26M antenna choice/advice

[commocean]

I have just acquired a used ICON M - 402VHF and would like some advice on antenna choices and locations. I like the thought of keeping the cockpit area clear as I like to fish and salmon can have me moving all about the cockpit. I am not opposed to deck mounting fibreglass antenna by the mast,or going up to the top of the mast. Any advice would be appreciated.

[March]

Belden cable, the right impedance (not all are equal) running through the mast. If the mast has a foam core (something the 26X doesn't have) force a tube through it first. Plug installed at the bas of the mast. Another cable running between the walls of the cabin to the radio installed below deck; we have ours on the portside, aft of the galley) The hardest part is running the cables, but it's worth the effort. You will gain at least an extra ten miles radius in terms of reception/transmission.

Initially, our radio had an antenna mounted on the port stanchion. It wasn't as efficient, but it worked in a pinch

[commocean]

Thanks March,

So did you use a 3' whip antenna with connectors at the top and bottom of the mast?

[March]

It's a Shakespeare antenna--metal, not fiberglass. About three feet, yes. It has a connector that looks like a regular TV male connector. But not every TV cable would work. Be very careful with the right impedance which will affect the signal. The information must have come with the antenna, or you could check with the manufacturer.
You can find connectors at the truck stores for a couple of bucks. RadioShak doesn't carry them anymore in my area

[Sumner]

I'd also recommend a masthead location for the VHF antenna unless you are a racer. We always had good reception with ours even in the remote Everglades area and always more than one NOAA weather station.



Above is our antenna mounted aft and below the all around anchor light. Not too obvious in the picture due to the camera angle. Also that picture was taken with the mast down with the boat on the trailer. There is a bungee on the windex to keep it from spinning going down the road.

I used RG-8X coax which is recommended for runs up to 50 feet and it has worked fine....

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1050634

and these ends....

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... &id=187266

...kind of a pain to put on until you get the hangs of it.

Went through the deck with a fitting similar to this one...

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=11106

... but not that one. The cable separates at the bottom of the mast and is connected together with a male/male connector to the one coming out of the deck.....

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1081290

I have the VHF with DSC mounted......



.....over the sink to keep the coax run as short as possible and it has worked well for us there. We also have a handheld we can use in the cockpit it needed.

Good luck,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links

[Russ]

I never thought of the lack of backstay but the M doesn't have much junk in the cockpit.

My vote is masthead. Others may disagree, but with VHF is line of sight and altitude matters. All my powerboat friends are jealous of my high mount antenna.

Use a good cable and connectors and you will be fine. Look at your neighbor boats. How many sailboats do you see with deck mounted antennas? There's a reason they stick them up top.

[March]

Code: Select all

There's a reason they stick them up top.

To prevent birds from pooping on their main sails?

[Catigale]

Coastal - mast head

Lakes - doesnt matter - even a handheld will do..

[Sumner]

Coastal - mast head

Lakes - doesnt matter - even a handheld will do..

Hey it depends on the lake .

On Lake Powell we lost NOAA weather for a couple days due to the canyon walls. They have a transmitter on 10,000 ft. Navajo Mountain, ....



... the high mountain in the background above, but still that wasn't good enough with the high canyon walls encountered during some stretches.

This was another reason for putting ours to the top of the mast. I'm sure the extra 30 feet or so won't be enough still at times, but might help occasionally. Most places in Florida we still picked up on the hand-held and/or the old VHF that has an antenna on the stern, so you are right that a masthead mount isn't needed a lot of places,

Sum



Sum

[Catigale]

Lake Powell = offshore...agreed...

[commocean]

Has anyone got a photo of the bottom of the mast and through deck connections?

[Russ]

Coastal - mast head

Lakes - doesnt matter - even a handheld will do..

Hey it depends on the lake .

On Lake Powell we lost NOAA weather for a couple days due to the canyon walls. They have a transmitter on 10,000 ft. Navajo Mountain, ....

Same here.

South end of our lake is 30 miles from the coast guard monitoring station. Altitude matters. 5w handheld at sea level won't reach 'em.

There's a reason NOAA and the Coast Guard mount their antennas on top of tall towers. Granted, cheap cable negates that benefit, but more often I was able to outperform all my powerboat buddies. They would look up at that thing on top of my mast with envy. *grunt grunt*

[RobertB]

I agree that a masthead mount is best performance but I still mounted a tall whip to the hull (starboard aft) because my boat lives on a trailer and I felt an antenna mounted on the mast would be a problem waiting to happen. The 8 foot or so whip antenna still is twice as high as alot of powerboats with short antennas.

[Sumner]

Has anyone got a photo of the bottom of the mast and through deck connections?

I just added a mods page on our top of the mast VHF antenna install to our site...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... de-42.html

.... and here are a couple pictures at the bottom of the mast....





...and the anchor/mast light wiring and coax there. There are more pictures on the link above. Hope that helps and if not PM me or ask here,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links