vhf help
Submitted by black gen on Thu, 2015-06-04 14:28
my vhf radio in my boat is no longer than 12 months old,
i was on my boat recently and i can hear sea rescue clear on it but i cant hear any other boats chatting through the day, and i also cant hear the boats calling sea reascue but i can hear sea rescue replying?
does anyone have any ideas what it may be?
could it be my aerial?
anything else?
all the connections are sweet
cheers
Jess
Brucesta
Posts: 1721
Date Joined: 29/05/09
What channel are you trying
What channel are you trying to use Jess? Have you managed to contact Sea Rescue for a radio check? what model is your radio?
once i know that i can rule a few things out for you.
Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Aerial
Sounds like you aerial might be suspect. The sea rescue's aerial is a lot higher up than those on the vessels nearby, this is probably why you can only hear them.
If you are in Carnarvon, we have a spare aerial you can try before lashing out and buying a new one only to find it is something else
black gen
Posts: 762
Date Joined: 13/04/11
Yes I am in townis there
Yes I am in town
is there someway to get in contact with bugs?
is he still able to test the radios with his device he's got?
Rob H
Posts: 5819
Date Joined: 18/01/12
before you do anything-do
before you do anything-do you know how to use the squelch control?
Dont laugh, some have no idea...
The same ones maybe who yabber all day on VHF16!!
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
black gen
Posts: 762
Date Joined: 13/04/11
Yeah matemines only got a
Yeah mate
mines only got a squelch button not a dial
my old radio had a dial
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
PM
PM sent
Bluedog
Posts: 251
Date Joined: 28/07/11
Mine is pretty similar,
Mine is pretty similar, struggle to hear other boats but get sea rescue no prob. Always presumed my aerial is a bit low, 1.8m mounted at around gunnel height, its also pretty close to the Bimini poles so not sure if this has an affect? I replaced the aerial it came with thinking it was faulty but the new one does the same thing.
resurgence
Posts: 578
Date Joined: 23/04/14
A few things
Depending on how far away you are, it's not unusual that you can hear Sea Rescue but not the boat they communicating with. The sea rescue transmitter is taller and much more powerful than units on small boats, so it's entirely possible you can hear a transmission that is beyond the range your radio will reach.
Also play with squelch as suggested above.
Sea Rescue normally operate on 73, but vessel-to-vessel chatter is often on 68.
OK, just realised you are in Carnarvon, might be slightly different channels there.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Channels
We call up on 16 and go to 73. We monitor 16 73 and 81 on VHF, 88 on 27meg [remember if you are coming up that no one up here uses 27 meg so if you are at the islands you are more or less on your own. Also monitor 4125 on HF.
Channel 81 is a repeater situated on Rio Tinto's aerial on Cape Cuvier giving coverage from north of Gnaraloo down the outside of Bernier, Dorre and Dirk Hartog islands .
The units we use are exactly the same as what you carry in your boats and the same goes for aerials, just that they are a lot higher above sea level