BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

wrote:

Hello:

I want to install a new FM radio / CD player on my boat. Thought I
would mount the antenna in the stern area. I also like the idea of
having a redundant marine VHF antenna.

Is it reasonable to use a marine VHF antenna for an FM car radio
antenna? Other sugestions that will alow me to get the local tunes and
news and also have secondary VHF antenna?

Thanks
Chris

Yeah, but not very, really.

Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night
with a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad,
noisy antenna.

Car AM/FM antennae should be mounted on a metal surface to act as a
counterpoise to the marconi antenna. You can improve it's reception
on a glass boat by adding a couple or three of wires four feet or so
long (unequal) connected to the base plate of the entenna, fanned
out under the deck. Nothing (well, almost nothing) beats a 250'
whip for AM, oriented to the transmitter AE, and a seperate
rotatable yagi for channel 2 for your FM stereo. A channel 12 AE
would work better for VHF.

To make it efficient at VHF freqs, you would detune it somewhat for
FM broadcast reception. A spare, emergency VHF antenna for channel
16 would be about 4 feet long, (I can't be bothered to look up the
formula and solve it) or one coat hanger's worth of stiff wire, with
the varnish gnawed off the end and a kink bent into it to assist
making a snug connection when it is jammed into the connector on
your radio. Mine is collapsible, and has a proper connector and
swivel. It works about the same. It cost about five bucks. It
should be tucked away somewhere close to the radio, in case you get
dismasted, inverted and trapped inside the hull with broken bones
and burns. It won't have great range, but, what the hay, it's
something to play with while you use up all the air trapped in the
cabin with you.

Your house batteries are mounted on gimbals, or are spill proof gel
cells?

I don't really mean to be so cynical, but if you are planning for an
emergency at sea, you need to either do it right or do it cheap, I
guess. You get what you pay for. Surviving an apocalypse in style
is expensive.

Terry K