Why Every Boat Should Have a VHF

VHF radios are the primary way that boaters can communicate with other boaters.  They can be used for normal communication or can be very useful in an emergency situation.  On the lake that I do most of my boating on, the only boats that have VHF radios are those who are involved in the sail boat races.  They will generally use these radios to talk to the boats from the race official's boat.  Though most would see it unnecessary to have a VHF if there are so few people monitoring it, if everybody had one, the lake could be just a little bit safer.

As it stands today, the only way to get in touch with emergency officials is to call 911 and then have your call dispatched to the lake law enforcement.  With the lake not being owned by the city that it is located it, I have see this take as long as 5 minutes from the time of first call to dispatch.  In a life threatening situation, this is too long.  

The emergency officials on the water have a VHF but rarely monitor the calls because there aren't really any people that carry them.  The call that took 5 minutes to answer in the above situation could take less than a minute, completely cutting out the middle man (the city dispatcher).

They can also be useful in situations such as those when you are approaching a marina.  There is one marina monitoring a VHF radio on the lake, at that marina, no one is trained on the correct way to use the radio.  So even if someone were to call in distress, the help that the marina would be giving would not be given in a clear, concise manner.  

Up next, how to hail on a VHF.

Standard Horizon GX1700 Explorer
Source: www.p2marine.com