lake radios - marine? walkie talkie? or what?

[phishfearme]

Originally Posted by DW

A 25 watt marine radio for boat to boat coverage at 10 miles with intervening islands and land will be marginal. They are cheap, so why not? Handhelds will do almost as well in that condition limited by lower antenna height typically compared to a permanent radio.

Either will cost $150, plus the antenna for the 25 watt radio. Lots of good handhelds @ $150 with no installation required.

looking around, the 25 watt marine radios are quite expensive - do you mean 5 watt? the BaoFeng-UV-82 mentioned would be about $60 a pair which is reasonable although after reading reviews on these i'm not sure they're much better than walkie talkies.

phish

[phishfearme]

Originally Posted by HodakaD

We use these Baofeng UV-82 radios. They are not waterproof, but they are cheap and work well. They must be programmed, but that is simple with a free program you get online called "chirp". I have mine programmed with Weather Service, Marine Band, FRS, and GMRS frequencies. They will blow the doors of anything you will find at Walmart.

isn't a license required for these?

[phishfearme]

Originally Posted by David Anderson

Was at Lac Seul this June and had to use a camp boat as mine wasn't fixed yet. We were in Wapesi Bay and noticed a guy driving all over the place. He finally came up to us and I took out my cell phone (No service) Pulled up the Navionics app now called Boating HD and our position and the Lac Seul map came up. I could show him where we were and how to get back to the main lake area back to Chamberlain Narrows. It was surprisingly nice.

I loaded boating hd and looked for an available map for the lake of interest (north caribou) but no luck - quite a few surrounding lakes though. would there be a "generic quadrangle" that could be used instead or am I stuck?

thanks for the post,
phish

[Bob/MN]

Originally Posted by phishfearme

Our group is heading to a huge lake next summer that is new to us - the possibility of getting lost is real and the cabin is hidden in a bay on an island facing away from everything so there's no "in sight of cabin".

we've carried walkie talkies for years and they've served their purpose but their range is quite limited especially with intervening islands which is the norm on this portion of the lake.

so what would you all suggest as a communications device that can cover maybe 8-10 miles with intervening land?

I've looked at handheld marine radios and a post on this board talks about "25 watt marines with special antenna" but I think that would be overkill - distance wise and cost wise.

we're also considering getting GPS's and mark a ton of waypoints to lead anyone back to camp.

thoughts/recommendations are welcome please.

phish

Our group uses Uniden UM380 radios with 8 ft antennas. They have a good water proof rateing as mine was in a down poor for two days and worked well. We talked 12 -15 miles from boat to boat. My unit cost $110 complete; shop around.

[richg99]

Don't forget some way to keep all of those devices charged onboard.

[northernbite]

Originally Posted by phishfearme

what kind of marine radios?

Sorry didn't get back sooner, making hay like crazy. one of the full time mounted ones with antenna.


Pau

[northernbite]

Originally Posted by Bob/MN

Our group uses Uniden UM380 radios with 8 ft antennas. They have a good water proof rateing as mine was in a down poor for two days and worked well. We talked 12 -15 miles from boat to boat. My unit cost $110 complete; shop around.

These are what we have, Paul

[bernmaster44]

Our group hs been going to Canada for more years than I care to remember. Over the years, we have all gotten Garmin handheld satellite radios. The most recent, a garmen Rhino does much more than a radio. There is a map which shows everyone in the group, their locations on the map. I see my waypoints and can easily name them, such as home or base, I can create trails and speak to anyone in our group even if their radios are much older. It works for me. There are some cheaper models but I paid $600 for mine and I’m extremely satisfied.

Yes, the GPS without cell works fine. On my boat I have a Lowrance and an iPad on a ram mount. I run the Navionics mapping with Sonar Charts and do real time recording and uploading. Works slick.

You can also get into a VHF marine radio with 25 watts and antenna for less than $1k. I picked one up for my ice house two weeks ago. Radio for just over $100 and wiring, antenna and mount for around $250. They have weather radio on them too which is a plus.

[phishfearme]

a million thanks for all the experience and suggestions. we are looking into some marine radio options - they are a bit expensive and require keeping them charged but it addresses our issues.

thanks again,
phish