How It Works; Normal Mode Operation - West Marine VHF490 Owner's Manual

HOW IT WORKS

Your radio has three basic modes of operation:
Mode
Monitors a single marine radio channel
Normal
and lets you talk on that channel.
Monitors all the channels you save into
Scan
memory.
Monitors the selected NOAA weather
Weather
channel.
In addition to the three basic operation modes, your radio also provides three different "watch" modes which you can activate during
any of the three basic modes. In these watch modes, the radio briefly checks for activity on a specific channel then returns to its
previous mode.
Watch Mode
Checks for alerts on the last
Weather Alert weather channel you used every
seven seconds.
Checks for activity on channels
Triple
16 and 9 every two seconds.
Checks for activity on channel
Dual
16 every two seconds.
NOTE: You are required to monitor channel 16 whenever your boat is underway. You should have either Triple Watch or Dual
Watch on at all times.

Normal Mode Operation

Normal mode monitors whatever channel you select, and you can transmit on that channel also. While using normal mode, the display
lets you see the following information (not all indicators will display at the same time):
Message
GPS Data OK The radio is receiving valid GPS data.
Check GPS The radio is not receiving valid GPS data: check the GPS status screen andthe GPS connection.
The radio has been unable to receive valid GPS data for at least four hours; it can no longer track your position. You
Input Position
need to manually input your position (see Setting the GPS position manually on page 11).
Battery Low The battery voltage output is too low (below 10.5 VDC).
What It Does
What It Does
You want to be made aware of severe
weather conditions in your area.
You want to monitor a channel yet
maintain a watch on channels 16 and 9.
You want to monitor a channel yet
maintain a watch on channel 16.
Transmit power
(1 W or 25 W)
25 Watts USA
Memory Alert
Current channel
is stored in
GPS Data OK
memory
Marine Operator
Status messages
(see the status
message table)
VHF490 RADIO
Use It When
You want to talk to another station on a
specific channel.
You have a small group of channels you
use most often and want to check them
for traffic.
You want to hear the current and
forecasted weather in your area.
Use It When
Weather Alert
Channel mode
Watch on
(USA, CANadian,
or INTernational)
25
Meaning
1-800-BOATING
4
To Turn it on./off...
(default mode)
Press and hold the CLR-SCAN button.
Press the WX-MEM button.
To Turn it on./off...
Select WX-ALERT Mode in Setup
submenu, and then choose ON or OFF.
Press and hold 16/9-TRI for two seconds.
Change Triple Watch to Dual Watch in the
setup menu, then press and hold 16/9-
TRI for two seconds.
Status
Icons
Current
channel
number
Current channel
name (if the name
is too long, the
name line scrolls)