A sad tale of a fool and his money!

[Owen]

Last weekend was the annual cross the Forth swimming race, from South to North Queensferry. The Fife and Lothian sea kayaking clubs plus a few others help out by doing safety cover. We paddle alongside of the swimmers and try to keep them on course and they can grab hold of a kayak if need be. During the race I used my VHF radio so I know it was working then.
After the race a friend and I decided to do some practice of rescues, rolls and re-entry rolls etc; we’re a bit kinky that way. At the end of the session I throw my wet kit into a big builder bucket and went home. When it came to sorting out my kit I stuck the radio under the tap as normal. Turned it on and it gave out a horrid bleeping noise the display went blank and it started vibrating. It does this to clear water out of the works, it should only last for a minute, it went on and on and on. That was on Sunday, I tried leaving it in the sun on the window sill to dry it out. I tried a fan heater, I tried it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, still it bleeped. On Saturday it bleeped for a bit and then stopped “hurrah” I thought, and then it started again.
“Oh well R.I.P. one 6 year old Icom M1Euro V”, I thought. I went on the internet and ordered a new one (standard horizon £90 +£5p&p). That’s £95 out of my precious new kayak fund, but I thought they are worth it and they’re very useful. This morning just as I was getting ready to go kayaking I decided to give it one more try, it worked perfectly. I tested it against my mates set, perfect. It’s sat in my BA packet all day and picked up Clyde coastguard, the Oban lifeboat and a couple of yachts.
So, now I have two working VHF sets, fine if I want to talk to myself I suppose.

[soundoftheseagull]

You can never have enough kit my Icom days/battery have ended usual corrosion.

[Douglas Wilcox]

Owen, you surely wouldn't trust that Icom anywhere near water from now on? Put it in your Optio drawer and enjoy your new Standard Horizon!

:o)

Douglas

[Mark R]

We replaced our corroded Icom batterys with two AA battery packs, and whilst we're not happy that we had to do this, we much prefer this system - it was always hard to judge how much charge was left (regardless of the meter) and harder still to charge the thing whilst on tour. Now, when in doubt (e.g. before a big crossing) we simply bung fresh AAs in.

Incidentally, lend/give your spare VHF to a friend; I'm of the opinion that ideally everyone in the group should carry a radio and know how to use it; H and I always carry one each.

[Jim]

I agree with Mark, for several years most of the VHF's on trips I was on were all actually from one team members large kit-bag. He had upgraded or just bought alternative sets to compare with the ones he already had (before the days when they started getting reviews here :-) ), and figured he could never have too many to lend out. Never yet had to find them essential, often found them useful though. If nothing else it means you don't have group together so everyone can hear the forecast ;-)

Douglas' 'Optio Drawer' is actually a 20' shipping container, but he's on the lookout for a 40' one....

[Ceegee]

Even though I own a Standard Horizon, and as a consequence have never had corrosion problems, when PURPOSELY doing wet practices, it is always an option to take the radio of your BA and stick it in your day hatch*! Avoids tempting fate, but sorry for your troubles anyhow.

Steve

*with some appropriate padding I hasten to add.

[Owen]

Even though I own a Standard Horizon, and as a consequence have never had corrosion problems, when PURPOSELY doing wet practices, it is always an option to take the radio of your BA and stick it in your day hatch*! Avoids tempting fate, but sorry for your troubles anyhow.

Steve

*with some appropriate padding I hasten to add.

Yes I normally do, that's what so annoying.

lend/give your spare VHF to a friend; I'm of the opinion that ideally everyone in the group should carry a radio and know how to use it;

Good idea. Must check if standard horizon do a AA battery pack.

[ls]

Whilst checking if they do an AA battery tray it is worth making yourself aware of the power that the radio will transmit on when using the AAs rather than the std battery pack, on some radios it drops from 5W to 2W - often in small print in the technical Specs if you look hard enough.

[Summit to Sea]

Good idea. Must check if standard horizon do a AA battery pack.

They do, the code is FBA-38, it takes 6 AA cells. RRP is £21.95

Pete

[tenboats1]

I had a close shave with my VHF. It would not transmit, otherwise was ok. I chucked it in a bucket of fresh water a few days before I planned to send it in for a repair, and luckily it has worked fine ever since. But I was nearly in the same situation as Owen. Commiserations!

tb

[CONTADOR]

We replaced our corroded Icom batterys with two AA battery packs, and whilst we're not happy that we had to do this, we much prefer this system - it was always hard to judge how much charge was left (regardless of the meter) and harder still to charge the thing whilst on tour. Now, when in doubt (e.g. before a big crossing) we simply bung fresh AAs in.

Incidentally, lend/give your spare VHF to a friend; I'm of the opinion that ideally everyone in the group should carry a radio and know how to use it; H and I always carry one each.

Mark, you may already know this, but with with the battery tray you get reduced power - 3W I think rather than an available 5W with the Li-Ion....

[Mark R]

I didn't know that, thanks.

[Jimpit]

Owen,

I'm sorry to hear of your predicament, but I don't have a VHF radio at all and would be happy to purchase one of yours (presumably the older one) if you haven't already found a friend to give it to.

My personal email is jimhoughton2@gmail.com if you wanted to name a price.

Jimpit

[Owen]

Jimpit,

Thanks for the offer but I'll keep it as a spair. If your looking for one then the standard horizon HX280E is a really good buy. I got mine from marine supperstore for £89.