"Larry" wrote in message
...
John H. wrote in
:

Another question: Most antennae seem to come with about 20 feet of
wire. Mounted on a console with the radio right there, I could get by
with about 3 feet of wire. Is all the extra wire necessary?



No, it's not. If you're not a solderer, find someone who can put a new
connector on the radio end of your cable or make up a new cable. The Metz
does NOT have a cable attached to it....one of its great features. YOU
put
the cable on it so the cable can be replaced....not hard wired into the
plastic, like the little whips from Shakespeare come.

The farce of "tuning" the antenna with cable length is nonsense....

Larry


True, you don't "tune" the antenna with cable length, but you need a certain
amount of it to properly tune the antenna. My memory is rusty and I'd have
to go dig out the books, but I think you should have a 1/2 wavelength or so
in cable length. Maybe it's a 1/4 .... can't remember. Too short will
cause the antenna not to load properly (assuming it is the correct length)
and result in an excessive SWR value that reduces effective transmitted
power and, in the worst situation, cause damage to the output stage of the
radio.

Eisboch

Eisboch wrote:
"Larry" wrote in message
...
John H. wrote in
:

Another question: Most antennae seem to come with about 20 feet of
wire. Mounted on a console with the radio right there, I could get by
with about 3 feet of wire. Is all the extra wire necessary?


No, it's not. If you're not a solderer, find someone who can put a new
connector on the radio end of your cable or make up a new cable. The Metz
does NOT have a cable attached to it....one of its great features. YOU
put
the cable on it so the cable can be replaced....not hard wired into the
plastic, like the little whips from Shakespeare come.

The farce of "tuning" the antenna with cable length is nonsense....

Larry


True, you don't "tune" the antenna with cable length, but you need a certain
amount of it to properly tune the antenna. My memory is rusty and I'd have
to go dig out the books, but I think you should have a 1/2 wavelength or so
in cable length. Maybe it's a 1/4 .... can't remember. Too short will
cause the antenna not to load properly (assuming it is the correct length)
and result in an excessive SWR value that reduces effective transmitted
power and, in the worst situation, cause damage to the output stage of the
radio.

Eisboch




Sheeesh. So long as you can reach the Coast Guard or SeaTow, I'm not
sure it matters, at least not for us near shore types. VHF is just a
clunky way to communicate when you have cell phones and friends out in
boats with cell phones.

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:44:13 -0400, HK wrote:

VHF is just a clunky way to communicate when you have cell
phones and friends out in boats with cell phones.

Tell me, just out of curiosity, what is your understanding of how cell
phones work?

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:44:13 -0400, HK wrote:

VHF is just a clunky way to communicate when you have cell
phones and friends out in boats with cell phones.

Tell me, just out of curiosity, what is your understanding of how cell
phones work?


Let's see. I dial a phone number on my cell, I hear ringing, and either
the person I am calling answers, or I get his voice mail. The Bay
shoreline is peppered with cell towers; the only dead spot I have
encountered in years here is in the marina.

Do I need to know more about how cell phones work? Do I need a SWR meter
for my built in cell antenna? Directions in pushing the number keys?

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:09:22 -0400, HK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:44:13 -0400, HK wrote:

VHF is just a clunky way to communicate when you have cell
phones and friends out in boats with cell phones.

Tell me, just out of curiosity, what is your understanding of how cell
phones work?


Let's see. I dial a phone number on my cell, I hear ringing, and either
the person I am calling answers, or I get his voice mail. The Bay
shoreline is peppered with cell towers; the only dead spot I have
encountered in years here is in the marina.

Do I need to know more about how cell phones work? Do I need a SWR meter
for my built in cell antenna? Directions in pushing the number keys?

Keys? I always call them buttons. I better find the cell manual.
This is one of those so far f**ked up threads with no answer for me
yet, but we'll get there.
There's at least 2 eccentrics with radio backgrounds slinging ****,
and one seemingly normal guy who stated the only useful info - he
commonly talks 20 miles with his VHF. But even he has some kind
of wave gizmo to constantly check that his signals are "tuned."
Bunch of weirdos. And us cell phone guys have to rely on them?

--Vic

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...

Keys? I always call them buttons. I better find the cell manual.
This is one of those so far f**ked up threads with no answer for me
yet, but we'll get there.
There's at least 2 eccentrics with radio backgrounds slinging ****,
and one seemingly normal guy who stated the only useful info - he
commonly talks 20 miles with his VHF. But even he has some kind
of wave gizmo to constantly check that his signals are "tuned."
Bunch of weirdos. And us cell phone guys have to rely on them?

--Vic

If I sound "seemingly normal", you need to have a chat with Mrs.E. :-)

Eisboch

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:55:58 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Vic Smith" wrote in message
.. .

Keys? I always call them buttons. I better find the cell manual.
This is one of those so far f**ked up threads with no answer for me
yet, but we'll get there.
There's at least 2 eccentrics with radio backgrounds slinging ****,
and one seemingly normal guy who stated the only useful info - he
commonly talks 20 miles with his VHF. But even he has some kind
of wave gizmo to constantly check that his signals are "tuned."
Bunch of weirdos. And us cell phone guys have to rely on them?

--Vic

If I sound "seemingly normal", you need to have a chat with Mrs.E. :-)

Eisboch

I'm charitable in making these calls. It's not nice to use the loon
word. It antagonizes the loons.

--Vic

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:09:22 -0400, HK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:44:13 -0400, HK wrote:

VHF is just a clunky way to communicate when you have cell
phones and friends out in boats with cell phones.

Tell me, just out of curiosity, what is your understanding of how cell
phones work?


Let's see. I dial a phone number on my cell, I hear ringing, and either
the person I am calling answers, or I get his voice mail. The Bay
shoreline is peppered with cell towers; the only dead spot I have
encountered in years here is in the marina.

Do I need to know more about how cell phones work? Do I need a SWR meter
for my built in cell antenna? Directions in pushing the number keys?

I was just curious - that's all.

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:40:58 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Larry" wrote in message
.. .
John H. wrote in
:

Another question: Most antennae seem to come with about 20 feet of
wire. Mounted on a console with the radio right there, I could get by
with about 3 feet of wire. Is all the extra wire necessary?



No, it's not. If you're not a solderer, find someone who can put a new
connector on the radio end of your cable or make up a new cable. The Metz
does NOT have a cable attached to it....one of its great features. YOU
put
the cable on it so the cable can be replaced....not hard wired into the
plastic, like the little whips from Shakespeare come.

The farce of "tuning" the antenna with cable length is nonsense....

True, you don't "tune" the antenna with cable length, but you need a certain
amount of it to properly tune the antenna. My memory is rusty and I'd have
to go dig out the books, but I think you should have a 1/2 wavelength or so
in cable length. Maybe it's a 1/4 .... can't remember. Too short will
cause the antenna not to load properly (assuming it is the correct length)
and result in an excessive SWR value that reduces effective transmitted
power and, in the worst situation, cause damage to the output stage of the
radio.

If you have matching problems with the antenna and are fairly certain
that the antenna, connectors are known good and the radio is
presenting power properly, then the suspect is the length of the
feedline.

End result - you trim the feeline to bring the antenna to the correct
match. Thus you are tuning the antenna using the feedline.

That's why God invented antenna tuners. :)

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:40:58 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:

"Larry" wrote in message
...
John H. wrote in
:

Another question: Most antennae seem to come with about 20 feet of
wire. Mounted on a console with the radio right there, I could get by
with about 3 feet of wire. Is all the extra wire necessary?


No, it's not. If you're not a solderer, find someone who can put a new
connector on the radio end of your cable or make up a new cable. The Metz
does NOT have a cable attached to it....one of its great features. YOU
put
the cable on it so the cable can be replaced....not hard wired into the
plastic, like the little whips from Shakespeare come.

The farce of "tuning" the antenna with cable length is nonsense....
True, you don't "tune" the antenna with cable length, but you need a certain
amount of it to properly tune the antenna. My memory is rusty and I'd have
to go dig out the books, but I think you should have a 1/2 wavelength or so
in cable length. Maybe it's a 1/4 .... can't remember. Too short will
cause the antenna not to load properly (assuming it is the correct length)
and result in an excessive SWR value that reduces effective transmitted
power and, in the worst situation, cause damage to the output stage of the
radio.

If you have matching problems with the antenna and are fairly certain
that the antenna, connectors are known good and the radio is
presenting power properly, then the suspect is the length of the
feedline.

End result - you trim the feeline to bring the antenna to the correct
match. Thus you are tuning the antenna using the feedline.

That's why God invented antenna tuners. :)

That is the beauty of rec.boats, even when you think every possible
boating discussion has been beat to death, a new informative topic will
arise, that we can learn from.

Of course, we will beat this one to death.