I do a lot of inshore/nearshore fishing and no one wants to be caught on the water without help. This is why a VHF radio is a must.

My purchase of the Uniden Oceanus was based on the most radio I could get for my budget ($150). I choose white as it matches my boat and taste, but it's also available in black.

Installation was as simple as installing the mounting bracket, hooking up the antenna (not included), power and ground wires. This is the minimum needed to successfully install and use the VHF radio. This unit also has the ability to receive location info from a GPS for the DSC feature (but not the ability to send info to the GPS), provisions for a PA speaker and external speaker with the included accessory plugin cable.

DSC is Digital Selective Calling and to use this feature of the radio, you'll have to get a MMSI number at any of several places that provide one. To get one, you list your name, vessel name/size/brand and your home port on file with the governing authority. In an emergency, the distress button sends your MMSI number out and the coast guard can look up all your info to give an idea of who you are and where to look for you. The real benefit of DSC is that you can also hook a GPS up to the Oceanus and be able to send your exact location along with your MMSI number which makes finding you in an emergency much easier. There is a dedicated Red Distress button that instantly sends all this DSC info as a Distress call. The other DSC features of the Oceanus are pretty good and provide not only emergency use, but also the ability to call friends radios, receive calls, send location, receive location and keep a list in memory much like a phone book. The only lacking DSC feature of the Oceanus is that it doesn't support sending data back to the GPS. So to look up a location a friend has sent you, or from an emergency call using DSC, you'll have to copy the Lat/Lon info from the Oceanus and manually enter it into your GPS.

The Oceanus supports several scanning methods and will also scan weather channels. With it's weather alert mode, you can have weather info scanned in the background and only break in if threatening weather is in your area. The unit's best feature is tri-scan, where you can set it to your favorite channel and also scan 9 and 16 in the background along with weather if weather alertly is on.

Other features of the radio are low and high output modes (1w or 25w selectable), PA/loadhailer output, external speaker hook-up and the ability to use a separate wireless uniden mic/controller.

Overall, the Uniden Oceanus is a very versatile VHF radio for most recreational boaters.

Recommended: Yes