Uniden VHF Equipment - Opinions

Morpheus

New Member
May 7, 2007
2,450
Odessa, FL
Boat Info
2006 SeaRay Sundeck 240
Engines
5.0MPI Mercruiser w/ Bravo III
Ok so I've been looking at getting a VHF radio for the boat and with Jim at BOE's help I thought I had narrowed it down to what I wanted. Because of the limited HELM space on the 240 I was going to go with a Horizon VHF with a remote mic at the helm. Well yesterday I got a new boating catalog that had some uniden products in it and one was this:

http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=WHAMx4BK

A wireless remote mic that uses the 2.4GHZ band. Anyone use or have this or any Uniden VHF and can give opinions on the brand and products?

Also when I searched for this I came across:

http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=MYSTIC

Which I thought was very cool
 
They both look like cool products. The wireless mic still needs a base station, so where would you put that?

The only question on the handheld I'd have is does it float? I have a "waterproof" handheld icon which is great, but it was before they came out with the one that floats, so if in an emergency you drop it in the water, it will work while sinking...

Barry
 
They both look like cool products. The wireless mic still needs a base station, so where would you put that?

The only question on the handheld I'd have is does it float? I have a "waterproof" handheld icon which is great, but it was before they came out with the one that floats, so if in an emergency you drop it in the water, it will work while sinking...

Barry

It doesn't say it floats but it does say
<LI type=disc>JIS7 Rated, Completely Submersible
which is I believe 30minutes underwater before water intrusion is to happen.
As for the base station it would go inside the HELM storage area where the Radio is now. I like to be able to hear the VHF when I have it on and with it in the storage area I woudn't beable to hear it but with the wireless mic I could just drop it in the cup holder where I keep the handheld I have now.

I'd probably also get the headset because when on plain and with the radio on I can not hear anything on the VHF.
 
Wireless mic is a great idea... wonder if ICOM will ever come out with that... (they are my favorite radio vendor).
 
Powerboat Reports did extensive RF performance testing on both fixed and handheld VHFs. It's was one of the few, very few, things they did well. Icom and Standard Horizon radios always performed exceptionally well in their testing. Standard was only a tiny bit behind Icom. Following distantly was everyone else except the really crappy stuff. One of the consistent vendors of the really crappy stuff was Uniden. Get the Uniden if you want to play with a toy. Get the Standard if you need to communicate.

Best regards,
Frank C
 
I like the ICOM stuff because, for those of us over 40 (when your eyes start going bad), it has GREAT BIG numbers and buttons you can read and use without your reading glasses on....

How's that for a stupid reason?

PS. That's why I hate Windows Mobile based cell phones. One should not have to pull the car over and put on reading glasses to answer the phone with 2 hands.
 
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Guess I'll still with the horizon with the wired remote mic then (I'm sure as soon as I buy one iCOM or Horizon will come out with wireless)
 
Morph;

I have the Uniden Oceanus w/ the DSC. it has been a great unit and I will be connecting it to my new Garmin hopefully today so that I can get location with the conversation on the radio.

I looked on the web to see the dash layout you have to work with and you should be able to mount the radio in the dash just left of the steering wheel or inside the dash with a small remote speaker on the dash and a WHAM with a clip on the dash.

the big deal is that you need a good antenna if you want to be able to reach help when you need it the most. I have an 8ft shakespear galaxy and can easily pick up radio traffic in duniden (13 miles) on low power.

if you need help to put a hole in your boat let me know. the first hole is always the hardest.
 
The Uniden are better than the entry level Raymarine radios, primarily due to price and performance ratio. I thought the Raymarine entry level radios were complete junk for the price. I would lean to Standard. That being said, I have been happy with my Northstar radio.
 
Yea I was gonna go with a 4' Shakespear Galaxy as I felt the 8 ft would be a bit big for the boat and I do not plan on going that far away from shore.

As for the whole I already drilled 5 holes (3 for the gps attenna bolts, 1 for the attenna wire and 1 for the garmin cable) but those were inside the boat the attenna hole will be outside, and I need to make sure I shim it right so I can pass Gary's inspection.
 
A handheld vhf is a backup for- not a replacement- for a 25 watt VHF.
I have the Uniden 625 with a WhamX4 remote and have been pleased so far. The Wham is not a mic- it's a full function remote that will do anything the main VHF does- including hailer/intercom and it has it's own DSC distress button. The display also acts as repeater for NMEA navigation data, but since you would mount it out of the way that wouldn't matter to you. It's less $$ than any of the black box VHF's, and I think it would suit your application perfectly.
 
Morph;

Just as somehting to think about I would cut 2 sticks one 4 foot long and one 8 foot long and put then next to the boat on the side above the rub rail to get an idea of the height that you will actually get from your antenna. i think you will see that with a 4 footer you may not even clear the Bimini. being that most boaters in our area 1.) either don't have a VHF or 2.) don't have them on most of the time if you hail a distress you may need more reach and distance than you think.

anyway my 2 cents

as for shiming the installation. I have a stainless mount which has 2 axis adjustments. left-right, front-back. although my antena mount is on the side at about a 75 degree angel the antena is dead verticel. also use big flat washers as backing plates for the thruhull screws and a stainless compression fitting to route the cable into the hull. all in all you'll need to make 5 moderate size holes in the side and 3 small ones.
 
A handheld vhf is a backup for- not a replacement- for a 25 watt VHF.
I have the Uniden 625 with a WhamX4 remote and have been pleased so far. The Wham is not a mic- it's a full function remote that will do anything the main VHF does- including hailer/intercom and it has it's own DSC distress button. The display also acts as repeater for NMEA navigation data, but since you would mount it out of the way that wouldn't matter to you. It's less $$ than any of the black box VHF's, and I think it would suit your application perfectly.

Does the remote also display all the NMEA data? If it does... that's really nice.
 
Morph;

Just as somehting to think about I would cut 2 sticks one 4 foot long and one 8 foot long and put then next to the boat on the side above the rub rail to get an idea of the height that you will actually get from your antenna. i think you will see that with a 4 footer you may not even clear the Bimini. being that most boaters in our area 1.) either don't have a VHF or 2.) don't have them on most of the time if you hail a distress you may need more reach and distance than you think.

anyway my 2 cents

as for shiming the installation. I have a stainless mount which has 2 axis adjustments. left-right, front-back. although my antena mount is on the side at about a 75 degree angel the antena is dead verticel. also use big flat washers as backing plates for the thruhull screws and a stainless compression fitting to route the cable into the hull. all in all you'll need to make 5 moderate size holes in the side and 3 small ones.

That's a really good point you have. I'm gonna do exactly that and see how the eight foot looks. Thanks.
 
as for shiming the installation. I have a stainless mount which has 2 axis adjustments. left-right, front-back. although my antena mount is on the side at about a 75 degree angel the antena is dead verticel. also use big flat washers as backing plates for the thruhull screws and a stainless compression fitting to route the cable into the hull. all in all you'll need to make 5 moderate size holes in the side and 3 small ones.

Even with a two axis adjustment, it is not always possible to get the antenna straight side to side because the teeth may not line up right... if they do, you got lucky.
 
Gary;

I don't belive in luck unless it's BAD luck. Being an engineer by trade; I always plan things out way in advance (my neighbor thinks im Anal cause I spent 2 afternoons planning and installing my GPS) , but with that said I haven't put the laser level on it. Lets just say it's striaght enough that no one will know.
 
Gary;

I don't belive in luck unless it's BAD luck. Being an engineer by trade; I always plan things out way in advance (my neighbor thinks im Anal cause I spent 2 afternoons planning and installing my GPS) , but with that said I haven't put the laser level on it. Lets just say it's striaght enough that no one will know.

I'm an engineer also... and proper planning gives you the ability to align the antenna fore and aft but the side to side alignment requires a shim unless you are lucky. The angle of the arch (or whatever you are mounting to) and the way the teeth in the base line up probably will be off a noticable amount in one direction. What that means is if it is leaning outward and you move one tooth in, it'll be leaning inward... and I'm not talking a degree or two... I forget the per tooth angle on those mounts but I think it's around 10-15 degrees. So if you put up the antenna and it's leaning out 7 degrees and then go to the next adjustment and it's leaning in 8 degrees... and that is noticable. Shims give you the ability to adjust the side-to-side alignment by a few degrees at a time. You'll never get it perfect but being within a few degrees is important especially if you have multiple antennas... you don't want them pointing in difference directions.
 

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