Posted: >> The brand and model that I use as well as most of my friends is the Standard HX350. Seems to be the most trouble free of the ones we've all tried.<< Rick: >That's the one I use, and like it fine. I've never needed to use it in an emergency, though (fortunately), so can only recommend it based on my use of it in calm, controlled conditions. Maybe someone else has used it in life threatening situations and can comment on it's ease of use when other things are going badly - in the water getting pounded with cold water, numb fingers, etc.< We used one during our rescue off the Storm Islands a few years back. It was either an ICOM or a Standard water proof model of earlier vintage. Cold hands, bloody jumbled seas, numb-numb brains, exhaustion/dehydration, etc. No problems using it, however, initial broadcasting was done on 1- watt. Silly boys. Kind of hard to get a Mayday out on 1- watt. After a time the paddler/operator switched to 5 watts. Contact established. Radio was half-discharged, but lasted long enough for combined Military/Coast Guard/merchant marine response. So, keep those radio's charged up, and while its nice to be a participant on the water with other boaters by listening in all day, make sure you have enough reserve juice to see you through any potential time-lag emergency. And switch to 5 watt for transmission, at least initially. Carry flares, blah blah blah... Doug Lloyd Victoria BC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ "Whatever can be said at all can be said clearly and whatever cannot be said clearly should not be said at all." Ludwig Wittgenstein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jun 17 2003 - 22:35:17 PDT
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