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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Bargain Price Handheld VHF with DSC

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/06/2013 : 08:14:51

Amazon (Marketplace seller) has the Uniden MHS135DSC Handheld Marine Radio on sale for $125. It has built-in GPS with DSC call/receive capabilities (Distress Button), and comes with a AA emergency battery tray that's an extra cost accessory with other brands. I picked it up for potential emergency use in my ditch bag and for dinghy and charters. I think it's a closeout special, since Uniden's site now lists the MHS235DSC instead.

Click for link:

<center>[url="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007B5ZEAS"]

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The price is quite a bargain compared to the HX851 (about half the cost). It does have a couple deficiencies compared to the HX851, so check the reviews. Specifically, it shares a single radio receiver for voice and DSC (channel 70), so when scanning for incoming DSC, there are short dropouts every couple seconds. You can turn off the scanning to eliminate the dropouts. I ultimately decided that I could live with this, since it's not my primary radio (I have a cockpit RAM mic for my fixed VHF radio).

delliotg: I've been thinking about a new handheld VHF ever since I sold you my previous one a few years ago!

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - TakeFive on 12/06/2013 10:40:22

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 12/06/2013 : 12:42:37

And I bring that VHF with me on every trip, along with my original Uniden, I like redundant systems. Your old one stays in the cockpit with me, usually turned off, while I'm using the WHAM microphone from my fixed unit. The WHAM will only last about 5 hours on a charge, so then I turn on the Icom. The old Uniden sits in the ditch bag just in case and rarely gets turned on.

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shnool
Former Capri-25 Tech Editor

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USA
1032 Posts

Response Posted - 12/06/2013 : 15:30:12

$168 on Buy but they have a few too.
http://www.rakuten.com/prod/uniden-mhs135dsc-marine-radio-for-marine-with-weather-disaster-vhf-16/228381783.html

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 12/13/2013 : 19:27:01

The $125 Uniden VHF/DSC/GPS radio arrived yesterday. I charged the Li-ion battery and tried it out at my house tonight. (No land-based transmissions, of course.) The menu system is very easy to use. It has a very nice dot-matrix display that I think has even higher resolution than my Standard Horizon GX2150 fixed radio.

I listened to the local Winter Storm Warning on NOAA weather channel, and I do hear the dropouts every couple of seconds, just as the Amazon reviewers complained about. But I was quickly able to figure out how to turn off the DSC scanning feature, and the dropouts disappeared. According to reviewers' comments, turning off the DSC scan does NOT disable the ability to initiate DSC calls, or the (important) ability to press the distress button to initiate a mayday hail.

In addition to the AA emergency battery tray, it also comes with an external speaker/mic that you can attach to your lapel or shirt collar while the radio is on your belt or PFD. It also has a bright light that can be a constant flashlight or flash an SOS code. This thing seems to have a lot of nice features for such a low price.

The Amazon price went up to $139 for several days, but just dropped down again to $125. I'll probably buy a second one for my son who crews on race boats in Seattle, since I'd like him to have a distress button with him if he falls overboard.

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Edited by - TakeFive on 12/13/2013 19:28:35

Tomas Kruska
Admiral

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Czech Republic
522 Posts

Response Posted - 12/14/2013 : 14:04:41

Cool handheld.
Btw. How it's legal in US to have this VHF radio without MMSI? Here in Europe its not and also you cannot register the handheld as the only radio device.

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 12/14/2013 : 14:12:47

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Tomas Kruska
 Cool handheld.
Btw. How it's legal in US to have this VHF radio without MMSI? Here in Europe its not and also you cannot register the handheld as the only radio device.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Since VHF marine radios for recreational use on boats less than 65' do not require an FCC license in the US, I'm not sure it's "illegal" to have a DSC device here without MMSI. However, DSC functionality will not work properly unless it's registered. A few years ago USCG estimated that 90% of DSC radios were not properly registered with MMSI. Hopefully their publicity push has improved that statistic.

In the US there are two options for MMSI. Qualifying radios ("voluntary" radios for recreational use) can get one for free through [url="http://www.boatus.com/mmsi/"]BoatUS[/url] (no FCC license needed), but it only works in the US because the MMSI is not on the international registry. Or you can pay for an FCC license and get an MMSI that works globally. Since the FCC license costs almost double what this radio cost me, I am just going to get the free one for US use only. I am going to give it a unique MMSI, separate from my fixed VHF radio.

I read that European countries are changing their MMSI standards for handhelds. But they're not all doing it at the same time. I am not sure whether that change allows for registering a handheld without having a fixed VHF to "pair" it with.

Edited by - TakeFive on 12/14/2013 14:23:31

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