Uniden MHS245 User manual
MHS245
Handheld VHF Marine Transceiver
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Australia: www.uniden.com.au
Making a Distress Call
Speak slowly - clearly - calmly.
For future reference, write your boat’s name & call sign here:
1. Make sure your radio is on.
On the radio, press the 16/67-Tri button to switch to Channel 16
(156.8 MHz). (If the corner of the display does not show 16, press
the 16/67-Tri button again until it does.)
2. Press the push to talk button and say: “MAYDAY -- MAYDAY --
MAYDAY.”
3. Say “THIS IS {name of your boat (three times) and call sign/boat
registration number (once)}.”
4. Say “MAYDAY {name or call sign of your boat}.”
5. Tell where you are: (what navigational aids or landmarks are near,
or read the latitude and longitude from your GPS).
6. State the nature of your distress, (e.g. are you sinking, medical
emergency, man overboard, on re, adrift, etc.)
7. State the type of assistance you need (medical, towing, pumps,
etc.).
8. Give number of persons aboard and conditions of any injured
persons.
9. Estimate present seaworthiness of your ship (e.g. how immediate is
the danger due to ooding or re or proximity to shore).
10. Briey describe your ship, giving the ship name (e.g. “Blue Duck is
32 foot cabin cruiser, white hull, blue deck house”).
11. Say: “I WILL BE LISTENING ON CHANNEL 16.”
12. End message by saying “THIS IS {name or call sign of your boat},
OVER.”
13. Release the push to talk button and listen.
If you do not get an answer after 30 seconds, repeat your
call, beginning at step 3, above.
2Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Warning
The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is
intended to alert the user to the presence of important
operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the
literature accompanying the appliance.
NOTE
Floating/Waterproof: IPX8/JIS8
Uniden’s MHS245 radio is designed to meet the water proong standard
of IPX8/JIS8 and will oat in water.
This Means: Protected against the effects of continuous immersion in
water.The MHS245 can withstand immersion in water up to 1.5m depth
for 1hr. Note this is not suitable for scuba diving.
The MHS245 will only meet this rating if fully assembled
and all rubber seals are well maintained and correctly tted.
This means that the carabiner clip is not connected and the
battery cover securely fastened.
NOTE
After your radio is submerged in water, you might notice that the sound
is distorted. This is because there is still water remaining in and around
the speaker and microphone. Just shake the radio to clear excess water,
and the sound should return to normal.
If your radio is exposed to salt water, clean your radio
thoroughly with fresh water, and dry it before turning it on.
NOTE
3Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Contents
Making a Distress Call ..............................................................2
Warning ..................................................................................... 3
Introduction ...............................................................................7
Features ................................................................................................. 7
Getting Started ..........................................................................9
What’s Included? ....................................................................................9
Controls and Indicators ......................................................... 10
MHS245 Radio .....................................................................................10
Charger ................................................................................................ 13
Reading the Display ............................................................................. 13
Display ..................................................................................................16
Menus ...................................................................................................16
Normal Menu .......................................................................................16
Radio Setup
Menu ............................................................................... 17
Call
Menu .............................................................................................17
DSC Setup
Menu ..................................................................................18
GPS
Menu ............................................................................................ 18
GPS Setup
Menu ............................................................................... 19
Operation Modes ..................................................................................20
Normal Mode ............................................................................................21
Normal Mode with Triple Watch or Dual Watch ........................................ 21
Scan Mode ............................................................................................... 21
Using the Radio in Scan Mode ................................................................. 21
Scan Mode with Triple or Dual Watch .......................................................22
Setting up the Hardware ....................................................... 23
Attaching the Antenna .......................................................................... 23
Installing the Battery .............................................................................23
Using the Alkaline Battery Tray ............................................................ 23
Mounting the Charger ...........................................................................24
4Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Charging the Battery ............................................................................ 25
Attaching the Belt Clip ..........................................................................25
Using Your Radio ....................................................................26
Turning It On .........................................................................................26
Setting It Up ..........................................................................................26
Acquiring GPS Location ....................................................................... 26
Changing the Volume ...........................................................................26
Setting the Squelch level ......................................................................27
Setting Key Lock ................................................................................. 28
Adjusting the Lamp .............................................................................. 28
Adjusting the LCD Contrast ..................................................................28
Setting the Air or Water Temperature Measurement ............................28
Turning the Key Beep On and Off ........................................................ 28
Making a Transmission .........................................................................29
Changing the Transmission Level ........................................................ 29
Changing the Channel ..........................................................................30
Saving Channels to Memory ............................................................... 30
Using the Strobe SOS Light/Flashlight .................................................30
Using DSC Features ............................................................... 31
Digital Selective Calling ........................................................................31
Advanced DSC Features ......................................................................31
MMSI Numbers .................................................................................... 32
Using the Directory .............................................................................. 35
Making DSC Calls ............................................................................... 36
Making an Automatic Distress Call .......................................................38
Receiving a DSC Call ...........................................................................39
Receive Log ......................................................................................... 39
TEST Calls ........................................................................................... 41
Position Request and Reply .................................................................42
Additional Features ............................................................... 44
GPS Features ......................................................................................44
5Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Contents
GPS Operation Overview .....................................................................46
NMEA Features ....................................................................................47
Maintenance and Troubleshooting ....................................... 49
Specications ......................................................................... 51
Channels and Frequencies (MHz) ......................................... 53
US Channel Frequencies and Names .................................................. 53
Canadian Channel Frequencies and Names ....................................... 55
International Channel Frequencies and Names ................................... 57
Regulations and Safety Warnings ....................................... 59
Warranty .................................................................................. 60
6Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Introduction
The MHS245 is a oating, waterproof, portable two-way VHF transceiver.
It is compact, lightweight, rugged and ts easily in your hand. This
handheld VHF marine radio will give you consistent, outstanding
performance in virtually all conditions and situations.
To ensure that you get the most from the MHS245’s features, please
read this operating guide carefully before using the unit.
Features
Your radio provides the following key features:
• Submersible design. Complies with oating IPX8/JIS8 water-resistant
standards.
• Memory Scan mode. Lets you save channels to memory and monitor
them in quick succession.
• Transmitter power level select/Boost. Lets you boost the transmitter
power from 1W to 2.5W or 5W for added transmission distance.
• Battery level display and low battery alert.
• Dual Watch: This mode lets you monitor Instant CH along with one
regular marine channel.
• Triple Watch: This mode lets you monitor 16CH, 67CH along with one
regular marine channel.
• Battery Save. The Battery Save feature automatically turns off RX
power at regular intervals to save battery power.
• SOS Strobe/Flashlight. A high intensity strobe LED can be set to blink
an SOS pattern or to be steady on.
• Emergency 16/67 Channel monitoring. Set unit to scan one or both of
these emergency channels regularly within normal scanning cycles.
• Key Lock. Locks keys to prevent accidentally changing channels or
entering data.
• Selectable Volume (0 - 15) and Squelch (0 - 15) levels.
• Temperature. The thermal sensor lets you measure both water and
air temperature. You can display temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius.
• Selectable Backlight Timer. Lets you select the length of time the
backlight will be on.
• Reversable LCD. You can change the display from light characters on
dark background to dark characters on light background.
• DSC. Lets you call other stations or groups using their unique
identication code. This radio complies with International Class D DSC
standards for Handheld GPS/VHF marine transceivers.
• GPS (Favorite Position mode). Lets you to save your current position
as well as manually enter other positions.You can save positions into
7Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
a directory to return to them as desired.
• NMEA input/output. Lets you connect to a chartplotter and determine
what NMEA data you want to receive.
• MOB (Man Overboard). Lets you lock onto the current position when a
Man Overboard situation occurs.
• Compass Display. Lets you determine the way you want the radio
to display your course - by showing your course and direction or by
showing location on an north-south-east-west display. Automatically
auto-plots to a received DSC distress call.
8Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Introduction
Getting Started
What’s Included?
G P S
G P S
FLOATIN G
FLOATIN G
MHS245 Radio
Wrist Strap
Charging Cradle
Antenna
Lithium Ion
Rechargeable
Battery Alkaline Battery Tray
(batteries not included)
AC Adaptor
DC Charging
Adaptor
Mounting Hardware
Belt Clip
• If any item is missing or damaged, contact your place of purchase
immediately. Never use damaged products!
• Need help? Get answers at our website:
www.uniden.com.au for Australian model
9Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Not Shown:
External speaker/
microphone
Controls and Indicators
G P S
G P S
FLOATING
FLOATING
MHS245 Radio
10 Handheld VHF Marine TransceiverUNIDEN MHS245
Antenna
LCD
INST/SQL
GPS/SOS/RIGHT
CLR/VOL
Microphone
Speaker
SCAN/MEM/
LEFT
MENU/CALL
16/67/TRI
STROBE
SOS Light
DISP/ENT/
H/M/L
PTT
BOOST
Power
Channel Up
Channel Down
Table of contents
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