Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 15:35:26 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Tim" wrote in message
roups.com...


The antennas are well mounted and secure. Dual graphite sticks approx
4-41/2 ft. long. If I don't replace the radio, I'll probably take the
antennas off, because it would be silly to have the antenna's and no
radio. So I'll probably get a radio...

Any suggestions on a reasonable replacement?

AND are the twin antenna compatable or necessary for a modern radio?

I'm open for suggestions.

Thanks!
I really don't feel I have a need for a marine radio, but if I ever
wanted to take the family on the Ohio, Illinois, or Misssissippi, I
figure it would be really nice to have one.


Dual antennas are not necessary, if fact if they are not phased properly
they can reduce the effective transmitting power. If they are wired
together, it sounds to me like some stuck a dual CB antenna on the boat
which would be cut for the wrong freq range for marine VHF.

Given the condition of some of the other electrical stuff, I'd invest in a
new antenna as well as a radio. Uniden and Icom are common radios. (get an
Icom!)

You really should have a marine radio on the boat.

Higher the antenna, the better.


I agree with Eisboch - those may be CB antennas, but I have seen
marine Firesticks. I suspect that they aren't though - unless it has
a phased harness which is possible.

The only real way to tell is with a SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) meter or
if you can get your hands on one, a field strength meter. Probably
for the novice, the SWR meter is the easiest to use and they are cheap
enough - around a good serviceable SWR meter is $20 or thereabouts.
You want to test to see if you get a 1:1 or 1:1.5 ratio on channel 16.

As to radio, I prefer fixed mount to gain the extra power over a hand
held. There really isn't much of a price difference between a bells
and whistles handheld and a decent DSC enabled fixed mount radio -
maybe $20 or so.

Cobra, Uniden, Standard, Icom - all are good radios and do the job
well. I use Icom which are a little more pricey, but an MF55 Cobra
and the equivalent Uniden/Standard radios are all about $100. You get
the extra horsepower (25 vs 5 watts), DSC and a few other features.

It's always a good idea to have a VHF radio onboard - in particular on
bigger rivers and even larger lakes.

Yup. Since I sail in coastal waters on the North Atlantic, I bought the
best hand held VHF I could afford. It's one of the most important
pieces of safety gear aboard.
This may not apply if you sail in waters where VHF radios aren't used.