Uniden Solara Marine VHF Radio

The Uniden Solara is an entry level marine VHF radio with basic transmit and receive capabilites.

Uniden Solara

Beyond the basics its feature list is short.

Performance

Transmitter power output was fairly stable throughout the range of tests.

Frequency accuracy was off at temperature extremes causing us to rate the transmitter frequency stability only fair.

Receiver performance was a bit better with an excellent rating achieved for sensitivity.

The selectivity specification was about average at 67 dB. Audio performance was only mediocre.

Operation

Scanning on the Solara is limited to all-channel scanning. We rated this unit only fair for value added features.

The display window in the Solara is small. Channel numbers are shown on the right side of the screen and no channel comments are displayed. Backlighting is factory set to one level.

Digital Selective Calling

We were impressed with the fact that even though the Solara is very inexpensive it still has rudimentary DSC capabilities. It can make a DSC distress call, an individual call, and an all-ships call using priority messaging.