radio

Question
Hi Ron
many many thanks for that my country of origin is scotland the radio is a sealine mc 55 made by demek marine electronics it has letters on it i am not sure of ie;tw/3w on one button d.w on another and ch 16 for the coastgaurd.I dont know how to test it tomake sure it works cos it was bought secondhand dont want to take it with me to sea only to find out it wont work,any ideas.

once again thanks so much for your help so far.You are a credit to the all experts site.
stevie
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
hi again ron
I have asked you for help before and found it usefull,this one is a bit diffrent.I have just bought a handheld marine radio and dont know anything about it before i go on do you know anything about them
many thanks
stevie
-----Answer-----
Hi Stevie

Please forgive me, but I cannot recall your country of residence. Nevertheless, most countries require the operator and/or the VHF radio to be licenced in order to legally communicate to another vessel. Most radios have more than 1 weather channel that can be monitored to receive up-to-the-minute forecasts and warnings, and they have a sufficient number of channels on which to talk to other boaters.

Handheld units are restricted in their calling/receiving distance, because the antenna is mounted within the portable radio and close to sea level. Whereas a fixed-mounted VHF radio has an antenna mounted high up on the mast of a sailboat or on the flybridge of a power cruiser. Smaller pleasure crafts will have a tall antenna mounted on the side deck, and is usually quite more effective for distance than a portable handheld device. In addition, the radios have a designated channel with which to contact the coast guard, who monitors proper protocall on all calls on all channels.

Since I'm not privy to the make & model of your radio, nor its sending/receiving wattage, or the number of digital selective calling (DSC) channels you have, I'm unable to offer any further assistance. Is your VHF radio waterproof, water resistent, or non of the former? Just make sure that when you bring it on board, bring the charger with you. If you don't have the proper outlet for recharging, there might be one nearby. Also, your radio will operate on standard batteries, so be sure to have enough on hand in the event the installed one(s) go dead. When not in use, remove the battery(ies) from the radio to ensure longevity and avoid corrosion. It's important to learn and memorize the phonetic alphabet, because it will be utilized frequently.

That's pretty well it in a nut shell, Stevie.

Safe Boating
Ron Blanchet  

Answer
Stevie

I'm not familiar with Scotland's Rules & Regulations concerning VHF radios, but would imagine it's not much different than Canada's. Nor am I familiar with the make of your VHF radio, which appears to be a 3 watt unit, whereas ours have a 5 watt output.

The best way to test your 2nd-hand radio is to power it up with appropriate batteries or an a/c adapter, turn it on, and listen to various channels. There's no law against listening, but there is if you communicate a message. The radio works on land as well as on the sea, but remember, it has a limited distance for transmitting purposes, so if you're quite a way inland, you may or may not get any reception. Scan all the channels available on your unit to see what can be received, and at the same time, check the signal strength on the display window. You may have to turn a bit and angle the antenna in different directions to improve the signal for reception/transmission.

Have fun with it Stevie and good luck. Sure hope it works.

Ron