This is one loud hailer!

Lrad500x

You’re a day out of Dar es Salaam, and there’s a suspicious vessel two miles astern. It’s been there all morning, and the hair on the back of your neck is telling you that something’s just not quite right. Imagine being able to trash talk the crew of that boat across miles of ocean — not by radio — but by one, honkin’ mean bull horn!

“Hey! Go mind your own business!”

The high technology of long-range acoustic hailing devices is breathtaking. You can aim them across miles of ocean and have your voice projected to another boat better than if you were along side. Companies like Ultra Electronics HyperSpike and the LRAD Corporation offer several models of these loud hailers on steroids.

LRAD’s HS-Micro weights just 18 pounds, was designed to withstand a marine environment, and can throw a 140 decibel message 500 meters. It will broadcast your voice or powerful emergency tones, or pre-recorded message in a variety of languages. (That’s got to be an interesting mp3!)

The LRAD 2000X (LRAD stands for Long Range Acoustic Device) ensures voice commands will be clearly understood over up to an incredible 5.7 miles away.

Robert Putnam, a spokesman for San Diego-based LRAD Corp., recently described the LRAD system for the Wall Street Journal, saying that these long-range loud hailers broadcast powerful deterrent tones and multi-language voice commands over distances of up to two miles to help prevent pirate attacks and warn fishing boats and other approaching ships to stay away or change course when your yacht is approaching.

There’s a price tag of $20,000 to $40,000 for these fancy talkers, which is not much at all for a yar, world-traveling yacht. But just what do you say to presumed pirates to convince them you’re not worth the trouble?

Although the ability to really raise your voice exponentially could come in handy when your teenagers are ashore and it appears they’ve lost track of the hour. 

By Ocean Navigator