Quote: If you pop a beer at the dock at 6 am they call you a sportsman, do it at home and they call you a drunk.
Glad you opted for the fixed mount and the "back up" HH. I hope that you, myself, nor anyone else on here ever truly NEEDS either one. I'd be interested in those pics as well.........never seen an offshore or for that matter an onshore oil rig!
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1977 23ft SeaCraft Sceptre "Stream Dreamer"
Ford F350 Super Duty SRW
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Of course, if you are young enough to still be immortal, or if the look of your boat is worth more than the safety of your passengers, please disregard.; 'sandyda'
What is the deal with people from areas that lack oil rigs? Manned oil rigs monitor VHF radios consistently due to the fact they have a constant flow of ships coming and going with supplies and personnel. Usually when we fish a manned rig (which are everywhere around the mouth of the MS River) we call and ask for permission to tie up if that is the plan or if they are conducting any type of work that we would keep away from. Now granted this has been on different boats since I just got my new one and have been without for some time but my friends, charters, etc... seem to do it that way whether its on a handheld or a base unit. Im not an idiot but it seems some of you guys chimed in just to start sh*t. Totally unecessary (kinda like my earlier comment) lol.
Actually, they were trying to do yo ua favor. The REAL purpose of a VHF on your boat is for safety. And if your 50 miles offhsore ANYWHERE, with or without oil rigs, you NEED a full power VHF installed, period. So they were not "starting sh_t", they were trying to save your life possibly.
What if on your way out to the 50 mile mark where these oil rigs are, you not within 5 miles of an oil rig? I'm 100% sure there are 5 miles holes in all the rigs, no? Now you hit a log, and take on water. What are you going to do with your 5 watt radio on a sinking boat, that can't reach an oil rig or CG on shore?
Birdman, no offense bro, but go back and read ALL the threads. SOME of them were being nothing more than A-holes and starting crap, others not so much. Thanks to those not being A-holes.
What is the deal with people from areas that lack oil rigs?
"Areas that lack oil rigs?" You don't get out much do you? What percentage of US boaters do you think boat near oil rigs? 75%? 50%? 25%?
My guess is it's probably 2% or less. None around here and I don't remember seeing any on the Chesapeake Bay. I'm still not convinced the oil rig will come and get you if you're broken down.
It's good you finally chose to take the advice of most of the posters and install a fixed mount VHF radio and antenna. It's just surprising that it took so much convincing.
Birdman, no offense bro, but go back and read ALL the threads. SOME of them were being nothing more than A-holes and starting crap, others not so much. Thanks to those not being A-holes.
Aquarium
Man, you might as well forget it. Birdman does not get it. Ron Widman has NEVER gotten it, about answering the questions in his own mind rather than the one that a poster asks. You asked a VERY SIMPLE question about advice for a brand of a specific type (handheld) of radio. Ninety percent of what you got has NADA to do with what you asked. But that's THT. "Here's what we think you should know that maybe you don't, or at least, you didn't ask to know it which probably means you don't."
Like Old Ron's going to give you a geography lesson about where there are oil rigs and where there aren't, and make sure you know that there aren't any in the Chesapeake Bay (????) Of course where YOU boat there ARE rigs, but hey, who cares? And RON (who has probably never seen an oil rig except maybe from 35,000 feet up) doesn't care what YOU say (who see them and talk to them) but HE is "still not convinced" they will help you in an emergency. Who CARES if some retired guy on the east coast is "convinced?" Not his thread, not his radio, not his problem. But he does this all the time. And all the time. And all the time. Well, you get the idea.
Best just fold your tent, realize that this place is not what it used to be just a little while ago and note that you did get two or three people who tried to answer your question. Good luck.
Man, you might as well forget it. Birdman does not get it. Ron Widman has NEVER gotten it, about answering the questions in his own mind rather than the one that a poster asks. You asked a VERY SIMPLE question about advice for a brand of a specific type (handheld) of radio. Ninety percent of what you got has NADA to do with what you asked. But that's THT. "Here's what we think you should know that maybe you don't, or at least, you didn't ask to know it which probably means you don't."
Like Old Ron's going to give you a geography lesson about where there are oil rigs and where there aren't, and make sure you know that there aren't any in the Chesapeake Bay (????) Of course where YOU boat there ARE rigs, but hey, who cares? And RON (who has probably never seen an oil rig except maybe from 35,000 feet up) doesn't care what YOU say (who see them and talk to them) but HE is "still not convinced" they will help you in an emergency. Who CARES if some retired guy on the east coast is "convinced?" Not his thread, not his radio, not his problem. But he does this all the time. And all the time. And all the time. Well, you get the idea.
Best just fold your tent, realize that this place is not what it used to be just a little while ago and note that you did get two or three people who tried to answer your question. Good luck.
Bad day at work today?
So you really think it's safe 50 miles offshore with only a handheld VHF?
Read your post you fool. I fish areas that have rigs, therefore that is ALL I care about... what a clown
Quote:
Originally Posted by rwidman
"Areas that lack oil rigs?" You don't get out much do you? What percentage of US boaters do you think boat near oil rigs? 75%? 50%? 25%?
My guess is it's probably 2% or less. None around here and I don't remember seeing any on the Chesapeake Bay. I'm still not convinced the oil rig will come and get you if you're broken down.
It's good you finally chose to take the advice of most of the posters and install a fixed mount VHF radio and antenna. It's just surprising that it took so much convincing.
I have a Icom M71, I think it's called M72 in US, which I'm very happy with. The sound quality is good, the display is clear and it's easy to operate. The water proofing is according to IPx8, one class better than the best competitors. The general impression is that this VHF is a quality product.
O.K. You're taking on water, and you call the oil rig. IF someone's monitoring, maybe they'll come back to you IF you call them on the channel that they're monitoring. After all, they are a shore/land station, so they may be listening elsewhere -- maybe even on a scrambled channel somewhere. Maybe. Then, hopefully they'll take some accurate notes, and after that maybe they'll then call the CG and relay your stuff to them, and then the coasties are supposed to come out and save your sorry ass. The oil rig doesn't have any obligation to put a boat in the water and try to find you, after all. That's what the USCG is for. Hope there aren't have a lot of questions for you to relay answers through the oil rig. Sounds like the child's game of TELEPHONE. Good luck. Stay safe.
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Hit the waves on ham radio, even when it rains or snows.
So you really think it's safe 50 miles offshore with only a handheld VHF?
Sigh. Long deep sigh. OK, I'll try again, though why I do not know. What I really think is safe or what you really think is safe or what the man in the moon really thinks is safe has NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS THREAD. Guy DID NOT ASK "what's safe in VHF," he asked for some suggestions of quality handhelds.....PERIOD.
If he asked about quality brands of outboard, should we quiz him about where he plans to go with it, suggest sails or a large displacement inboard because we think it's safer, etc., etc. This is how useful one page threads turn, time after time, into nearly useless five pagers. OK, I'm done.....
(Well....almost. Gotta say Thundra's great post has almost converted me to the wisdom in just sitting back, having a little more brew, and controlling my blood pressure when these threads spin off into never never land.
Last edited by KeyPineSavage; 07-09-2009 at 08:23 PM.
t3rockhall, youre beating a dead horse. You also do not have oil rigs where you live so please dont give past circumstance or possible future situations. Get over yourself.
This seems to have become some type of fighting forum, and by all means Im for a good fight/argument on occassion but this seems to be a bashing type forum. I just looked through some of the other threads and they seem down right nasty.
Can someone suggest where to go where people act normal or at least you dont get sucker punched for asking for draft when all they serve are bottles?
Ive also noticed the guys/gals from the northeast and west coast seem alot more aggressive than the southern or eastern folks. You have consistently much worse weather than down south. Dont get me wrong, it gets bad, bud you guys have TV shows about your bad seas. Different game, try to see it through different eyes.
Sorry man, with all the other anger directed at me with this useless thread I guess my bad day at work came out.
Shoot anybody??
If you remember the Florida football players that drowned, they did not have a working base vhf radio on that boat. They relied upon a handheld and their cell phones. JFYI....some posters may have been trying to get that point across as well...
I did not know that. Not to sound like a a dick but could you show me where that is fact. I have already agreed to get the base unit on the boat but I would like to read that for my own knowledge. Do you think it would have mattered had they had a permanent base unit considering the boat flipped? I see you claim to be from Florida so you probably have followed that particular situation much closer than me.
None around here and I don't remember seeing any on the Chesapeake Bay. I'm still not convinced the oil rig will come and get you if you're broken down.
