Re: [Paddlewise] Who make a good Marine radio?

As I reported here a couple of weeks ago, I owned (note past tense) an Apelco
520 that I purchased in mid-December.  It was nice--fairly small and light
weight.  Worked well at room temperature, but when I took it outside I
couldn't hear it.  I'm in Milwaukee Wisconsin and paddle year round on Lake
Michigan, so a radio is no good if it doesn't operate in cold temperatures.
After complaining here about it, I emailed the tech folks at Raytheon (maker
of the Apelco radios).  The first response wasn't on point at all--but they
did tell me that the LCD might freeze up and that the 520 was not waterproof
(submersible) when the alkaline battery pack was in use.  So I sent another
email.  To their credit they responded in a timely fashion and apologized for
missing my point.  They informed me that the first production run of a couple
hundred 520 radios were made without the proper venting in the NiCad battery
pack.  They advised me I should take the NiCad battery off the radio and look
to the left of the recycle symbol where there should be a small white dot
which is the vent to equalize the pressure under varying temperature
conditions.  Without this vent the pressure deforms the speaker causing the
malfunction I was experiencing--no volume.

With printed copy of email in hand, I returned the radio to my local Boat
U.S., where I had purchased it and exchanged it for a "better" model from
Horizon--the Standard HX350S.  Though it is more expensive (I paid $279), the
$50 got me a better radio, with 110 volt AC and 12 volt DC chargers, 10 hour
NiCad battery, as well as AA alkaline battery pack.  It meets the JIS7
submersible rating and so far works really well, although our temperatures
have moderated a bit lately.  The folks here at Boat U.S. were not aware of
the Apelco venting problem, but checked their stock and found one other radio
that had been returned (by another sea kayaker) for the same reason.  And,
another sea kayaker here exchanged his yesterday for a properly vented 520.
(We are paddling together tomorrow morning and will test them out, it is
supposed to be in the 15 to 20 F degree range.)

The folks at Boat U.S. talked to the Standard people and were told that the
350S is also not JIS7 submersible when the AA battery pack is being used.  My
inspection of the battery pack though revealed a lot of gaskets and O-rings
being used, unlike the Apelco 520.  My guess is that it has a higher level of
water resistenance, if not waterproofness.  I'll test mine out in fresh water
and report back (I'll make it a short report though).

Hey, thanks for hanging in with this long winded report--but I think anyone
shopping for VHF radios will appreciate this insight.

John Browning
Milwaukee Wisconsin
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