A unique website dedicated to fishing information from Florida's Northern Big Bend. This includes the area from the Econfina River west to the Apalachicola River
I am in the market for a vhf to put on the boat I'm building and can't decide between a fixed mount or handheld. From what I understand the handhelds range are limited to about 3 to 5 miles while the fixed mounts get around 15 miles of range with the right antenna. The boat is a flats skiff and if I buy a fixed mount radio I plan on mounting a 3' ss whip antenna on a swivel bracket near the top of the polling platform. So when the antenna is swiveled up it should be about 7' high. I figure this would be about the same though if I stand on the polling platform with a handheld, seas permitting. The main advantage I see to the fixed mount are the new ones with DSC but I also hear that isn't operable yet and when so the nearest station is in Panama City so we wont be in range anyways. Although I know the CG Aux operates a radio station near the lighthouse somewhere. I know the antenna height is really the most important thing so would a handheld and a fixed mount antenna at roughly the same height have the same range? Well the handheld would be higher because i'm not 3 feet tall
Also Bass Pro in Destin is having a whale of a sale this weekend. I'm sending my wife on a parts run over to the outlets Sat. They have a $500 dollar Garmin GPSMap 168 which has been discontinued but they're $200 dollars off. And $300 dollars is a deal for a garmin gps/sounder combo. I wish it was color but I cant explain to my wife why color is worth another 2 or 3 hundred dollars. I cant explain it to myself for that matter, one day though. Any thoughts on the radio options would be appreciated.
The other dif. between the two is that the handheld is 5watts max, and the fixed is 25watts max, a big dif. when you need to be heard I have found that they both receive about the same "fixed still wins though", transmitting is fixed all the way "at least 3 times the distance" If you have the room onboard, definitely go with a fixed
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”
Fixed mount for sure, and the higher the antenna the further you talk. My 8ft antenna is mounted on top the T-top 7ft, so 15 feet off the deck I can talk at least 30 miles.
I am also new to out-of-sight-of-land saltwater fishing. After getting some good advice from the kind folks in this forum, I bought an ICOM M402S VHF/DSC fixed-mount radio. I would go with the fixed vs. portable since it has 25 Watts of output (vs. 5 watts) which is what you may need to raise the Coast Guard or other help in times of emergency. I bought this radio at http://www.boatersworld.com for $129 - which was on sale at the time, but they must have made some money on it, so keep your eyes open for that price range - good luck shopping.
I have found that they both receive about the same "fixed still wins though", transmitting is fixed all the way "at least 3 times the distance" 
