SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Attaching VHF Antenna

1K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  SEMIJim 
#1 ·
Attaching VHF antenna

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I,m about to step the mast on my boat and would like to know the pros & cons of attaching the antenna to the boat or top of the mast? Thanks Walt
 
#2 ·
If you attach the antenna to the top of the mast, your effective range for the VHF increases. The higher the antenna, the greater its effective range, since the LOS to the horizon increases. However, it does make the antenna more vulnerable to things like birds and bridges...
 
#3 · (Edited)
Masthead is pretty much the way to go if you can......

But it does also depends on where you are sailing. If you're on a lake and you are never going to be out of sight of nearest rescue service, you have plenty of Cell phone reception etc then maybe not such a big deal.

If you are however going offshore like me without the benefit of HF, then well I personally want every wee little bit of range I can get.....

Masthead means significantly increased range, increased range means the people you want to hear you can when you most need it.....

So my two cents, put simply is:

If it is an inshore boat, go masthead as long as it is no big hassle, if its a hassle I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If going offshore then for me masthead is compulsory.
 
#5 ·
Attaching the antenna to the boat rather than the masthead has the following advantages in addition to reducing the vulnerabity to things like birds and bridges mentioned above: no need to pull the mast or go aloft to install or service the antenna and coax; less expensive; shorter coax run with less signal loss; may avoid coax splice at mast butt -- a frequent source of signal degradation; no conflict with internal halyards or other inmast wiring; and less weight aloft.
A masthead VHFantenna may be required to participate in offshore races.
 
#6 ·
I would point out that it really makes sense to have your primary antenna at the masthead and pushpit mounted one as a backup or for a secondary antenna.
 
#7 ·
Way back in my youth (and that's a long time ago) we used to mess with CB radios and to boost the range we used to (illegally, I believe) use a 3dB gain antenna and it seemed to work wonders for the output.

Would these work on a VHF? And are they still illegal?
 
#8 ·
Most VHF radios have two power settings. In general, it is recommended to use the low power setting so that your transmissions don't overpower more distance boats transmissions. The extra gain only increases transmit range, and doesn't do anything for reception.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top