Got the jet ski done

[Wood Spinner]

Like I said I plan on Edna monitoring from the 5th wheel. I plan on testing how to set up where each unit will be located. I am thinking the hand held may be better on shore and the bigger unit on the ski. May look a little wild with an antenna taller than the boat is long.

What do you folks think would be best way to set up? On the 5th wheel the antenna would be very high as it will be mounted on top of the roof.

 

[playaperro]

Just use a phone Bill they work fine out in the water att has more range than verizon, even my spare cricket phone works great in town. local service providers work best, and best of luck out there you'll be fine no matter what the hatters say.

 

[moore_rb]

Most VHF's these days have a scan feature.

If you speak even limited spanish, you can always scan for a channel where two shrimp-captains will be squawking back and forth at each other.

and no- you can not reach RP from Bird Island with VHF - without a repeater between the island and RP. If there was a radio at the Mayan Palace (or Santo Tomas) you could raise one of those locations from the island.

VHF is line of sight from the top of the antenna (approx 12-15 miles on a clear day, assuming the the top of the antenna is 15 feet above the water surface)

 

[moore_rb]

Just use a phone Bill they work fine out in the water att has more range than verizon, even my spare cricket phone works great in town. local service providers work best, and best of luck out there you'll be fine no matter what the hatters say.

I agree- we have had better luck calling Penasco by phone from 30 miles out than we have with the VHF.

The VHF needs to be used for finding or reaching anybody in the area if you happen to run into severe difficulty.

 

[moore_rb]

What do you folks think would be best way to set up? On the 5th wheel the antenna would be very high as it will be mounted on top of the roof.

If you can give me a measurement to to the top of the antennae on the roof of the trailer, I can calculate the maximum range you would have available with a handheld on the ski...

 

[rockyptjoe]

Most VHF's these days have a scan feature.

If you speak even limited spanish, you can always scan for a channel where two shrimp-captains will be squawking back and forth at each other.

and no- you can not reach RP from Bird Island with VHF - without a repeater between the island and RP. If there was a radio at the Mayan Palace (or Santo Tomas) you could raise one of those locations from the island.

VHF is line of sight from the top of the antenna (approx 12-15 miles on a clear day, assuming the the top of the antenna is 15 feet above the water surface)

Back when I made the Bird Island trip, I believe the repeaters were operational....although I'm not sure where they were located....like I said, it was probably more of a "feel good" situation....

 

[azfish]

Stuart
True for all of life and everything we do. At sea or in the air does tend for things to become more significant for sure.
I am moving my boat S to S radio into the RV so at least Edna can hear me if I am not to far out. I will carry a hand held. A big old whip may look a little strange on the ski or may be not. Due to power and range do you think the hand held should be on shore. If I get in trouble it might be better that I have the power so others can at least hear me?

You could put an extender pole on the base station antenna, it my help with picking up a signal from far away. It works with CB radios.

 

[azfish]

You do have flares on there?

 

[Estero]

How far are you thinking of going on that thang?

These MOT radios seem to work nice, 35mile range and they float.
I use a cheap Talkabout and they work great for local use.

Consumer Two-Way Radios - Motorola Solutions USA

The radio suggestion by Wahoo is a good bet Motorol Talkabout almost makes your mobile phone seem inadequate - The Red Ferret Journal
Having spent a night adrift by Bird Island years ago these $70.00 35 mile range handhelds would have been the ticket to not having a long, dark and cold night bobbing around in the ocean. Oh, and having an accurate and working fuel sending unit helps as well. :shock:

 

[Stuart]

Oh, and having an accurate and working fuel sending unit helps as well. :shock:

Indeed. After this weekend, I need to change both of my fuel senders. One is now reading constant empty, the other was showing more fuel than what was really there. Ran out of gas on one motor (each motor on my boat has it's own 115 gal. fuel tank; they are independent and that tank can't feed the other motor) just outside the harbor coming back in Saturday. Fortunately, there was enough gas in the other tank to keep the second motor running long enough to get back in the harbor and up on the trailer. Too close for my comfort, even though I monitor how much fuel I put in the boat and how much I've used while fishing. And I'm always religious about putting the same amount of fuel in each tank. Yamaha has a good fuel management system that shows your current burn rate and total burned so far and is generally very accurate. But, sometimes even the best planning goes awry.

 

[Kelney]

I had to replace my sending unit once. Luckily I realized it was bad a few miles before I had to learn the hard way. Put a new one on and it was very inaccurate and had to learn the hard way on that one. Luckily I was just outside the harbor and a banana boat panga assisted me into the harbor. If it is not one thing it is another but I would not trade my boat for anything other than a bigger one!