Need to install a new VHF antenna to a sailboat. Masthead would give
max antenna height, but drawback would be longer cable and extra
connectors. Have some experience about cable and connector losses
being a ham radio operator, and therefore give serious thought to
putting the antenna to top a a short pole on deck. Shorter cable, no
need for extra connectors as this would be permanent installation.
Plus much easier to install.

Lower antenna height (some 3-4 meters instead of 14m in masthead
installations) will of course reduce range, but would it stll be ok
for costal waters. In my home waters some 20 NM range is quit enough
to contact coastguard or SAR if needed.

Mika

Mika wrote:
Need to install a new VHF antenna to a sailboat. Masthead would give
max antenna height, but drawback would be longer cable and extra
connectors. Have some experience about cable and connector losses
being a ham radio operator, and therefore give serious thought to
putting the antenna to top a a short pole on deck. Shorter cable, no
need for extra connectors as this would be permanent installation.
Plus much easier to install.

Lower antenna height (some 3-4 meters instead of 14m in masthead
installations) will of course reduce range, but would it stll be ok
for costal waters. In my home waters some 20 NM range is quit enough
to contact coastguard or SAR if needed.

Mika

The "line of sight" at 3 metres would be about 7-8 miles. Is that enough?

( Mika) wrote in :

Need to install a new VHF antenna to a sailboat.

Put a 1/2 wave antenna as high as you can get it. 2000 meters is great!
but the top of the tallest mast will do just fine.

When you're screaming for help in a sinking boat, you can never have an
antenna that's too high! The altitude of the mast antenna more than makes
up for the length of the cabling losses. With a 25W Icom and 1/2
wavelength Metz whip at 55 ft on the other end of 30 meters of RG-58/U
coax, Lionheart can call the US Coast Guard station way out of sight of
land.

--
Larry

Larry wrote:
( Mika) wrote in :

Need to install a new VHF antenna to a sailboat.

Put a 1/2 wave antenna as high as you can get it. 2000 meters is
great! but the top of the tallest mast will do just fine.

When you're screaming for help in a sinking boat, you can never have
an antenna that's too high! The altitude of the mast antenna more
than makes up for the length of the cabling losses. With a 25W Icom
and 1/2 wavelength Metz whip at 55 ft on the other end of 30 meters
of RG-58/U coax, Lionheart can call the US Coast Guard station way
out of sight of land.

Couldn't agree more!

Dennis.

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:47:27 -0400, Larry wrote:

( Mika) wrote in :

Need to install a new VHF antenna to a sailboat.

Put a 1/2 wave antenna as high as you can get it. 2000 meters is great!
but the top of the tallest mast will do just fine.

When you're screaming for help in a sinking boat, you can never have an
antenna that's too high! The altitude of the mast antenna more than makes
up for the length of the cabling losses. With a 25W Icom and 1/2
wavelength Metz whip at 55 ft on the other end of 30 meters of RG-58/U
coax, Lionheart can call the US Coast Guard station way out of sight of
land.


but never, never, never ever use rg 58 cable. it's not shielded
properly. it has high loss.
---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field

(Bob) wrote in
:

but never, never, never ever use rg 58 cable. it's not shielded
properly. it has high loss.
---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field


Hogwash. There's RG-58 in every boat I work on and it works just
fine....all the way out to the radio horizon....which, of course, is the
limit of comms on VHF. At 50' if 2 watts makes it up there, it's full
quieting at 10 miles.

Besides, I can't imagine running hardline through those little holes to the
masthead....(c;

--
Larry

"Larry" wrote in message
...
(Bob) wrote in
:

but never, never, never ever use rg 58 cable. it's not shielded
properly. it has high loss.
---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field


Hogwash. There's RG-58 in every boat I work on and it works just
fine....all the way out to the radio horizon....which, of course, is the
limit of comms on VHF. At 50' if 2 watts makes it up there, it's full
quieting at 10 miles.

Besides, I can't imagine running hardline through those little holes to
the
masthead....(c;

--
Larry

I would agree that RG58 is very common. Its cheap and easy to run.
Probably gives acceptable performance on most boats. I recently replaced
mine with a single run of RG213 from masthead to radio. Didn't think I
could pull RG8 up the plastic pipe inside my mast and the RG213 was
recommended by a local communications shop so that's the way I went.
Sitting at the top of my mast I was getting pretty tired pulling up 50 feet
of 213. That stuff gets heavy. RG8 would be worse.

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 08:23:22 -0400, Larry wrote:

(Bob) wrote in
:

but never, never, never ever use rg 58 cable. it's not shielded
properly. it has high loss.
---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field


Hogwash. There's RG-58 in every boat I work on and it works just
fine....

it's unreliable. you may know boats. you don't know electronics

rg 58 is poorly shielded. that makes it more susceptible to
interference...

although it's not a big issue for short runs (like on boats), its
loss/ft is much higher than other cables.

its diameter is not compatible with pl 259's which means many are
installed wrong.


Besides, I can't imagine running hardline through those little holes to the
masthead....(c;


try rg 213 or rg 8. much, much better.

---------------------------
to see who "wf3h" is, go to "qrz.com"
and enter 'wf3h' in the field

In article ,
(Bob) wrote:

it's unreliable. you may know boats. you don't know electronics

rg 58 is poorly shielded. that makes it more susceptible to
interference...

although it's not a big issue for short runs (like on boats), its
loss/ft is much higher than other cables.

its diameter is not compatible with pl 259's which means many are
installed wrong.

Hmmm, another flatlander, who thinks Marine Electronics is the same as
Ham Radio......

RG-58 comes in a whole pile of different forms, of which, some are
prefectly adequite for some specific Maritime uses. It is enherently
just as reliable as any other coax type, when installed properly.

There certainly are some forms of RG-58 that have poor shielding, but
there are also some forms of RG-58 that provide for 100% shileding, as
well. Better go back and look at a Beldon Catalog again......

Run Length and Frequency certainly are part of the list of things that
determine the suitability of any Coaxial Cable installation.

Obviously, you have never hear of the UG-174U Adapter..... and
what makes you think that a PL-259 is the "Be All, and End all"
of Marine Radio connectors?

Me who wonders where these guys come from......

"Bob" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:47:27 -0400, Larry wrote:

( Mika) wrote in :

Need to install a new VHF antenna to a sailboat.

Put a 1/2 wave antenna as high as you can get it. 2000 meters is great!
but the top of the tallest mast will do just fine.

When you're screaming for help in a sinking boat, you can never have an
antenna that's too high! The altitude of the mast antenna more than makes
up for the length of the cabling losses. With a 25W Icom and 1/2
wavelength Metz whip at 55 ft on the other end of 30 meters of RG-58/U
coax, Lionheart can call the US Coast Guard station way out of sight of
land.


but never, never, never ever use rg 58 cable. it's not shielded
properly. it has high loss.

Many Marine VHF antennas have the cable moulded in and it's RG-58 so the
argument between RG-58 and RG-8 is purley acedemic.
Unlike the radio Ham, where every last inch of tx distance is a feather in
the cap and one up on the next person, on a boat it's just a tool, boating
is the hobby.