On my last trip to Cozumel, while waiting on the surface for our boat to see his smb my DM mentioned the piece gear he would like to have most would be a handheld VHF to call the boat. He said there are so many boats in the area that even if he could not raise his boat for some reason someone would hear and either signal his boat or come running if there was an emergency. I would think that like a PLB one could find a case to fit a handheld VHF and in many dive sites it would be a extremely useful dive aid with a much quicker response than activating an epirb.
PLBs Can Save Your Life
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Protondecay123
Contributor
Not to
but in a boat rich environment like Coz at peak season the limited range of VHF at 1 watt at surface level MAY suffice to effect a rescue while drift diving a popular dive site without as much “fuss” as activating the 406 MHz SAR system. I’m not sure that it provides increased “range of discoverability” over a SMB with whistle and mirror. With little increase in cost you are able to purchase something that has a much greater effective range and is good even if you were diving out in the oceans in desolate areas like the Flower Garden Banks, etc. Just ask @DandyDon
Dan
Contributor
I suggest to get yourself a PAB such as Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS. It has an MMSI number in the back (mine is 972696005, see the picture below). Once I press the red button, the PAB would send “man overboard” message with the MMSI ID including GPS location to AIS receiver. Your boat would know that is you & where you are at that time.
That’s why 6 out of 12 liveaboards I have been on issue (loan for free of charge) to their guests during a week diving, 3-5 dives / day, sometimes in bluewater with possible ripping current appearing out of no where.
This is a great idea for someone who is very familiar with their diving locale and could accurately describe to another educated listener.
But for the sake of argument, without telling me any information other than what you can see in 360 degrees, tell me where you are and I'll guess. I'll try too. I'm in a hotel room, outside my window I can see a canal. Across the canal there's a building that says Hitachi on it. There's also a tower looking building that has a giant O on the side of it. There's a highway and a beach on the other side of the highway. It runs perpendicular to the canal.
Anyway, hyperbole aside, without being able to accurately convey your location, a radio is only good enough to serve as a notification, and only if anyone is listening. The range is much shorter as a floating diver compared to even standing on land, and you are dependent on your emergency call activating enough resources to find you, without always being able to give a reasonable location. "I'm a mile offshore. I see palm trees. I see sand." Since most small boats are not equipped with direction finding equipment, they would be hard pressed to narrow down your location. A transmission area of 1 mile in any given direction means at the very least the boat could head the wrong way. So now you're two miles away, no further radio contact is possible, and drifting. Add some time for them to return to where they first heard your signal, and now you can't reach each other at all.
Please don't take this as dismissing your idea. I think in a great many scenarios having a functional radio would be an awesome idea and very useful. However it shouldn't ever be considered a replacement for a PLB, and if you're in a place where most marine radios are AIS capable, it's not a replacement for a PAB. In a place like Cozumel, it's a great idea, the chances that there is someone who is knowledgable and nearby is much greater. When someone like a DM has one and can talk to a skipper and both know the area it is most certainly going to be faster than a PLB or PAB. For someone who is unfamiliar with the area, or speaking to an unfamiliar listener, the utility is greatly diminished.
As a supplement to a PLB, PAB, and signal kit, it certainly has merit in certain circumstances. However it's not a replacement except in a very narrow set of conditions.
He mentioned that he wished he had bought the previous model of the Nautilus ( I think ) which had a VHF radio talk feature but that the current model does not include it.
Many handhelds are waterproof, some are equipped with GPS and DCS capability, and available up to 6w. Not suggesting it is a substitute for an epirb in a true alone and floating out to sea situation. Just that it would be a useful aid in many situations.
Dan
Contributor
In terms of waterproof cases, I’ve used the body of a larger dive flashlight rated to 50m (not a can light) with the batteries removed to store things I need to keep dry. My criteria in choosing the flashlight body was size of the empty battery space as compared to what I wanted to put in it, and depth rating. IIRC it was an Underwater Kinetics old fashioned dive light, the ones you put the big square two post batteries in.
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I doubt that most would. That 1-1/3" is too narrow for me. My ACR 2881 is 1.6" thick. The ACR 2880 is 1.3" which is too close to call, and then you need to attach the flotation pouch. The ACR 2921 & 2922 are 1.49” thick. The PLB1 is 1.3", again too close to call. Still, it is a nice box for $17.
Anytime. I am certainly not an expert, but I love sharing my opinions. Except if you're going to ask someone, maybe ask one of those experts.The model that kept failing.
