Owner`s manual

6 West Marine VHF100 Radio Owner’s Manual
8. Selecting the Transmit
Power
By law, marine VHF radios must be able
to transmit at 1 watt output power as well
as the radio’s maximum transmit power.
The West Marine VHF100 radio has three
transmission powers: 5 watts, 1 watt, and
0.5 watts.
The general rule is to use the lowest
transmit power that results in clear com-
munications with whomever you are com-
municating. At distances less than a mile,
0.5 watts will result in clear and consis-
tent communications, and will have the
benefit of greatly extended battery life.
Pressing the H/L key will change the
transmit power from 5 watts to 1 watt to
0.5 watts and back to 5 watts with each
press. (Fig 8a–8c.) Note the Medium
power indicator
M on Fig. 8b next to the
battery display, and the Low power indi-
cator L on Fig. 8c next to the battery indi-
cator. There is no indicator for High
power. (Fig. 8a)
• After two seconds of PO display, the
radio will return to channel number
display.
Restricted Channels
Certain channels are limited by law to 1
watt transmit power (USA Mode Channel
13, 17, 67, 77; INT Mode Channel 15, 17;
CAN Mode Channel 13, 15, 17, 20, 66,
77). These channels will always transmit
on medium (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)
• Pressing the H/L key while scanning
or while on a receive-only channel
will sound the error tone and the
transmit power setting will not
change.
Fig. 8a: High Power Display
Fig. 8b: Medium Power Display
Fig. 8c: Low Power Display