BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - VHF Antenna Resistance, Center Conductor To Shield

On 2 Mar 2004 05:47:51 -0800, (Ron Patterson)
wrote:

I have a 34 foot sloop which I bought six years ago on Kentucky Lake
near Paducah. I motored it up river to Guntersville Lake in North
Alabama. I sailed her on Guntersville Lake on the very few days that I
had off and the wind was blowing. That however, was no more than a few
days a year. Now I am retiring in June and am going to take her down
the Tenn-Tom Waterway to her new home in Pensacola, Florida. There we
will sail and fish for the rest of our days.

When I bought the boat it had a pretty good VHF radio with the antenna
mounted at the top of the mast. It worked fine when we were bringing
the boat down to Alabama. But a few months back I tried the radio for
the first time in six years. It would not even power up. Not to worry,
I bought a new Icom VHF radio.

Before installing it I decided to check the antenna resistance from
the center of the coax to the shield. I got about two and one half
ohms. I was thinking it should be an open. What should the resistance
be, measured from the radio end, from the center conductor to the
shield? Someone please help me because I don't want to hook up the
radio and blow the transmitter. Is this a danger? Or perhaps I have
nothing to worry about.

That does not sound right. It should be open to DC. I expect that you
might damage the new xmitter with that cable.

Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"Happy is he that taketh thy little ones and dasheth them upon the stones." __Psalm 137