Marine Radios: VHF, 27 MHz and Who Needs a Licence

There are two marine radios on the shelf at Kadina that look alike and do very different jobs. One needs a certificate to operate and one does not, and the one that does not is the one fewer and fewer people are listening to. Here is what each of them does in the gulfs, what the law says, and what we would put in a boat that goes past the two-mile line.

What the law actually requires

In South Australia a boat operating in unprotected waters — more than two nautical miles from the low-water mark of the mainland or Kangaroo Island — must carry a two-way marine radio capable of communicating with a station ashore. Inside two miles it is not compulsory, though a phone in a wet pocket is a poor substitute, and the volunteer rescue groups would rather hear from you on a radio than not at all. The full equipment grid, water category by water category, is in our guide to what you must carry in SA.

The handbook lists three types of two-way marine transceiver: VHF, 27 MHz, and MF/HF for boats going more than about thirty nautical miles offshore. For a gulf boat the choice is between the first two.

27 MHz: cheap, legal, and lonely

The “27 meg” set was the standard trailer-boat radio for decades. It is inexpensive, it needs no operator qualification, and it satisfies the unprotected-waters requirement. Its distress and calling channel is 27.88, and the volunteer marine rescue stations in SA still monitor it.

Its problems are range and audience. It is a short-range set with poorer transmission quality than VHF, and the people who might help you — the ship you are drifting towards, the cruiser a mile away, the charter boat with a proper radio — are not listening on 27 MHz. Nor does it have any of the automated distress capability that modern VHF has. If the boat came with one, keep it working; if you are buying a radio, buy the other one.

VHF: the one that works

VHF is by far the more effective of the two, and the reason is simple: large ships are required to monitor channel 16, and so does every rescue station, every commercial vessel and most recreational boats worth calling. It offers longer range and cleaner audio, and the coastal VHF repeater network run through the state's transport department extends the coverage well beyond what a single set could manage on its own.

Range on VHF is about antenna height more than transmitter power. A fixed 25-watt set with a proper antenna mounted high will reach a shore station across most of the inshore gulf; a five-watt handheld held at deck level will not. The fixed set is the primary radio; the handheld is the backup that floats and goes in the grab bag.

DSC and MMSI. Buy a VHF with Digital Selective Calling. DSC puts a red button under a cover on the front of the set; press and hold it and the radio sends an automated distress alert to every DSC radio in range, sounding an alarm on each of them, and if the set is connected to a GPS the alert carries your position. To do that the radio must be programmed with a Maritime Mobile Service Identity, a nine-digit number unique to the boat. MMSI registration is free through AMSA. A DSC radio with no MMSI programmed is a radio with its best feature switched off, and we see a lot of them.

Who needs the certificate

The person operating a VHF marine radio must hold a marine radio operator's certificate. For VHF that is the SROCP, the Short Range Operator Certificate of Proficiency, administered through the Australian Maritime College's Office of Maritime Communications. It is issued for life and does not expire. The LROCP, the long-range version, covers MF/HF as well as VHF, and HF radios additionally need an apparatus licence from the ACMA; that is the offshore boat's problem, not the gulf boat's.

Getting the SROCP is not hard. The volunteer rescue groups run a one-day course with an exam at the end, and the exam can also be sat separately if you have studied the operator's handbook. The content is radio procedure — how to call, how to make and respond to a distress call, which channels do what — and it is worth having whether or not the law made you get it, because a radio is only useful if the person holding it knows the words.

No certificate is required for 27 MHz. That is the one genuine advantage it has left.

What we would fit

• A fixed DSC VHF wired to the boat's GPS, with the MMSI programmed before it goes in the boat. The GME sets are the ones most of the peninsula runs; the Raymarine radios suit a boat that already has a Raymarine plotter to share position with.
• The antenna mounted as high as the boat allows, on a proper base and bracket rather than a bit of rail. Antenna choice and mounting decide the range; the bases, mounts and brackets are the part of the job people economise on and regret.
• Power on its own fused feed from the battery, not daisy-chained off the sounder. A radio that browns out when the winch runs is not a radio.
• A floating handheld VHF in the grab bag, charged, for the day the fixed set is underwater with the rest of the helm.
• An EPIRB is not a radio and does not replace one, but beyond three miles from shore, or five in the gulfs, it is required alongside it.

Using it

Keep the set on channel 16 while underway. Log on with the local volunteer marine rescue group when you leave and log off when you are back; it records your trip and it is regular practice. Do a radio check on a working channel, never on 16. Know the three calls — Mayday for grave and imminent danger to the boat or a life, Pan Pan for urgency short of that, Sécurité for a safety message — and know that once you make contact on 16 you will be moved to a working channel. And make sure at least one other person on board can use it; the skipper is the person most likely to be the one who needs the call made.

We fit and wire radios, antennas and GPS links at the Kadina workshop through device and accessory fitting, and we will program the MMSI once you have it. If you are not sure what is on the boat now or whether it is talking to anyone, ring 0412 532 984.