Marine Communications specialist, Fox Morgan takes a hands-on look at some of the best handheld VHF marine radios on the market.
This article was first published July 2022 and was price and fact checked by Fox Morgan for accuracy om 15th March 2023
Significant improvements in a number of areas in recent years have seen the best handheld VHF marine radio move from being purely portable communications devices to something altogether more useful.
As technology has shrunk, battery life improved and screens become clearer, handheld VHFs can now offer many of the safety features that used to be available only on fixed marine radios. Features now often include frequency scanning; weather reports; GPS integration; and an ability to automatically send distress signals.
Waterproofing has increased too with many of the best handheld marine radios now able to float for sustained periods of time without any damage to the internal electrics. Many of these floating handheld VHFs also offer some form of automatically activated strobe to help you find it in the dark if it has been dropped in the water.
Of course, as is the case with any handheld, mobile, battery-powered device…
