Uniden MHS126 User manual

MHS126
RADIO VHF MARITIME
GUIDE D’UTILISATION
VHF MARINE RADIO
OWNER’S MANUAL

Making a Distress Call
Speak slowly - clearly - calmly.
For future reference, write your boat’s name & call sign here:
1. Make sure your radio is on.
2. On the radio, press the 16/9-Tri button to switch to Channel 16
(156.8 MHz). (If the corner of the display does not show 16, press
the 16/9-Tri button again until it does.)
3. Press the push to talk button and say: “MAYDAY -- MAYDAY --
MAYDAY.”
4. Say “THIS IS
{name of your boat (three times) and call sign/boat
registration number (once)}.
”
5. Say “MAYDAY
{name or call sign of your boat}. ”
6. Tell where you are: (what navigational aids or landmarks are near,
or read the latitude and longitude from your GPS).
7. State the nature of your distress, (e.g. are you sinking, medical
emergency, man overboard, on re, adrift, etc.
8. State the type of assistance you need (medical, towing, pumps,
etc.).
9. Give number of persons aboard and conditions of any injured
persons.
10. Estimate present seaworthiness of your ship (e.g. how immediate is
the danger due to ooding or re or proximity to shore).
11. Briey describe your ship, giving the ship name (e.g. “Blue Duck is
32 foot cabin cruiser, white hull, blue deck house”).
12. Say: “I WILL BE LISTENING ON CHANNEL 16.”
13. End message by saying “THIS IS
{name or call sign of your boat} ,
OVER.”
14. Release the push to talk button and listen.
If you do not get an answer after 30 seconds, repeat your call,
beginning at step 3, above.

Faire un appel de détresse
Faire un appel de détresse vocal
Parlez lentement – clairement – calmement.
Pour toute référence ultérieure, transcrivez ci-dessous le nom et l’indicatif
d’appel de votre bateau :
1. Vériez si votre radio est en marche.
2. Appuyez sur la touche 16/9-Tri de la radio an de commuter au canal 16 (156,8
MHz). (Si le canal 16 n’apparaît pas à l’afchage, appuyez de nouveau sur la
touche 16/9-Tri jusqu’à ce qu’il soit afché.)
3. Appuyez sur le bouton de microphone push to talk et dites :“MAYDAY - MAYDAY
– MAYDAY”.
4. Donnez l’identité de votre navire en disant : “ICI {nom de votre bateau (trois fois) ou
indicatif d’appel et le numéro d’identication de votre bateau (une fois)}”.
5. Dites “MAYDAY {nom ou indicatif d’appel de votre bateau} une fois”.
6. Donnez votre position : (quels sont les points de repère ou aides à la navigation
près de vous ou lisez les coordonnées de longitude et de latitude apparaissant sur
votre dispositif GPS).
7. Révélez la nature de votre détresse (par exemple, nous sommes en train de couler,
urgence médicale, un homme à la mer, un incendie, nous sommes à la dérive, etc.
8. Révélez la nature de l’assistance désirée (médicale, remorquage, essence, etc.)
9. Donnez le nombre de personnes à bord et les conditions des blessés, s’il y en a.
10. Donnez la condition de navigabilité actuelle de votre navire, tel que le degré de
l’urgence par rapport à l’inondation, à l’incendie ou à votre proximité de la côte.
11. Donnez une brève description de votre navire en donnant le nom du bateau (par
exemple, “Blue Duck est un yacht de croisière de 32 pieds, avec une coque blanche
et un roufe bleu.”).
12. Dites : “JE VAIS ÉCOUTER SUR LE CANAL 16”.
13. Terminez le message en disant “ICI {nom ou indicatif d’appel de votre bateau}, À
VOUS”.
14. Relâchez le bouton push to talk du microphone et écoutez.
Si vous n’obtenez pas de réponse après 30 secondes, répétez l’appel
encommençant à l’étape 3 ci-dessus.

Making a Distress
Call ............ (inside front cover)
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................ E-1
Features .................................. E-1
Getting Started ....................... E-4
What’s Included ....................... E-4
Parts of the MHS126 ............... E-5
Front view .......................... E-5
Back view ........................... E-5
Charger .............................. E-7
Reading the display ................. E-7
Display icons and what
they mean ..................... E-8
How It Works ........................ E-10
Normal mode operation ......... E-11
Normal mode with
Weather Alert Watch ... E-11
Normal mode with Triple
Watch or Dual Watch .. E-12
Scan mode operation ............ E-12
Using the Radio in Scan
Mode .......................... E-12
Scan mode with Weather
Alert Watch ................. E-13
Scan mode with Triple
Watch or Dual Watch .. E-13
Both Weather Alert and
Triple/Dual Watch in
Scan mode ................. E-14
Weather mode ....................... E-14
Using the Radio in
Weather Mode ............ E-15
Weather mode with
Weather Alert Watch ... E-15
Weather mode with Triple
Watch or Dual Watch .. E-16
Setting Up the Hardware ..... E-17
Attaching the Antenna ........... E-17
Installing the Battery .............. E-17
Using the Alkaline Battery
Tray ................................... E-17
Mounting the Charger ............ E-19
Charging the Battery .............. E-19
Important notes on
charging the battery .... E-20
Attaching the Belt Clip ........... E-20
Using Your Radio ................. E-21
Turning It On ......................... E-21
Setting It Up ........................... E-21
Changing the Volume ...... E-21
Setting the Squelch Level E-21
Reading Volume and
Squelch Level on
Battery Icon ................ E-23
Setting the UIC Channel
Mode (USA/CAN/INT) E-23
Using the WX Mode ............... E-23
Making a Transmission .......... E-24
Selecting a Channel ......... E-24
Making a Transmission .... E-24
Boosting the transmission
power .......................... E-24
Saving Channels to Memory . E-25
Special Features .................... E-26

E-1
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Introduction
Features
Your radio provides the following key features:
Submersible design. Complies with oating JIS8/
IPX8 water-resistant standards, which means the radio
can be submerged in 1.5 meters of water for 1 hour
without damage.
#Notes:
The radio will only meet this rating if fully assembled
and all rubber seals and sealing plugs are well
maintained and correctly tted. This means that the
speaker microphone is attached or the sealing plug
is tted, and the battery pack (or tray) and antenna
are attached and securely fastened.
Using the Strobe SOS
Light/Flashlight ........... E-26
Turning the Key Beep On
and Off ........................ E-26
Setting Key Lock .............. E-26
Using the External
Speaker/Mic Jack ....... E-27
Using the Battery Save
Feature ....................... E-27
Maintenance and
Troubleshooting ................ E-28
Common Questions ............... E-28
Channels and Frequencies
(MHz) .................................. E-32
US channel frequencies
and names ......................... E-32
Canadian channel frequencies
and names ......................... E-34
International channel
frequencies and names ..... E-36
Regulations and Safety
Warnings............................ E-39
Maritime Radio Services
Operation ........................... E-39
Basic Radio Guidelines ......... E-39

E-2 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
After your radio is submerged in water, you might
notice that the sound is distorted. This is because
there is still water remaining in and around the
speaker and microphone. Just shake the radio to
clear excess water, and the sound will return to
normal.
If your radio is exposed to salt water, clean it
thoroughly with fresh water and dry it before turning
it on.
The charger is not waterproof.
Memory Scan mode. Lets you save channels to
memory and monitor them in quick succession.
Transmitter power level select/Boost. Lets you
boost the transmitter power from 1W to 2.5W or 6W for
added transmission distance.
Battery level display and low battery alert.
Dual and Triple Watch operation. These different
Watch modes let you monitor up to one Coast Guard
Distress/Hailing channel and one weather channel
along with one regular marine channel.
All marine VHF channels for the U.S., Canada, and
international waters.
Battery Save. The Battery Save feature automatically
turns off RX power at regular intervals to save battery
power.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Weather Channel watch. Sounds a warning
tone when a hazard alert is issued.
SOS Strobe/Flashlight. A high intensity strobe LED
can be set to blink an SOS pattern or to be steady on.

E-3
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Emergency 16/9 Channel monitoring. Set unit
to scan one or both of these emergency channels
regularly within normal scanning cycles.
Key Lock. Locks keys to prevent accidentally
changing channels or entering data.
Nine weather channels.
Selectable Volume (0 - 9) and Squelch (0 - 3) levels.

E-4 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Getting Started
What’s Included
Antenna Charging Cradle
Lithium Ion Poly
Battery
Alkaline Battery Tray
(batteries not included)
MHS126 Radio DC Charging
Adapter
AC-DC Charging
Adapter
Screws for Charging
Cradle
Wrist Strap Belt Clip
If any pieces are missing or damaged, contact Uniden
Customer Care (see back cover for contact information).

E-5
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Parts of the MHS126
Front view
Back view
Antenna
LCD display
L/M/H button
Channel up
button
External speaker and
microphone
Microphone
16/9-Tri
(16/9- triple
watch) button
WX-Alert
(weather-alert)
button Scan-Dual
(scan-dual
watch) button
Push to talk
button
Speaker
Wrist strap
anchor
Channel down
button
UIC/LOCK
button
Mem (memory)
SOS button
Strobe
SOS light
Power button
Boost
button
Volume/
Squelch
button
Belt clipBatteryBattery charging
contacts
Battery
latch

E-6 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Button Press to... Press and hold to...
Power NA Turn the radio on or off.
PTT (Push
to Talk) NA Talk/transmit on a
channel.
Boost NA Transmit with a higher
power level.
16/9/TRI
1st press: Go to channel
16.
2nd press: Go to channel 9.
3rd press: Go back to the
starting channel.
Turn Triple Watch on
and off.
MEM/SOS
Save a channel into
memory or delete a channel
from memory.
Turn on the SOS signal.
Press and hold again to
turn on ashlight.
Press and hold again to
turn off the LED light.
WX/
ALERT
Places radio into Weather
mode so you can listen to
the weather channels.
Turn Weather Alert Watch
on and off.
Channel
Up
Move up one channel or
squelch/volume step at a
time.
Move quickly up the
channels/ squelch/
volume steps.
UIC/LOCK
Switch from US to
Canadian or International
channels.
Lock the keys; press and
hold again to unlock.
L/M/H Change the transmit power
(see page E-9). NA

E-7
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Button Press to... Press and hold to...
Channel
Down
Move down one channel
or squelch/volume step at
a time.
Move quickly down the
channels/squelch/volume
steps.
SCAN/
DUAL
Start scanning channels
saved in memory.
Turn Dual Watch on and
off.
VOL/SQ Increase or decrease the
volume.
Increase or decrease the
squelch level.
Charger
Reading the display
The LCD display shows different information depending
on what you are doing. This sample screen shows some
of this information. The following table shows all the
possible icons and what they mean.
Charging
contacts
CHARGE LEDScrew holes
for mounting
Power jack
[cigarette (DC) or
wall (AC) plug]
Charging
latches

E-8 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Display icons and what they mean
Icon What it means
You are currently transmitting.
LO, MID, HI
The transmitter power is set to L (Low - 1W), M
(Mid - 2.5W), or H (HIGH - 6W).
LOCK The keys are locked.
US, CAN, or INT
Indicates if the radio is set for US channels,
CANadian channels, or INTernational channels.
TRI or DUAL TRIple Watch or DUAL Watch is turned on.
MEM The current channel is saved in memory.
SCAN The radio is in Scan mode.
WX The radio is in Weather mode
Weather Alert Watch is turned on.
Transmit
power level
This channel is
stored in memory.
Watch
mode The radio is in
scan mode
Key lock
is on
The radio is
transmitting Current
channel
number
UIC channel
mode
Weather
Alert Watch
is on.
Battery
status icon

E-9
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Icon What it means
The battery is fully charged, mostly charged,
half charged, mostly empty, or completely
empty.
88A Current channel number

E-10 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
How It Works
Your radio has three main operation modes: Normal,
Scan, and Weather.
Mode What it does Use it when you
want to...
To turn it
on/off
Normal
Monitors a single marine
channel and lets you
talk on that channel.
Monitor a channel or
talk to another radio.
(default
mode)
Scan
Monitors all the
channels you save into
memory.
Check a small group
of regularly-used
channels for trafc.
Press
SCAN/
DUAL.
Weather Monitors the selected
NOAA weather channel.
Hear the current or
forecasted weather.
Press WX/
ALERT.
In addition to the three operation modes, your radio
provides three different watch modes which you can
activate during any operation mode. In the watch modes,
the radio briey checks for activity on a specic channel,
then returns to its previous operation.
Watch mode What it does To turn it on/off
Weather Alert
Watch
Checks the last-used weather
channel for hazard alerts
every 7 seconds.
Press and hold WX/
ALERT for 2 seconds.
Dual Watch Checks channel 16 for
activity every 2 seconds.
Press and hold SCAN/
DUAL for 2 seconds.
Triple Watch Checks channels 16 and 9
for activity every 2 seconds.
Press and hold 16/9/TRI
for 2 seconds.
#Private boats must monitor channel 16 whenever they are
underway. Water-going vessels should have either Triple
Watch or Dual Watch on at all times.

E-11
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Normal mode operation
To transmit, remove the radio from the charger, then
press and hold Push to Talk. Release the button when
you are nished talking.
For the best sound quality, hold the microphone about
two inches from your mouth while you’re talking.
Press Channel up to move up one channel at a time.
Press and hold the button to scroll quickly up the
channels.
Press Channel down to move down one channel at a
time. Press and hold the button to scroll quickly down
the channels.
To change the transmit power, press L/M/H. The
transmit power switches to the next transmit power
each time you press this button.
Normal mode with Weather Alert Watch
If you activate
Weather Alert
Watch while
operating in
Normal mode, the radio checks the
most recently used weather channel
every few seconds. If it detects a
weather or other hazard alert, it will
switch to that weather channel. (If
you are actively transmitting, the
radio waits until you nish your
transmission before checking the
weather channel.)
wx
Every few seconds,
the radio checks
the last-used
weather channel.
WX Alert
Watch on
Monitoring Channel 25

E-12 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Normal mode with Triple Watch or Dual Watch
If you activate Triple Watch while operating in Normal
mode, the radio checks channels 16 and 9 every two
seconds; with Dual Watch turned on, the radio only
checks channel 16. The radio will not check channels 16
or 9 while you are actively transmitting; it waits until your
transmission is nished and then checks the channels.
Scan mode operation
You can save channels into memory and then use Scan
mode to monitor those channels from lowest to highest. If
the radio detects a signal on a channel, it stays on that
channel as long as the signal is received; when the signal
stops, the radio continues scanning.
Using the Radio in Scan Mode
To activate Scan mode, press SCAN/DUAL.
09 16 09 16 09 16
Every 2 seconds, the radio
checks channels 9 & 16.
Triple Watch on
Monitoring Channel 25
11
1008 1312 14 17
15
The radio scans about
5 channels in 0.5 seconds.
When it detects a signal, the radio stays
on the channel until you press the
Channel Up button or the signal stops. Resume
scan

E-13
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
You must have at least two channels in memory to start
a scan. However, you cannot save marine channel 70
or Weather channels.
You cannot transmit while in Scan mode.
To save a channel into memory, select the channel,
then press MEM/SOS. The MEM icon displays whenever
you tune to that channel.
To remove a channel from memory, set the radio to
that channel, then press MEM/SOS. The MEM icon no
longer displays.
When the radio stays on a channel, press Channel Up to
leave that channel and resume scanning.
To end the scan, press the SCAN/DUAL button again; the
radio remains on the last scanned channel.
Scan mode with Weather Alert Watch
If you activate Weather Alert Watch while in Scan mode,
the radio checks the most recently/used weather channel
every seven seconds, then continues scanning the next
channel in memory:
Scan mode with Triple Watch or Dual Watch
If you activate Triple Watch while operating in Scan mode,
the radio checks channels 16 and 9 every two seconds,
Every 7 seconds, the radio
checks the last-used
weather channel, then
scans the next channel. wx
WX Alert
Watch on
Memory Channel Scan
08 252417151413121110 20

E-14 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
then goes on to scan the next channel; with Dual Watch
turned on, the radio only checks channel 16:
Both Weather Alert and Triple/Dual Watch in Scan mode
You can activate Weather Alert Watch and Triple/Dual
Watch at the same time. The radio performs both checks
at their scheduled time:
Weather mode
The NOAA weather channels cooperate with the FCC
to alert you of other hazards besides weather (child
abduction alerts, nuclear, biological, etc.). In Weather
mode, the radio monitors one of the nine NOAA weather
channels. If any type of alert is received, the radio sounds
an alert tone and the display blinks.
09 16
Every 2 seconds, the
radio checks channels
9 & 16, then scans
the next channel.
Triple
Watch on
Memory Channel Scan
08 252417151413121110 20
09 16
Every 2 seconds, the
radio checks channels
9 & 16, then scans
the next channel.
Triple
Watch on
Every 7 seconds, the radio
checks the last-used
weather channel, then
scans the next channel. wx
WX Alert
Watch on
Memory Channel Scan
08 252417151413121110 20

E-15
Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Using the Radio in Weather Mode
Press the WX/ALERT button to access Weather mode. WX
displays. Press to scroll through the weather channels.
To cancel Weather and return to the previous marine
channel, press the WX/ALERT button again. The last active
weather channel displays the next time you access
Weather mode.
#You cannot transmit while in Weather mode.
When the radio detects a WX Alert signal, it sounds a
siren tone three times. Press any button to turn off the
tone.
Weather mode with Weather Alert Watch
Because Weather mode already monitors the weather
channels, you don’t need Weather Alert Watch to check
the weather channel every seven seconds. If you activate
Weather Alert Watch while operating in Weather mode,
it operates as a type of “sleep mode;” the radio stays on
the weather channel and mutes the speaker. If an alert
is detected, the radio sounds an alert tone and turns the
speaker back on. This mode is very useful when you
are anchoring for the night but want to keep informed of
hazards.

E-16 Uniden MHS126 Radio Owner’s Manual
Weather mode with Triple Watch or Dual Watch
If you activate Triple Watch while operating in Weather
mode, the radio checks channels 16 and 9 every two
seconds; with Dual Watch turned on, the radio only
checks channel 16.
09 16 09 16 09 16
Every 2 seconds, the radio checks
channel 9, then channel 16
with Triple Watch on
Monitoring Weather Channel WX08