As posted above, will we ever see a marine portable transceiver with built in cellular connectivity? The reason I ask is because we have seen other devices that are sort of the "Swiss Army knife" of electronic devices. We have seen Icom and StandardHorison offer a few portables with Land Mobile Radio capability. If they did offer something like that, presumably with the ability to connect via wifi and/or have a SIM card slot built in, I assume Android would be a reasonable Operating System to go with. I am not real familiar with the boating hobby or business. Are there many charts available that work on Android tablets and smartphones. IT would seem like having a marine portable with the ability to use Zello or other network radio apps could be beneficial and even ease the congestion on the marine channels in some areas.
Will We See A Marine Portable Transceiver With Built In Cellular Connectivity?
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mmckenna
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I haven't seen anything like that. Not saying it won't happen though, but I doubt we'd see it from one of the large manufacturers. Maybe from the "Not So Cheap Chinese Radio" manufacturers. There are already VHF/UHF/cellular radios on the market.
Drawback I'd see is that cellular technology changes quickly, so something like that would go out of date pretty quick. Most recreational users don't put much thought into their radios. It's something that either comes in the boat, or they add, and that's it.
As for crowding on the VHF marine channels, there are already plans to switch to narrow band FM to add additional channels. Even some mention of eventually going to 6.25KHz digital.
Drawback I'd see is that cellular technology changes quickly, so something like that would go out of date pretty quick. Most recreational users don't put much thought into their radios. It's something that either comes in the boat, or they add, and that's it.
As for crowding on the VHF marine channels, there are already plans to switch to narrow band FM to add additional channels. Even some mention of eventually going to 6.25KHz digital.
mmckenna
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Other issue that usually comes up with this….
People like small cell phones. VHF radios need a decent size battery and a big enough radio to provide a decent ground plane under the antenna.
So, you'd either end up with a really big cell phone/VHF radio that most consumers won't want to carry,
or, a small cell phone with poor VHF performance/battery life.
Since most commercial users want a reliable/durable VHF radio for work, combining cellular really isn't desirable.
Recreational users rarely put much thought into their radio choices.
But, LMR/LTE radios exist, most have WiFi, so it's entirely possible. Just not sure there'd be enough market for it.
People like small cell phones. VHF radios need a decent size battery and a big enough radio to provide a decent ground plane under the antenna.
So, you'd either end up with a really big cell phone/VHF radio that most consumers won't want to carry,
or, a small cell phone with poor VHF performance/battery life.
Since most commercial users want a reliable/durable VHF radio for work, combining cellular really isn't desirable.
Recreational users rarely put much thought into their radio choices.
But, LMR/LTE radios exist, most have WiFi, so it's entirely possible. Just not sure there'd be enough market for it.
prcguy
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No.
"Will we ever see a marine portable transceiver with built in cellular connectivity?"
"Will we ever see a marine portable transceiver with built in cellular connectivity?"
FKimble
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LMR and marine frequencies are both in the VHF area, so it's easy for a single VHF radio to handle both. Actually a lot of wide range VHF LMR radios can be used on the "Marine" frequencies. I use Standard Horizon Marine handhelds for "HAM" 144-148, Marine 156-163 and LMR between the other 2. To add cellular would be like adding UHF to a VHF radio, probably even harder. Would actually require a second complete radio under the covers, so cost would go up a lot.
Frank KK4YTM
Frank KK4YTM
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DaveNF2G
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Probably never. A portable 2-way transceiver is one thing, a cell phone is another.
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mmckenna
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Those cell/radio things have been floating around on the market for about 10 years now. I've seen similar units at IWCE in years past.
I doubt they have any FCC certifications, and I'd not want to rely on one in any sort of emergency. At 1 watt, I'd really not want to rely on it unless I was really close to shore.
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I agree, I had one to try and was not impressed by it at all. It's one of those things you try and say "that's kind of cool, If a reputable company built one I would be interested". But none the less, it would work on marine band.
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