Handheld VHF

[Froglet]

[tempt mode]The HX890 is out now....[/tempt mode]

My understanding is that the HX890 is a simpler specification (Class H?) than the HX870E, might be worth checking out a detailed comparison on the HX870 discussion group:

https://groups.io/g/hx870/topic/30196966#544

(You may have to register if you haven't already)

I haven't studied it in detail but there is discussion that some of the position polling features may have disappeared or be different; this of course may not affect your planned use. Just thought you'd like to be aware.

[Froglet]

Thanks Roger

Interesting (and slightly concerning) reading. The options for both sending and receiving position information are all present and correct in the manual and the menus of the 890, so if it turns out to be crippled for whatever reason I'll be a little miffed.

However rather hard to test when I'm billy no mates stuck 100 miles inland.

I hope to make it to the group event on the 23rd so I'll be keen to pester anyone with DCS to test the position functions. Then we'll know.

Cheers

Simon

[chris moody]

I want to have a play with position requests on the 23rd. The feature is disabled on my iCom M91d, which really annoyed me when I found out, but is allegedly fully functional on my HX870.

So @Froglet lets make sure we have a play with position requests on the 23rd and see how accurately it enables us to find the other person (obviously tidal streams will have an effect unless the target is at anchor)

[Froglet]

Excellent. I'm at your service for testing duties. Good stuff.

[Sarah]

Be great if you could share your findings on the position requests in real life (as opposed to the classroom). I've asked Dom to reply ref the Icoms and pricing. He'll be along soon.

[Dom]

Hi all, we did indeed become resellers of Icom (and some other) products, the reason was to give our clients added value when booking courses with us, we can discount a little more than normal when people book a course, to give people extra value from the course and be able to have their radio setup at the same time.

There's very little margin in these radios, the suggested retail price is £299 and a lot of the big suppliers discount them loads because they buy loads.

We could supply the M93 for example to F-Ribs & Sibs “Supporting Members” for £240 if they collected it from Poole, £245 delivered in the UK.

The M93d is probably the most expensive DSC handheld on the market, we have three (one real , two training) and I love them, I prefer them to every other unit available because they are the right shape, weight, functions inside, visability, they float (and flash apparently).. People do often look towards the Standard horizon and cobra, both of which are fine and seem to do the job okay, i hear mixed reports about the longevity of the cobra but no personal experience. we had a guy on a course last week who brought the new cobra DSC with him and the features were cool, the device looked fine and it was reasonably easy to use, i still felt that I'd rather spend the extra money for the Icom.

Always happy to see what we can do for members, some kit we can find better discounts on.

Dom

[Dom]

With regard to the availability of functions, the Icoms and standard horizons are all coming into the UK programmed to a specific SOLAS spec, the spec is decided at an international level and the UK distributors (Icom UK is a distributor of Icom Japan) only have the option to remove each unit from it's packaging and reprogram it prior to sale so for example if I buy something directly from Icom, I'll email their tech guy and the kit will be reprogrammed prior to dispatch.

Any Dealer should be able to do the same, the likelihood is that if you buy from a big supplier, they are possibly keeping costs down by not offering this service.

I've always been willing to pay a little more to have a person who I know I can call to sort a problem, before or after the sale, i know the name of the guy at Icom who knows everything about the whole range and talks me through the tech that I don't know, I can't give his number out but I can take any questions directly to him

We love ( I think I mentioned that earlier) the M93 and in supporting it, I wanted to be able to let users access extra features so we bought the dealer software and programming cables, we can enable various extra features on the current Icom range if you're in the poole area and can bring the radio to us.

hope this info helps somewhat

again, feel free to pester me with any queries.

[Martin]

There's very little margin in these radios, the suggested retail price is £299 and a lot of the big suppliers discount them loads because they buy loads.

We could supply the M93 for example to F-Ribs & Sibs “Supporting Members” for £240 if they collected it from Poole, £245 delivered in the Uk

Dom

That’s an amazing offer Dom, thankyou!

[Gazzago]

Below from the RYA VHF Handbook 2019