Oftentimes in offshore fishing it is the typical “hours and hours of boredom, interspersed with short outbursts of panic”. During these long stretches of looking for surface signs or awaiting that jig strike on a small to medium size boat, your crew or guest may opt for a nap below or even nod off in the cockpit.
When you need their immediate attention and you are on the bridge or, in our case, up in the tower, you need a way to communicate with those below. Sure, you can wire in an intercom system, or you can hit the air horn, or we used to stomp on the bridge floor to get their attention. With the latter two methods there is no way to distinguish between the sighting of feeding fish, a jig strike, a floating weed patch, or the request for a sandwich. There is definitely a different level of urgency in each of these scenarios.
A simple, inexpensive, and portable solution is a pair of hand held “family” radios from any electronics store. For under $30 the person in the tower can alert or be alerted instantly to any situation with someone anywhere below. Both handsets can be left on as a small, inexpensive battery powers them. A beep button can be used in either direction, or a specific message can be sent.
The same system can be used with a mate tending the bow winch, or a guest in the dingy or on a nearby beach. These units usually have 2 or 3 channels so just be sure both sets are set to the same one. In all these cases we are talking such short distance that the more expensive 2-way radios are overkill.
