West Marine VHF255 Owner's Manual Page 1

A World Without Wires®OWNER’S MANUALUNIDEN MARINE 2-WAYVHF RADIOMHS550MHS550

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual8Back viewBUTTONPress to... Press and hold to...PUSH-TO -TALKTransmit on a channel. Note: You cannot transmit while

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual9Parts of the chargerCHARGE LEDLights while the battery is charging and turns off when the battery is fully charged.

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual10How It WorksThe MHS550 radio has three main operation modes, normal mode, scan mode, and weather mode.Mode What it

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual11Normal mode operationPress the CHANNEL UP button to move up one channel at a time. Press and hold the button to sc

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual12Normal mode with Triple Watch or Dual WatchIf you activate Triple Watch while operating in normal mode, the radio

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual13Scan mode operationYou can save channels into memory and then use scan mode to monitor those channels from lowest

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual14Scan mode with Weather Alert WatchIf you activate Weather Alert Watch while in scan mode, the radio checks the mos

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual15Both Weather Alert and Triple/Dual Watch in scan modeYou can activate Weather Alert Watch and Triple/Dual Watch at

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual16Weather mode with Weather Alert WatchBecause weather mode already monitors the weather channels, you don’t need We

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual17Setting Up the HardwareInstalling the batteryYour MHS550 comes with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. For shippi

Making a Distress CallSpeak slowly -- clearly -- calmly. Make sure your radio is on. Press the 16/9-TRI button to switch to Channel 16 (156.8 MHz). (I

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual18replacement (see back cover for contact information).Lower the battery until it rests at in the compartment.Bring

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual19the battery case, check the rubber seal. Make sure the seal is seated in the groove and there is no dirt or debris

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual20Mounting the charger You can mount the charger on any at surface or on a wall.Mounting on a at surfaceUse the th

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual21Using the Radio (General Operation)The following features and settings are available in all bands.Setting the volu

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual22ContrastThe display has 10 levels of contrast. To adjust the contrast:Press the MENU button and select Contrast.Us

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual23Using the external speaker/mic jack You can connect an optional external speaker-mic to this watertight jack. Unsc

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual24Marine band status messagesMessage Displays When(Channel Name)No other status message is needed (see the tables st

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual25Menu OptionUse It To...Available Settings (default setting is in italics)USA/CAN/INTChange the channel mode from U

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual26For the best sound quality, hold the microphone about two inches away from your mouth.See the tables starting on p

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual27Choosing Triple Watch or Dual WatchIn Triple Watch mode, the radio checks channels 16 and 9 every two seconds. In

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual1Table of ContentsMaking a Distress Call ... inside front coverIntroduction ...

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual28Open the menu and choose Channel Name.The screen displays the list of channels.Use CHANNEL UP and CHANNEL DOWN but

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual29website of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): www.itl.nist.gov/pspubs/co-codes/states.ht

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual30Using the Family Radio Service (FRS) BandThe following features and options are avilable only when the radio is i

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual31FRS band menu optionsFollow the steps below to open the FRS band menu: If the top of the display does not show FRS

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual32Note: Privacy codes are specic to each channel. Make sure the person you want to communicate with has the same co

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual33When the third digit is correct, press ENTER. The screen displays the channel along with the chosen code number.

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual34AM band menu referenceFollow the steps below to open the AM radio band menu: If the top of the display does not sh

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual35Reading the FM band screenFM band menu optionsFollow the steps below to open the FM radio band menu: If the top of

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual36Menu OptionUse It To...Available Settings (default setting is in italics)Tuning StepsSet channel frequency steps t

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual37Aircraft band menu optionsFollow the steps below to open the aircraft band menu: If the top of the display does no

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual2Using the Radio (General Operation) ...21Setting the volume ...

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual38Common questionsProblem Things to TryThe radio won’t power on.Check the battery power level.The radio won’t transm

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual39SpecicationsGeneral SpecicationsChannelsAll USA, Canadian and InternationalFrequency Range StepMarine-Weather: 1

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual40Receiver SpecicationsUnit Nominal LimitSensitivity for 12dB SINADMRN μV 0.3 0.4 max.FRS μV 0.35 0.5 max.FM Bro

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual41Transmitter SpecicationsUnit NominalFrequency Tolerance @ 25˚C to 50˚CPPM ± 0.5Frequency Stability -20˚C to 50˚C

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual42Channels and FrequenciesUS channel frequencies and namesUS Marine ChannelsCh RX Freq TX Freq Status Full name

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual43US Marine ChannelsCh RX Freq TX Freq Status Full name 16-Character Name 71 156.5750 156.5750 Simplex Non Comm

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual44Canadian Marine ChannelsCh RX Freq TX Freq Status Full Name 16-Character Name18A 156.9000 156.9000 Simplex Commerc

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual45International channel frequencies and namesInternational Marine ChannelsCh RX Freq TX Freq Status Full Name 16-Cha

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual46International Marine ChannelsCh RX Freq TX Freq Status Full Name 16-Character Name75 156.7750 156.7750 Simplex, 1W

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual47If you are trying to communicate with another brand of FRS radio, you may need to know the actual frequency (for C

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual3Specications ...39General Specications

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual48CEA2009-SAME event codesReceived Code Event Code (Scrolling Name) Display (16 Charactes)ADR Administrative Messag

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual49Received Code Event Code (Scrolling Name) Display (16 Charactes)HWA High Wind Watch HIGH WIND WATCHHWW High Wind

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual50Received Code Event Code (Scrolling Name) Display (16 Charactes)* * E Unrecognized Emergency UNRECOGNIZED* * S Un

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual51If you hear a distress call, wait a few minutes to let a shore station or Coast Guard vessel respond. If no other

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual52Body-worn Operation: This device was tested for typical body-worn operations using the supplied belt-clip. To main

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual53blies, or any congurations not sold by Uniden, (C) improperly installed, (D) serviced or repaired by someone othe

A World Without Wires®© 2007 Uniden America Corp., Fort Worth, Texas. Contains additional foreign articles. Printed in China.UTZZ01612ZC(0)QUESTIONS?V

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual4IntroductionFeaturesThe MHS550 provides the following key features:Submersible design Complies with JIS8 water-res

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual5Manual conventionsThis manual uses several different type styles to help you distinguish between different parts of

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual6Parts of the MHS550Front viewAntennaLCDdisplayBAND-1/2.5/5WbuttonCHANNEL UP &DOWN buttonsVOLUME-POWERknob(Turn

Uniden MHS550 Radio Owner’s Manual7BUTTONPress to... Press and hold to...PUSH-TO -TALKTransmit on a channel. Note: You cannot trans-mit while the radi