Thanks. A little wiki searching gave me a reasonable understanding of the meter ranges as well.

I think I'll take the basic HAM test(s), then decide. I really wish I could find a HAM radio that trasmitted legally on marine VHF, was handheld and waterproof. The Yeausa/Standar Horizon lines flirt with it, and if modified (illegally) meet my critea, but I'm not sure I really want to break the law for convienience.

The majority (but not all) of boats I go out on have a marine VHF built in, but a handheld would be a nice backup for either a primary radio failure (pretty likely) or uhhh...more severe problems (flipped, sunk, lost, etc). I also duck hunt which involves relativly small aluminum boats with no built in VHF. Carrying a VHF on them would be of medium use though because a handheld may not make it to a coast guard station for TX and there are a lot fewer boats out listening in December. So there I rely on a cell and in the future a PLB.

I guess I'm not settled on what to do but I'm leaning towards a handheld HAM or marine VHF. Both would be nice, but perhaps a bit too costly.

We shall see.

Thanks again.