VHF antenna issues?

[PatsyQPatsy]

So...what if my radio will not break squelch on the 10% setting. The thing works fine with squelch off. It's killing me though.
Cheers,
Patsy

[GMFL]

Thanks for all the great replies, sorry it took me a while to respond back.

I think there are several suggestions that bear (bare?) following up on. The emergency antenna is a great one, good to have as a back up. I actually have a SWR meter for a CB and did a quick search to see if I can use it for the VHF and apparently I can although its not totally accurate but can give me an idea of what is going on. Also checking the negative side is a good idea, I did the wiring but the boat is over 40 so another look at the wiring couldn't hurt.

I can actually receive the weather stations as long as I tune the squelch all the way down but it is very faint and, of course, full of static so I might be just receiving through the coax. The signal from the CG comes in crystal clear although I'm sure they're transmitting at some heavy wattage.

My only other thought, other than the radio being bad is the antenna was never attached to the coax cable. I looked up there with the bino's and it appears it is, but I may have to take a trip up.

Looks like I'm going to go ahead and start with the emergency ant. and go from there.

Thanks again for the replies.
Gerry

[hellosailor]

Gerry-
The CB SWR meter is designed to work at ~27MHz while marine VHF is ~165MHz, so the radio energy from your marine VHF may be "invisible" to a CB SWR meter. The only way to know if it can give you any information, is to try it on a different boat where you KNOW the radio is working well. See if it indicates a reasonable SWR, and then see if it indicates anything similar on your boat. (And even that is a real q&d kludge.)
A real VHF SWR meter isn't expensive and is useful to monitor your radio in the future, if you look for "2 meter ham radio" SWR meters, those are close enough (144MHz) that they always work well with marine VHF.

[GMFL]

Thanks HS, I found this and thought I'd try it since I have the CB SWR meter:

No VHF SWR Meter? No Problem. -

Not sure how it will work, but will also try the emergency antenna to have as a back up. I've looked around and the emergency ant. and the VHF SWR meters are about the same price and I think both would answer my issue. However, I figure a backup antenna would be a nice addition to the boat...

Thanks Again.

[rikhall]

Any local HAM club will have a person (they call them "Helping Hands") who will check it with you if you just ask.

[criswat]

Hey,
I am glad i visited here and gathered a lot of stuff about VHF antenna. I have come to know many facts about VHF antenna. I will surely look forward to it.. Thanks!!
_____________________
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[MarkSF]

Hmm, 3 posts in antenna threads, all identical almost, with links at the bottom plugging your antenna shop. I smell a spammer.

[ParadiseParrot]

You used 8U coax yes?

[GMFL]

Originally Posted by ParadiseParrot

You used 8U coax yes?

I did.

I ended up going with the emergency antenna from Shakespeare. When connected to the radio I can receive as good as the handheld when down below ( and better when placed on the boom). I'm thinking my issue is that the boat yard didn't attach the coax to the antenna when they installed it.

SO, that's my next step, to go up the mast. Unfortunately I live in Southern Ca and the boat is in San Fran. It'll have to be next month as I've just been bombarded with work... Can't wait to sail her down so I can do this sort of stuff "on the fly". Maybe (hopefully) in Sept????

[redline]

Check also the connectors and connections at the radio, and where the ship-side cable connects to the mast-side coax. Every connector is an opportunity for an open, or a short. On a friend's CS with a keel-stepped mast, the radio-to-mast cable had collected enough moisture down in the locker/bilge next to the mast entry that when I tried to strip it back and re-terminate the PL259, all I could get was black powder where the copper shield used to be. After cutting back a few inches, 6 inches, a foot, another foot... he decided to run a new cable. Once moisture gets into on end, it loves to wick up along the braid (and even more so with foam dielectric).

Sure would be a shame to climb the mast when the problem is in the bilge ;-)