Ham Radio

Been putting together a list of gear for kayaking.  I have been checking the gear I already have on hand the stuff that I will need for a day out on the salt.

One item is a radio.   I am a ham radio operator (AL2N) and have a handheld radio for the ham bands.  Now a number of ham radios out there cover the marine frequencies and a person could program their radio to have both ham radio repeaters along the coast as well as the maritime frequencies used in their area.

I am curious if anyone has done this?  Seems like a bit of added insurance to be able to have both ham and maritime communication options available, but a person would have to know what frequency matches with what channel for marine transmissions (channel 16 is 156.80MHz for example).

Any other hams out there?   Or is it just easier to get a marine radio and be done with it?

I would say to just get a marine VHF and call it good.  Interesting idea though.

I've done this on one sailboat and on large vessels. I was crossing oceans at the time. The gear is a fairly extensive and you'd never get the antenna and transmission power to make large patches from a kayak. The coastal repeater system and CG ability to monitor and amplify all frequencies make it unnecessary imo. A solid marine radio should suffice for emergencies, but don't forget your cell phone as a back-up for coastal travel. Might be fun to chat with other hams when camping on some remote beach, your choice.

Just dug my handheld out from under the seat of my Jeep.

It does work for the maritime bands as well as the ham bands.   It has 100 memory presets, so I can program in the maritime freq under the matching channel number to make it easy to remember.  The emergency channel and the more common open channels used locally will not take up much room.

Till I can get a waterproof marine radio, I can use this one.  Only cost me 30 bucks and one more item I can scratch off the list for now. 

Now to locate a cheap wetsuit at a yard sale or craigslist this summer.....

I have an Icom t-90 with the coast guard bands programmed in.  I used it on a pb fishing buoy 10 a couple of years ago and it worked fine.  I don't think I would take in a yak though as it's not waterproof.  Personally I would go with a marine radio and  not have to worry about it getting wet and not working. 
(kd7zfj)

Guys, for a nice water resistant possibly waterproof protection system for your handhelds check out aqua pac (sic). They have a heavy duty vinyl bag with antenna cover that seals at the bottom. Also comes with a lanyard.

Last one I got was thru the local sportsmans warehouse but you should also be able to find them either on amazon or west marine dot com.

I went to that type of protection after having my very first radio fail after its first dunking at my first ORC at Pacific City.

I'm a ham too, and although you can use a handheld 2 meter-ish for the marine radio channels, you're probably better off with a proper marine handheld.  Marine VHF handhelds are available with some very cool features, including:

* MMSI unique identification numbers for private ship-to-ship conversation
* Panic button for automatic distress call to coast guard, which includes your MMSI number and information about your boat from the online registration process
* Built in GPS so when you push the panic button the automatic distress call also includes your position
* Waterproof

I do think, however, that the rubber duck antenna can be improved with a stinger-type ground plane wire.  Have any hams done that with their handheld VHF?  The waterproof coax antenna connector has stymied my efforts.