Ron: Thanks for the "heads up"...I was just about to order one and the same....Now I will spend some time prior to purchase... Thanks again Fred Phillips MV Paradox CHB 34 La Conner WA

Fred and the List, I just received the following from a member of the "live-aboard" list: First off, the model is Spectrum, not Spectra. Since I just purchased two of these units I was concerned about this post. So I sent an email to Standards technical support. Within 7 minutes I had a reply. Talk about impressive! His reply was: >The attached document is a list of all the changes made to the Spectrum+. >There have been no changes made to the receiver. >If you have further inquiries, please feel free to contact us at: >Phone: (800) 767-2450 The document he attached is a MS Word document, so I cut and pasted the text below: >The Spectrum+ has all the same features as the Spectrum with the addition >of the following: > >Group MMSI >This allows you to make a DSC call to a selected group of individuals >instead of just one person. Great for Yacht clubs or boating/fishing clubs. > >MariTel Capabilities >This feature will allow you to make phone calls when you sign up to the >MariTel subscription service. MariTel can be contacted at (866) 627-4638 >or www.maritelusa.com > >Position send >When interfaced with a GPS this function will allow you to send your >position directly to another DSC radio. > >Channel naming >Each channel is labeled with the name of the respective channel. There is >also an option of renaming each channel for added convenience. > >Improved DSC button >The DSC cover on the front of the radio is attached with a Stainless Steel >hinge to prevent losing the cover. Some nice features, but not enough to make me want to go through the hassle of returning my units and paying more probably 20+% more money than I spent for my "outdated" Spectrums. REPLY: I take his point, but DSC position reporting and MariTel are enough for me. There are no facts to support the story about the receiver, but the fellow fought with Standard and got a new (a year ago) radio which does not exhibit the problem. Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fred Phillips" <fjphillipsx146@webtv.net> To: <trawler-world-list@lists.samurai.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 9:24 PM Subject: TWL: Spectra VHF > Ron: > Thanks for the "heads up"...I was just about to order one and the > same....Now I will spend some time prior to purchase... Thanks again

All: I learned something interesting this afternoon about the recent Seattle fire. Was out on my boat with my mechanic - talking about insurance actually - and he said that "the City of Seattle's actually going to end up paying for almost all the damage". Say what? Turns out that it was a Seattle fireman who cut the lines on a burning boat at the end of one dock that allowed it to float over into the other dock (where all the damaged happened). Lots of witnesses. And talking about marina insurance, turned out that Le Clerq's insurance company had completed a complete review of their policies and all their facilities literally the Friday right before the fire. Ironically, after many years of having it be just a formality, they really went into it this time. And within minutes of having the insurance agent leave their offices, they discovered that an office tenant at a marina had a couple of charcoal grills going on a dock under cover. The insurance agent didn't see it, but the management blew a gasket and got them extinguished immediately. And then the fire the next night at another of their facilities... Keith