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Don't you find it annoying when you can see a boat coming and the skipper of your boat can't but when you try to shout to him, trying to warn him he doesn't hear? Well there is one simple way of solving this problem which is being taken up all over the canal system in all types of boats.

Two way radios enable you to communicate not just with one end of your boat to the other end, but also from the lock ahead for example to your boat, from the towpath to your boat, or between one boat to another boat. Basically these radios will generally transmit around 3km depending on what the terrain is.

Some people are put off the radios by the thought of __1) Having to carry what a massive big bulky radio around with them __2) Not being able to actually use the radios because there are too many people talking at the same time on the radio. However both of these 'thoughts' are untrue because the great thing about these radios (which are free to use [no license require]) is that they are generally very light and small (pending on the make and age of the radio you buy), they are normally all supplied with great belt clips and also hands free ear bud mics so you don;t need to hold the radio in your hand to talk! I have never known the radio to be too busy to use as there are 8 different channels with 38 different sub-channels on each meaning that there are 3344 different channels altogether!

A new idea has been introduced to canal users very recently that we all should use channel 8 sub channel 8 to call up a different boat then when we have established contact with the boat you switch over to channel 7 sub channel 7 to talk. This may take off - only time will tell! However you will find that most non-commercial people who have not heard of these new ideas for using radios on canals normally will just use say Channel 1, as this is what the radio is set on when you first buy a radio.

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