Category: English

  • My Experience with Icom IC-M94D

    So, after my Zodiac failed me — and I discovered that it has more than one name — I bought an Icom IC-M94D. Icom is supposed to be one of the top brands, and Icom IC-M94D is the first hand held VHF with built in AIS receiver.

    Sadly, IC-M94D had two major annoyances which made me return it. I may have been unlucky, but if that is the case, I was unlucky twice; because I tested two different units.

    Annoyance 1 — Dual watch stuttering

    Compared to my old Zodiac Seacom 150, the IC-M94D stuttered more when using dual watch. I usually listen to a selected channel for traffic information, and have channel 16 on dual watch.

    I did a test with my watch and found out that when there is talk on the selected channel, it switches quickly to channel 16 to listen if there is traffic there every 1.5 second. This is quick enough to make it hard to understand what is being said. On the Zodiac, this switch happened every 3 seconds, which is much easier to listen to.

    Annoyance 2 — Static noise

    On top of the first annoyance, if I listen to a selected channel without dual watch, there is a lot of static noise each time someone press or releases PPT (push-to-talk).

    So if a VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) and a ship is talking with each other, each time one of them press or release the PPT button, there is a half a second long static noise. And it is loud, and it is not possible to remove with the built in noise canceling.

    Static noise in combination with the dual watch stutter made this VHF useless for me.

    Conclusion

    I returned the Icom IC-M94D, but had to pay a fee to have it checked and reset the MMSI number, which was a bit annoying itself, since I think none of the two units I tested worked as one would expect.

    On the bright side, I managed to fix my old Zodiac Seacom 150 afterwards.

  • VHF radios that are the same

    Below is a list of VHF radios, and they have more in common than just the functionality. With exception of the last one, they are identical in every way except the logo and the startup screen.

    • Zodiac Seacom 150
    • Recent RS-38M
    • 1852 VT-39M
    • Retevis RM40
    • MariQuip MRQ-HHFLT20D
    • TX SEA6720
    • Icom IC-M91D

    The last one, the Icom, I would guess is the original one, and the rest are copies that have been white labeled; In other words, sold under different brand names.

    I have collected some images of the various “brands” that you can see at the end of this post.

    Summary

    I would not recommend any of the 6 first on the list. They are fairly cheap and easy to use, but the quality is not exactly the best. I do not know about the IC-M91D, but since it has a different body, it might be of a better quality.

    My Experience with Zodiac Seacom 150

    My experience is with the one branded as Zodiac. It was a gift. Actually, I have some experience with four of them. Two of them had issues with the GPS and had to be replaced, while my own copy had issues with water. Even light rain could make it stop responding, and it had to be shaken to make it respond again. It just said “water detected”, and no matter what button I pressed it did not go away.

    I had the Zodiac until I lost the antenna. I bought a new antenna (1/6th of the price of the radio itself), and then it stopped working all togheter. A repair would probably cost at least half of the price of a new one, so I started looking at something else.

    Icom IC-M94D

    After the Zodiac failed on me, I bought an Icom IC-M94D. It pride itself as the wolds first handheld VHF radio with AIS receiver. This is not important to me, but GPS and DSC is, and the other Icom models I found did not have either. In retrospect I should probably have done some more research online first.

    IC-M94D is slightly bigger than the Zodiac, and thus also IC-M91D. I do not yet have any real experience with it, but I have noticed one thing that bugs me a little; dual watch.

    When receiving on the selected channel, and having dual watch on, the sound is stuttering. This is likely because it is switching back and forth between the selected channel and channel 16. And it makes sense; but on the other hand, this was never an issue with the Zodiac.

    Images

    Below are pictures of the different branded radios.

    • 1852-VT-39M
      1852-VT-39M
    • MariQuip MRQ-HHFLT20D
      MariQuip MRQ-HHFLT20D
    • Recent RS-38M
      Recent RS-38M
    • Retevis RM40
      Retevis RM40
    • TX SEA6720
      TX SEA6720
    • Zodiac Seacom 150
      Zodiac Seacom 150
    • Icom IC-M91D
      Icom IC-M91D

  • Economy First

    I have been having this thought for a long time now. It struck me a few months back that the American President seems to think about one thing, and one thing only: Money. This may not come as a surprise to anyone; but hear me out.

    Economic growth depends on safety, and safety depends on projects like the one U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are running. The very organization Mr. Trump has attacked in order to save money.

    Saving cost on USAID may look good on the balance sheet, but with diseases on the rise world-wide, it is only a matter of time before conflicts will follow. And the economic world is more connected than ever, so this will eventually hit back on America.

    Same with Medicare, an attemt to fix the broken American health care system. Cutting cost here will look good on a balance sheet, but eventually it will lead to more sick people — and less people able to work. Deporting people will only accelerate the lack of workers in industries that are hard work and low pay. The same jobs Trump want to give back to Americans. Hard work and low paying jobs.

    The fact that Trump uses these cost cuts to push a bill to lower taxes for the rich means that the slogan “America First” is wrong. This is not about America, it is about money. Money for people with money.

    Even Elon Musk, a man with more money than anyone else in the world, has realized that his project to save cost was not only about saving cost — it was about taking money from the government and giving it to the rich.

    Elon sees cost cutting from a business perspective, not a global perspective. If his employees get sick, it is not his problem. He can find new people. But cutting cost in Medicare does not work the same way. It will still be an American problem. In the case of USAID it will be a global problem.

    Economy is about more than money in and money out. It is about people, climate change, diseases, peace, and much more — on a global scale. These are things you cannot enter into an spread sheet.

    If you as a leader only thinks about money, you are doing it wrong.

  • The American Bully

    I’m your best friend—now give me your lunch money.

    I think that line paints an accurate depiction of Donald J. Trump. Donald Trump is the bully of international affairs. Actually, he is the bully in any affair.

    Screenshot from “truth social”, a social network with more lies than most

    Translated: “If you guys want to play together without me, I will throw your stuff into the water—because I am your best friend!”

    Who want to be friend with a sociopath? Good friends do not threaten each others. Good friends do not have to point out how good they are. Good friends do good things. Not for their own gain, but for the benefit of both.

    Donald Trump says America is “the best friend that each of those two contries ever had”, and at the same time he goes over to Denmark and says: “I like your jacket (Greenland), give it to me or I will take it with force.”

    Again, this is not friendship. This is not even normal.

    Donald Trump is a sociopath, and the republican party is pathetic for leaving their moral values behind.

  • I am worried

    Donald Trump has been president of the United States in just a month, and the damage he has done so far is staggering. What happens “at home” in the States is one thing, but when he tries to change history and make Vladimir Putin a victim of war, a war Mr. Putin started …

    For the first few weeks after the election, I refrained from checking the news. Maybe I should go back doing just that. I can do anything, except voice my worries, so I guess nothing good can come out of reading the news.

    The consequences are high, and the damage that can be done in four years might be irreversible. The best we can hope fore is strong European leaders, and that America does not go to war against Europe together with Russia, in the hope to share the spoils between them.

    When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you are Donald Trump, everything looks like real estate.