[Destroyer]

I run a Uniden Oceanus DSC and love it. http://uniden.com/products/productde...=OCEANUS%20DSC
If I ever have an emergency all I have to do is push one button to transmit my position, etc. I know Icoms are good, (as are other brands also), but I've not had a single problem with this radio and it's been wet, dropped, bumped, etc and still works like the day it was made. The only thing I don't like about the radio is that the mike is not detatchable, but that's a small thing really. My antenna is a Shakesphere, mostly because that was what was available when I needed a new antenna. But it seems to do the job it was designed for, and ultimately that's the most important criteria. Like everyone else has said, just mount the antenna as high as possible. VHF transmits line of sight. Your radio signal radiates off the tip of the antenna, not the shaft, so the higher the tip of the antenna the farther the distance you can talk.