January 2009
Standard Horizon is adding Bluetooth® capability to its flagship handheld VHF -- the HX750E.
THe Bluetooth-enabled version is called the HX760E, and will have a recommended retail price of £259.00 including VAT, complete with a Bluetooth® headset.
A "vox" (voice operated transmit) facility built into the headset gives true hands-free operation: when you speak, the set automatically switches to transmit, and when you stop speaking it switches back to receive. The microphone has three selectable levels of sensitivity to prevent background noise from triggering the transmitter, or the set can be manually controlled by pressing a PTT (press to talk) button on the top of the earpiece or on the set itself.
As well as Bluetooth, the HX760 E has all the features you'd expect of a fairly up-market hand-held: four transmit power levels, up to 6W, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, all International channels and a keypad lock. It has speaker/microphone jack, battery charge indicator, dual- and tri-watch facility, programmable and priority scan functions and single button access to Channel 16. Less conventional are the inclusion of a water temperature sensor, an SOS strobe light and a Time – Out Timer function that limits transmissions to a maximum of five minutes -- probably a good idea, given the obvious opportunities for accidental transmission presented by the vox facility!
www.standardhorizon.co.uk
