Just Getting Started With A VHF Radio

[ful-rac]

Buy a decent unit with an even better warranty. West Marine is on the expensive side but if you buy it there and buy the warranty, you are golden. Radios are one of those things that you are probably going to have problems with in the future, due to the harsh environment that it gets used in.

Another thing to know, if you get the speaker wet...you will hardly hear anything, even though it is waterproof and submersible. So try to keep it out of the water. If you want to get fancy get an external mic, and just keep that dry. If you do get one of those, you can get the radio wet all you want and still be able to transmit and receive.


Good brands

Standard Horizon (service center located in cypress)
Icom

There's probably a few more...