While transiting the Dixon Entrance in August of 2022, the Alaska purse seiner Hotspur developed a severe list and eventually rolled over and sank. Fortunately, the captain had a handheld VHF (very-high frequency radio) and used it to send out a distress call on Channel 16. Two nearby vessels responded quickly, so no lives were lost.
A number of companies make handheld VHFs. Hamilton Marine offers the Standard Horizon HX400 and an Icom M25 unit at its store in Rockland, Maine. The West Marine store in Anchorage, Alaska, carries the Standard Horizon, Icom, and Uniden handheld VHFs. “We don’t have the Cobra handheld in stock right now,” says one salesman there. “But we can get it.”
He notes that he sells a few handheld VHFs. “Mostly to guides. But the fishermen use them too, if they’re talking to the guys in a skiff, or if people go ashore when they’re waiting for an opening. I think the set netters like them too.”
“I use mine when I’m on deck and fishing solo,” says Alaska gillnetter Tony Parra on the Facebook page Commercial Fishermen Only.
“I have one,” says Nova Scotia lobsterman Jamie Hines. “I take it on my outboard while fishing, and I can hear coastguard transmissions, but have about a 6-mile range for output.”
The four main brands of handheld VHFs are fairly similar, but offer fishermen some variations in price and capacity.
The Standard Horizon HX400 is waterproof to 4.9 feet, has the strongest battery, and is also the most expensive of the handheld VHF options, running anywhere from $250 to $350. It comes with selectable 5- or 1-watt output power and a 3,200-mAh Li-Ion battery that can be charged on AC or DC in 3 hours. It can access all programmable U.S. and Canadian channels, plus U.S. and Canadian weather channels, and promises clear and secure transmission with a noise-cancelling microphone and a 4-code voice scrambler.
At $140 or less, Icom offers the IC-M25 handheld VHF to get the job done. The M25 is waterproof to 3.3 feet, has a 1,500-mAh battery, and roughly the same 1- to 5-watt output power as the Standard Horizon HX400. The M25 is compact and lightweight, and it floats—if dropped overboard, it will flash an LED light. It also features Icom’s proprietary AquaQuake, which prevents audio degradation by draining water from the radio’s speaker grill if it gets wet.
The Uniden MHS338BT comes in at a slightly lower price point than the Standard Horizon. While it has a 1,800-mAh battery, it offers up to 6 watts of output power, and all U.S., International, and Canadian marine channels, along with all NOAA weather channels and an FM radio.
Cobra is the last of the big four names in handheld VHFs. Its MR HH600 FLT GPS BT model is in the ballpark with Standard Horizon and Uniden in terms of price and features. The MR HH600 FLT GPS BT has a 2,000-mAh Li-Ion battery and output power up to 6 watts. Like the Uniden, it also transmits GPS coordinates and offers Bluetooth connectivity.
These VHFs all offer other features not mentioned and can be used in many situations, such as talking to crew in a seine skiff, talking and listening to other vessels and the Coast Guard when on deck, or, in the worst-case scenario, sending a distress or medivac call as the Hotspur did in 2022.
