re: With cell phones everywhere now, are marine radios still necessary in

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At least the Coast Guard will know where we went down when I hit the red distress button.

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A VHF radio works on line of site to the tip of the antenna. So if you are standing in your boat the effective range for a handheld is about 3 miles. If you are floating in the water, the effective range is probably a mile or less. If the CG is that close, all you need is a bull horn.

For bay boats, a dash mount VHF radio with an 8ft whip antenna mounted as high as possible on your boat will give you a range of 5 to 8 miles, sometimes a little better depending on the receiving radios position.