Despite all the gadgets and new services which the electronics industry throws at us there are certain basic things which you need and it is these which can save your life.
When World Fishing was on board the Norwegian navy's largest new vessel last year, the gunboat Svalbard, amongst all the high-tech in the command bridge, the Executive Officer Zachariassen pointed out to Norwegian fisheries minister Svein Ludvigsen, the reserve, all-power-failure, old-fashioned, voice-operated Stromberg-Carlsen radiophone on the bridge alongside the computer console for firing the Svalbard's foredeck canon. "It's old but it always works," Zachariassen told the laughing Korean fisheries minister who was a guest on board.
VHF comes into this category of always safe rather than sorry and it is only natural that the tough name of SAILOR owned by Denmark's Thrane & Thrane and known for decades to millions of seafarers should have introduced a new VHF radio - the SAILOR RT5022 to continue tackling the harsh environment of the sea.
The company says more than 50 years of experience and research has gone into the new model which has built-in Digital Selective Calling (DSC) Class A.
Now there is a replay feature and (new displays) so you can repeat an incoming message in case you did not understand it the first time -- a very clever and massively useful function especially where safety manoeuvres are in hand.
Other functions have been simplified and operated by large, easy-to-feel buttons and knobs with a large, separate display which you can see even from wide angles and from a distance. The DSC and other functions which are not used all the time have been separated to reduce confusion and are shown on a graphic LCD display. This is important when the pressure is on and quick, accurate control of communication is essential. All text in the display is in red to reduce interference with night vision on the bridge and there is a sleep mode function with the screen turning off the display so it does not affect vision from the bridge but the touch of a button brings it back. To reduce the effect of sunlight or other light sources there is a special marine anti-reflection filter.
The company says the SAILOR RT5022 offers all the features that should be expected of a top-of-the-line VHF such as dual watch, flexible scanning, 25 to 1 W switch button, DSC address book etc. It says installation meets a variety of scenarios and control units are waterproofed to IP66 for exposed installations such as bridge wings. They have also built on familiarity with mobile phones so there is a new and innovative menu structure with quick selection functions for easy operation.
It sounds like marketing manager Henrik Fyhn has a good product on his hands. However, World Fishing is always interested to hear from users about how the new set operates on board ship (mail pilar.santamaria@nexusmedia.com). World Fishing recalls our correspondent Peter O'Neill trying to persuade SAILOR to lend him a radio back in the early 1980s (before the WEB really got going). He was going to be on a police boat weaving among the Greenland icebergs in Disko Bay, off Illulisat and its vast glacier which 'calves' daily into the sea. His idea was to use his tiny portable, battery-powered Epson HX-20 computer with a very slow modem (but faster than Morse) to show that you could send data from the computer via wireless waves (through a Sailor set) which would then be picked up by a remote teleprinter which would then print out the words sent from the Epson HX-20 computer, without satellite costs. This was almost 20 years before today's common 'hotspots' and WiFI. SAILOR were not interested... they were wrong to miss such a trick and a massive future market. We are sure they have got this latest offering right however, as they are staying with the tried and tested!
