VHF50 VHF Radio Owner’S Manual Table of Contents Introduction
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VHF50 VHF Radio Owner’s Manual Table of Contents Introduction ........................................2 Service...............................................2 Licensing............................................2 LCD Description.................................3 Turning the Radio On ........................3 Adjusting the Volume.........................3 Receive Mode....................................4 Squelch Control .................................4 Changing Channels ...........................4 Changing Between USA, International and Canadian Modes....5 Transmitting a Signal .........................6 Selecting the Transmit Power............6 Battery Level Display.........................7 Listening to the Weather....................7 Channel 16/19 Key ............................8 Dual Watch Mode ..............................8 Scanning Channels............................9 Auto Back-Light................................11 Keypad Lock ....................................11 Restoring Factory Settings ..............12 Battery Options for the VHF50 ........12 DW SQL Maintenance ....................................12 Troubleshooting Guide.....................13 MEM UIC MIC USA Frequency Chart......................14 International Frequency Chart .........15 Canadian Frequency Chart .............16 WX Frequency Chart .......................17 Accessories and Parts.....................17 Specifications...................................17 Warnings and Safety Precautions ...18 Revised 3/05 Welcome! Radio Licenses: Thank you for purchasing the West 1. Ship Station License Marine VHF50. This product was designed and built for boaters to use in An FCC ship station license is no longer the harsh marine environment. With prop- required for any vessel traveling in US er care this product should provide you waters which uses a VHF marine radio, with years of trouble-free operation. RADAR, EPIRB, and which is not required to carry radio equipment. A Your satisfaction with this product is license is necessary however for a DSC backed by the entire West Marine organi- MMSI number, or for any vessel required zation worldwide. to carry a marine radio on an international Remember: voyage, carrying a HF single side band • Safety and distress calls take priority radiotelephone or marine satellite termi- over all others. nal. For more information, see the FCC’s Fact Sheet PR 5000 #14. FCC license • You must monitor Channel 16 when forms, including applications for ship you are not operating on another (506) and land station licenses can be channel. downloaded via the Internet at • False or fraudulent distress calls are www.fcc.gov/forms. To obtain a form prohibited under law. from the FCC, call (888) 225-5322. • Information overheard but not intend- ed for you cannot lawfully be used in 2. Radio Call Sign any way. Currently the FCC does not require recre- • Indecent or profane language is pro- ational boaters to have a Ship Radio hibited. Station License. The USCG recommends that the boat’s registration number and the Service: state to be used. In the event that the radio fails to per- 3. Canadian Ship Station form, or needs servicing, please send directly to our Electronics Repair Center Licensing in Hollister, CA. Be sure to include your You do not need a license if your vessel is return mailing information and a detailed not operated in sovereign waters of a accounting of the problems experienced country other than Canada or the USA. If and/or the service requested. you do need a license, contact their near- est field office or regional office or write: West Marine Electronics Repair Center Industry Canada 2395 Bert Court Radio Regulatory Branch Hollister, CA 95023 Attn: DOSP [email protected] 300 Slater Street 831-761-4205 Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K1A OCA 2 West Marine VHF50 Radio Owner’s Manual LCD Description HL Transmit power indicator: L=Low, H=High SCAN Indicates that the radio is in Memory Scan or Priority Scan Mode MEM Indicates that the channel is entered into the Scan Memory WX Indicates that the radio is in Weather Mode USA/INTERNATIONAL/ Current DW Indicates that the radio is in Dual CANADIAN (UIC) Mode channel Watch Mode indicator indicator Volume TX Shown when transmitting indicator BUSY Shown when receiving Battery level indicator; LOCK Shown when keypad is locked more bars indicate the bat- tery is more fully charged 1. Turning the Radio On Press and hold the PWR key for over two seconds to turn the VHF50 on. The radio will power up in the same condition as it was last used. The last Channel Mode (USA/INT/CAN), Channel, TX Power, Key Lock, Squelch Level, Volume Level, etc. are restored. 2. Adjusting the Volume Press the VOL key briefly to enter the Volume Control Mode. VOL will appear on the display (Fig. 1). Press the L or M keys to increase or decrease the volume level bar. Three seconds after the last key stroke, the Volume Display will show the volume. The radio will automatically Fig. 1: Volume Display return to Channel Selection Mode. If the VOL key is pressed and released when in Volume Control Mode, the radio will return to Channel Selection Mode. West Marine VHF50 Radio Owner’s Manual 3 3. Receive Mode When the radio is receiving a signal, the BUSY indicator will be displayed (Fig. 2). This indicates that you should not trans- mit until the BUSY indicator is no longer displayed. 4. Squelch Control The Squelch Control reduces the static Fig. 2: Busy Indicator and noise heard on the radio, but allows strong signals to be heard clearly. To adjust the squelch setting, press the SQL/HL key briefly. The radio’s display will show SQL (Fig. 3). Press the L or M keys to increase or decrease the squelch level bar. Three seconds after the last key stroke, the Squelch Display will show the squelch. The radio will automatically return to Channel Selection Mode. If the VOL key is pressed and released when in Squelch Control Mode, the radio will Fig. 3 Squelch Display return to Channel Selection Mode. • Higher settings allow only strong sig- nals to be heard. • Lower settings allow weak signals to be heard, and possibly static. • Generally, the squelch control should be set for the lowest setting that elim- inates unwanted static. • The lowest setting allows all signals to be heard. 5. Changing Channels To change channels, press the L or M keys. • If the L or M keys are pressed for more than one second, the channel will change rapidly. • The radio displays the channel num- ber, memory status (MEM) and TX power status of the channel as you Fig. 4 Channel Display change the channels (Fig. 4). 4 West Marine VHF50 Radio Owner’s Manual 6. Changing Between USA, International, and Canadian Modes Different areas of the world use different VHF frequencies, although the channel designation (1–88) may be the same. There are three modes: USA, Interna- tional, and Canadian. Press and hold the Fig. 5a: USA Mode Display VOL/UIC key for two seconds change from USA to International; to change from International to Canadian; and to change from Canadian to USA (Fig. 5a- 5c). Three seconds after the last key stroke, the Country Mode Display will stop blinking and show the Country Mode. The radio will automatically return to Channel Selection Mode. If the VOL/UIC key is pressed and released when in Country Selection Mode, the Fig. 5b: International Mode Display radio will return to Channel Selection Mode. • When Country Mode is changed, Channel 16 is automatically selected, not the last channel used. • If for some reason you find that you cannot communicate with another radio on a predetermined channel, insure that both radios are set the cor- rect Channel Mode. This can be con- Fig. 5c: Canadian Mode Display fusing if different modes are being used. West Marine VHF50 Radio Owner’s Manual 5 7. Transmitting a Signal To transmit a signal, press the Push-To- Talk (PTT) key on the side of the radio. While transmitting, the TX indicator will appear (Fig. 6a). When the PTT key is released, the radio will return to Receive Mode. • You cannot transmit on receive-only Fig. 6a: TX indicator channels like the Weather Channels or Channels 15 and 70. If you try, an error tone will sound, the Channel Number and TX indicators will blink three times, and then go back to the normal display (Fig. 6b). • If the PTT key is pressed when the battery condition is low, one last transmission will be allowed, then an Blinking error tone will sound with BAT LO displayed. No further transmission will be allowed. Fig. 6b: Receive-Only Channel Display 8. Selecting the Transmit Power To change the transmit power, press and hold the H/L key for over two seconds (Fig. 7a, 7b). Restricted Channels Certain channels are limited by law to 1 watt transmit power (USA Mode Channel 12, 17, 67, 77; INT Mode Channel 15, 17, CAN Mode Channel 12, 15, 17, 20, 66, Fig. 7a: Hi Transmit Power Display 77). These channels will always transmit on low (1 watt) power. • You cannot change the transmit power setting on receive-only chan- nels (all weather channels, USA Mode Channel 15, 70, INT Mode Channel 70, CAN Mode Channel 70) • If you press the H/L key while scan- ning or while on a receive-only chan- nel, the error tone will sound and the transmit power setting will not change. Fig. 7b: Lo Transmit Power Display 6 West Marine VHF50 Radio Owner’s Manual 9. Battery Level and Low Battery Displays The Battery Level is shown using the Battery Level Indicator (1–3 bars). More bars mean more battery capacity is left. When the battery condition is very low, the entire Battery Level Indicator will blink. Fig. 8: Low Battery Display • The BAT LO message will show when the battery condition is very low (Fig. 8). • If the battery condition is very low and the PTT key is pressed, the radio will sound the error tone and allow one final transmission. 10. Listening to the Weather To listen to the weather channels, press the Weather (WX) key. Press the L or M Fig.