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Originally Posted by thinkxingu
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I have one (hand held) at my island camp that works fairly well. It's a 5 watt Standard Horizon STD-HX370S. When out on my deck my antenna is up pretty high, I would guess 20' above the water so I get fairly good coverage. From the West side of Welch I have I have spoken to people at Weirs, Center harbor, Diamond island etc. Its all about antenna height and line of sight. Yes wattage is lower than an installed unit so it obviously not going to have the power or range of an installed VHF. They do make a separate taller antenna that you could hook to a handheld which would increase your range but honestly I think before I went that route I would simply get an installed unit and be done with it...There are ways to utilize quick release mounts so you can remove the radio quickly when needed, same for the antenna...
The installed unit in my boat is a Lowrance VHF Marine Radio,Link-8,DSC attached to a 8' Shakespeare phase 3 antenna on the top of my helm. This puts me about 16' above the water...it works well.
Dan