VHF Radio At Home - Safety First

[Freedom1]

HJi All,

Please assist with this ... I am planning to set up another radio at home so that we are in contact all the time while at sea. ... another real reason is so that I can actually hear all the activities when I am NOT on sea ....

Advise on best place to buy a relevant radio set up with base station and applicable 'licences...?
Does it work from home effectively ... I am in the Edgemead area...
Thanks again!!!

 

[Patrick]

Hey Sydney, perhaps Geoff Hawkins is a good person to speak to, or ICASA themselves. I think its Geoff that runs the Scarborough station as a back up for penguin when there are many boats out, like 2 sundays back.
I wonder if you'd pick up any reception from boats in the deep out in Edgemead? Reckon you'd need one hell of a transmitter/receiver to achieve that. Let us know what you find out as i'm curious.

 

[Freedom1]

Hi Pat... Will do ...
A buddy of mine operates one close by and it works ...
I will contact him as well and I was hoping for more advice from the pros out their ... I will check in the next couple of days for more advice... thanks again. ...
Sidney

 

[Fanie]

Sydney, I posted similar on another thread. You need an amateur radio license, and you are not limited to VHF which is short distance only, you can go HF then and have a better range.

This sadly excludes the marine frequencies, I tried to negotiate a truce between the radio amateurs and the marine frequencies but it seems the marine guys cling to their bit like you know what.

To use the marine frequencies you need a VHF marine license or an SSB license to include HF marine frequencies. There is no 'open' frequencies in the marine bands, chatting is prohibited.

For security purposes, radio is not always the best option. If you have problems put up an outside alarm so the surprise element is on your side. The mobile phones offer a service where you can press a button or two and SMS's are send to your friends or support crowd.

Alternative you have to hire a security co to do the police's work for them.