Greeting - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

chris138 · 09-17-2015, 05:49 PM

Id say fishing la jolla kelp you don't need a radio. Cell phone will be much more effective at making an emergency call. At best your 6w handheld may have an effective range of 5 nm, line of sight. Cell phone will give you service up to 10 nm out and doesn't require LOS. Also, you must know the correct protocol for hailing emergency response and be able to correctly communicate your GPS coordinates to the coast guard or lifeguard. A nice VHF will digitally transmit your coordinates...

That being said i have the standard horizon HX870 which has GPS, nav, and DSC. Its a very nice 6w handheld, but still its only good for 5 miles tops. You can hear the CG on ch 16, but they cant hear you...

09-17-2015, 05:49 PM	#3
chris138 donkey roper Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pacific Beach Posts: 968	Id say fishing la jolla kelp you don't need a radio. Cell phone will be much more effective at making an emergency call. At best your 6w handheld may have an effective range of 5 nm, line of sight. Cell phone will give you service up to 10 nm out and doesn't require LOS. Also, you must know the correct protocol for hailing emergency response and be able to correctly communicate your GPS coordinates to the coast guard or lifeguard. A nice VHF will digitally transmit your coordinates... That being said i have the standard horizon HX870 which has GPS, nav, and DSC. Its a very nice 6w handheld, but still its only good for 5 miles tops. You can hear the CG on ch 16, but they cant hear you...