Re-Programming a Marine Radio

[newtonj]

I have a 1 year old marine radio, but lost my boat to a barn collapse, and not buying another one. I was wondering if that marine radio could be re-programmed to other VHF frequencies. If so, how, or who could do that? (I'm in the Fire/EMS service, which is the purpose for trying to re-program.)

Any suggestions?

 

[Don_Burke]

I would expect it to be more trouble than it is worth.

1. Marine radios are programmed with PROMs or EEPROMs and are not ever expected to be reprogrammed, so they are designed with no reprogramming in mind.

2. Marine radios have no provision for tone squelch.

3. The modifications would blow up the type acceptance.

Get your ham ticket and put it on two meters.

I have a 1 year old marine radio, but lost my boat to a barn collapse, and not buying another one. I was wondering if that marine radio could be re-programmed to other VHF frequencies. If so, how, or who could do that? (I'm in the Fire/EMS service, which is the purpose for trying to re-program.)

Any suggestions?

 

[hill]

You can't reprogram a VHF-FM marine radio for any purpose or freqs that are not included on the VHF marine band. These radios are single purpose radios for safety and business use from vessels. If you don't need this piece of marine gear sell it to someone who has a boat.

 

[n7jei]

There are a *few* marine radios that do have the capability for programming commercial/public safety channels via dealer software (and are FCC Type-Accepted for that use). The odds are your radio isn't one of them.

 

[newtonj]

thanks -- and one more question

Thanks for your replies, folks. I guess I will probably just sell it, or save it till I buy another boat anyhow.

One more question...can I use the marine antenna for any other radio purposes, or is that strictly for marine band use as well?


Thanks again!

 

[Don_Burke]

Thanks for your replies, folks. I guess I will probably just sell it, or save it till I buy another boat anyhow.

One more question...can I use the marine antenna for any other radio purposes, or is that strictly for marine band use as well?


Thanks again!

That would depend on the type of antenna.

If it is a relatively short antenna, I would expect it to work very well on VHF high and pretty well elsewhere.

If it is one of those monster gain antennas, I would expect the performace to drop off faster as you got away from the design frequency.

If you want to monitor the marine band anyway, that antenna and radio will probably outperform a scanner. You would need to get a license to transmit from a non-boat location, but monitoring would be no problem.

 

[Coastie127]

I have a 1 year old marine radio, but lost my boat to a barn collapse, and not buying another one. I was wondering if that marine radio could be re-programmed to other VHF frequencies. If so, how, or who could do that? (I'm in the Fire/EMS service, which is the purpose for trying to re-program.)

Any suggestions?

I would assume that it would be against FCC Regulations to reprogram or tamper with a VHF Marine Radio, There are some VHF Marine radio's that i've seen that can be used to field program frequencies in there for Public Safety and so, I would expect the VHF - M's which are programmable be best for USCG Auxiliary units since they do coordinate with other agencies beside Active USCG.

 

[hill]

Coastie127,

I know in our Auxiliary District members have been issued surplus Goverment Motorola radios programmed by CG for use on VHF-FM Marine and AUX repeater networks.

 

[kadetklapp]

It's too bad it's againts type acceptance. I was looking around ebay and saw the Midland Marine VHF and it's a pretty handsome radio, and really cheap, but it's marine only. In my land-locked area, it would do me no good.