VHF and CB

[blast and cast]

I am in the process of mounting a new fixed VHF in my boat. I already have a CB but realized that I have only used 5 times at the most since I have owned this boat. Curious to see who else has both in their boat.

[DownTime]

I think you're going to find CB's are kind of like Lorans.There is better stuff out there now and not many people monitor CB's on the water.My .02

JB

[Salty Walty]

I have both and CBs are old technology but there are places where a CB would be better. If you are not around or in range of others with a VHF you might be able to reach someone on the CB (a trucker or person in an auto). There are places up rivers that the only chatter I heard was on the CB. There was no cell service in these places either. If you have one keep it. It won't hurt.

[corrirod]

I agree with Salty Walty. If you have it already and it's not in the way of something else, keep it.

A lot of charters and commercial fishermen use them to converse.

Another good use is when loading a boat you can talk to the person in the pickup vehicle and give them instructions. For instance if you need them to back the trailer in a little farther or if you've got a pile of people at the ramp the driver can tell you when it's getting close to being his turn.

[fish assassin]

I have two of each on my boat. I use the CB for chit-chat and the VHF
for important calls ... announcing departure and return, calling the CG
(Gawd forbid) and getting important info from the other boats when they
are out of CB range. I (obviously) think it's important to have *both*
when out on the big blue!

-assAssin-

[CAPT KUJO]

I'm with FA here! When CB's are under $40.00 why not have one of each. By the Way when fishing on the Big blue any "intellegence gathering" monitoring equipment is valuable. Scan thoses channels for fishing "Chit-chat"

CAPT KUJO

[Mark Mc]

B & C, as folks have implied here, there are actually legal protocols on using the VHF, specific channels for specific functions. Now it would be pretty rare for someone to actually get cited over misuse. But if you are BS ing on a vessel traffic control channel, you could get some ship operators pretty ticked off. The thing to do is keep the VHF conversations fairly brief & to the point. If you want to have a half-hour conversation with your buddy about everything going on in your home life, you do it on the CB.

[Mr. BrownTrout]

Personally I would have both, but the CB would have sideband. With sideband your range is greatly increased. So if by chance I was out on the big blue pond and got into trouble and the only person I could get ahold of was a friend up in Dutch harbor and he could get a call off for me........thats better then nothing at all.

[DriftR]

Having both may be just the extra help you need. When the costs of good CB's are really low it is just another added protection. A $100.00 reel or fishing pole can't call for help but a $100.00 CB sure can. Nice to have a back up when you need it most.