Handheld VHF

[jasoncooperpcola]

My vhf went out on my boat and the antenna is broken from the previous owners. I have a 14' antenna from my Sportsman but its way too big to put on a V20. I want to go snapper fishing in my V20 before snapper season goes out. How good are handheld VHF radios? What kind of range can i expect? I will not go offshore without one, but cant afford an antenna and radio right now. ( Workers comp sucks) And on top of all that, my cable pulled out of my gps antenna so now i have to buy another gps antenna. (GARMIN) I found a couple antennas on ebay for $30 may just get one of them.

First one i found:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Marine-GPS-BNC-A...item2a082a6798

Second type:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-GPS-Antenna-...item19c69c3db4

What does everybody think about these? I would like to run about 20-25 miles offshore fishing.