User Manual
Getting Started
Nothing Comes Close to a Cobra
®
25
24
English
Getting Started
Getting Started 
•
Refer to the foldout on the front cover of this manual to identify the various  
controls and indicators on your radio.
 Throughout this manual you will be instructed to press or to press and hold  
buttons on the transceiver. Press means a momentary press, then release; press and 
hold means to hold the button.
Tones And Alarms
When your CobraMarine VHF radio is On, you can expect to hear the following tones 
and alarms. The volume of these sounds is controlled by the circuitry in the radio and 
is not affected by the volume set with the On-Off Power/Volume knob.
Confirmation Tone
Single high-pitched beep confirms all button presses except the Talk button.  
It can be turned On or Off. See set-up routines on page 30.
Error Tone 
Three low-pitched beep indicates an invalid button press.
DSC Distress Alarm 
High—low—high—low—high. Pause, then repeat. The volume of all alarms will 
increase after 10 seconds. Press any button to turn it Off.
NOTE 
This alarm sounds only for DSC distress calls on Channel 70.  
It does not sound for voice calls on Channel 16 — you still  
must listen for those.
Distress Acknowledgement Alarm
High—low—high—low—high. Pause, then repeat. The volume of all alarms will 
increase after 10 seconds. Press any button to turn it Off.
DSC Routine Call Alarm
High—pause—high—pause—high. Long pause, then repeat. Press any button to turn 
it Off.
DSC Geographical Alarm 
Loud, continuous, medium-pitched, high-low tones (warble) — sounds  
when a geographical call is received. Press any button to turn it Off.
DSC Position Request Alarm
Medium-loud, continuous, low-pitched series of closely spaced, four (4) beeps [three 
(3) short – one (1) long] groups — sounds when a position request call  
is received. Press any button to turn it Off.
DSC Individual Alarm
High—pause—high—pause—high. Long pause, then repeat. Press any button to turn 
it Off.
Weather Alarm
Medium-loud, continuous, medium-pitched series of one-half (
1
⁄2) second beeps 
spaced one-half (
1
⁄2) second apart — sounds when weather alert is turned On 
and NOAA sends a 1050 Hz weather alert tone on the selected weather channel. Press 
any button to turn it Off.
Power On-Off
 Transceiver power can be turned On or Off by the On-Off Power/Volume  
knob on the transceiver.
    To Turn Your Radio On Or Off:
  1. Rotate the Off Power/Volume knob clockwise to turn on 
the transceiver. To turn off the transceiver, rotate the Off 
Power/Volume counter clockwise until a “click” is heard.
     When the radio is powered On, the confirmation tone  
will sound.
     The radio will return to the settings in effect when it was  
last powered Off, the LCD will show the corresponding 
information, and all controls will be operative. The radio  
will then be in Standby mode.
 Volume
The On-Off Power/Volume knob on the transceiver controls the 
speaker volume. The volume adjustment applies only to what 
you hear from the speaker and does not affect the volume of 
your outgoing messages. That is controlled by the circuitry of 
your radio. The volume bar graph will be shown to indicate 
the volume setting. 2 seconds after finishing the volume 
adjustment, the radio will return to the Standby mode.
To Increase The Volume:
  • Turn the On-Off Power/Volume knob clockwise.
    To Decrease The Volume:
   • Turn the On-Off Power/Volume knob counter-clockwise.
Squelch
 Squelch control filters weak signals and radio frequency noise so that you can more 
clearly hear the signals you want. You can think of it as a variable barrier that blocks 
what you don’t want to hear.
Operating Your Radio Operating Your Radio
On-Off Power/ 
Volume Knob
VOlume
On-Off Power/ 
Volume Knob
On-Off Power/ 
Volume Knob










