Best masthead VHF antenna for the money

[Rappey]

and the half wave dipole will work better than the Metz.

? So what would be the db gain on your dipole as that has a huge effect for a heeled sailing boat?

after replacing other makes of antenna with a Metz

Did you replace the coax too or just the antenna.. If just the antenna then surely any replacement is going to perform better than a failed one?

There are very few antennas on the market that come will accept a pl259 so you can use a better coax..
It took one hell of a lot of googling to find facts and figures for various coax comparisons and I cant remember the exact figure but rg58 at 100ft long transmitting at 25w will give around 7.5w at the masthead..
Rg214 for the same will give 23.5w at the masthead... Ive found rg58 at 33p per metre !
Says to me coax is far more important than the cost of the antenna?

 

[Bru]

Did you replace the coax too or just the antenna.. If just the antenna then surely any replacement is going to perform better than a failed one?

Usually just the antenna

I'd only replace the coax if it was unavoidable or the customer specifically requested it cos of the cost although I'd recommend doing so if the mast was already down as coax replacement on a standing mast being a right PITA

The admittedly empirical reports of improved performance are / were in comparison to performance before the antenna failed (although it's worth considering that the performance could have been in decline for a considerable period of time due to the aforementioned corrosion)

I entirely agree about coax quality being a significant factor by the way (and when we have our mast down it's on the to do list)

 

[Rappey]

I needed a new antenna and coax as far to many joins.. I was given a huge amount of rg214, which is double shielded and silver plated.. I even had the high end shielded plugs over the standard pl259.. My choice of antenna was very limited and ended up with a shakespear stubby vhf antenna which matches my stubby ais antenna.. (they are not the same length) My vhf reception now is amazing.. Had to go up the mast 6 times to fit the darn stuff but also included fitting a new wired annometer
I remember from my cb days where some antennas had a threaded tip to increase or decrease their overall length.. A change of just a few mm,s made quite a difference to the swr.. I,ve also noticed not all half wave vhf antennas are the same length ???
I wanted to find a shootout where antennas were tested over distances to see which actually are the best and worst, but alas found nothing.. so its all down to personal choice...

 

[Plum]

? So what would be the db gain on your dipole as that has a huge effect for a heeled sailing boat?


Did you replace the coax too or just the antenna.. If just the antenna then surely any replacement is going to perform better than a failed one?

There are very few antennas on the market that come will accept a pl259 so you can use a better coax..
It took one hell of a lot of googling to find facts and figures for various coax comparisons and I cant remember the exact figure but rg58 at 100ft long transmitting at 25w will give around 7.5w at the masthead..
Rg214 for the same will give 23.5w at the masthead... Ive found rg58 at 33p per metre !
Says to me coax is far more important than the cost of the antenna?

Wow! Just looked at the price of rg214 coax. Over £10 a metre.

 

[Rappey]

Wow! Just looked at the price of rg214 coax. Over £10 a metre.

I know !! thats why when i was given 100 metres of the stuff i knew come hell or high water i was going to use it ! But it does perform over 3x better than rg58!
Even the centre pin on the plug is insulated !

 

[kwb78]

It's worth bearing in mind that the 'RG' coax specs are military in origin and specify the dimensions of the cable. It doesn't really say anything about the quality of construction of the cable or the materials used to construct it. You could buy coax made by two different manufacturers with the same number and get very different products. There is a lot of cheap rubbish out there with minimal copper in it which won't be mechanically strong or have good RF performance.

That said, no RG58 is really suitable for long cable runs as it has quite high loss even if it's well made. For a VHF antenna mounted at the masthead, I'd recommend using something like Messi and Paoloni Hyperflex 10, which has a loss of 4.7dB/100m (1.4db /100 ft) at 144MHz. It costs around £3.60 a metre, but is well worth it. If a 10mm cable is too thick, they do Ultraflex 7 which has slightly higher loss but still miles better than RG58. It costs about £2.00 a metre. It is also worth getting some decent quality connectors.

When we replaced the VHF antenna a couple of years ago we used M&P Ultraflex 7 with the Metz antenna specifically because it had a socket, and it made a massive difference to VHF and AIS performance. In my opinion it's well worth the modest investment for something which is a safety tool. I was surprised when looking how many VHF antennas are sold with poor quality captive coax which makes it difficult to replace with something more appropriate.

 

[Bru]

.... I was surprised when looking how many VHF antennas are sold with poor quality captive coax which makes it difficult to replace with something more appropriate.

Like Vitronics antennas mmm? Just saying

 

[Daverw]

I’ve used RG213 and sealed it well and used a stainless 2m ham antenna and shortened to tune for marine frequenc, works very well and SWR 1:25

 

[Refueler]

Interesting. You quote 49mm and three other online sources say 45.5, 46.3 and 47.7mm for Marine VHF

Each of those lengths equate to a specific part of the VHF band ...

All VHF antenna are a compromise in length and because AIS is at one end of the band - the length to tune to is slightly different ...

 

[Refueler]

Take one apart

The connection between the antenna cable and the antenna itself is rubbish and the base isn't particularly well sealed so it corrodes like nobodies business. I've honestly lost count of how many I've seen fail.

Performance isn't just about range, it's about reliability and durability too. But when it comes to transmission and reception performance i can only say that both myself and a significant number of customers have noted better performance after replacing other makes of antenna with a Metz

I've no skin in the game, fit what you like but i will never fit anything other than a Metz (my boat actually has two!)

I have a Metz ..... and couldn't figure out why my wind indicator would not stay aligned on the V.
When I dropped the mast - I soon found out why. The locking of the metal whip in the base was loose. Before anyone comments - the Metz wind attachment is no good for me as it would collide with my anchor light. So I fitted a Windex to the whip as would be done with many other antenna.

I have a Vtronix on the pushpit rail for my AIS ... and that is ancient .. I mean its the original one from masthead when I bought the boat over 20yrs ago .... I changed it because the cable chafed and then I did not want a joint inside mast. The length left was good enough for AIS from the rail.
The Vtronix apart from the short cable is in perfect condition ...

Would I buy another Metz ? I doubt it ...

 

[G12]

It's worth bearing in mind that the 'RG' coax specs are military in origin and specify the dimensions of the cable. It doesn't really say anything about the quality of construction of the cable or the materials used to construct it. You could buy coax made by two different manufacturers with the same number and get very different products. There is a lot of cheap rubbish out there with minimal copper in it which won't be mechanically strong or have good RF performance.

That said, no RG58 is really suitable for long cable runs as it has quite high loss even if it's well made. For a VHF antenna mounted at the masthead, I'd recommend using something like Messi and Paoloni Hyperflex 10, which has a loss of 4.7dB/100m (1.4db /100 ft) at 144MHz. It costs around £3.60 a metre, but is well worth it. If a 10mm cable is too thick, they do Ultraflex 7 which has slightly higher loss but still miles better than RG58. It costs about £2.00 a metre. It is also worth getting some decent quality connectors.

When we replaced the VHF antenna a couple of years ago we used M&P Ultraflex 7 with the Metz antenna specifically because it had a socket, and it made a massive difference to VHF and AIS performance. In my opinion it's well worth the modest investment for something which is a safety tool. I was surprised when looking how many VHF antennas are sold with poor quality captive coax which makes it difficult to replace with something more appropriate.

I've been mentioning this for ages now.
I also use M&P Ultraflex 7 (10 won't fit up the mast) with the proper M&P terminations.
Also using 2 Metz Manta antennas (one for AIS). They're bomb proof and you get to connect a cable of your choice - perfect.

 

[Dunx]

I've been mentioning this for ages now.
I also use M&P Ultraflex 7 (10 won't fit up the mast) with the proper M&P terminations.
Also using 2 Metz Manta antennas (one for AIS). They're bomb proof and you get to connect a cable of your choice - perfect.

I’m just about to go on the same journey as you, could you advise which connectors you used for the Metz, also did you put a join in to allow for mast unstepping? Again which connectors did you go for?

 

[webcraft]

.
I bought a Vtronix with 20m of RG58 for less than £60 delivered.

It is what has been on the boat since I got it in 2003, and until a few years ago VHF reception was excellent.

- W

 

[G12]

I’m just about to go on the same journey as you, could you advise which connectors you used for the Metz, also did you put a join in to allow for mast unstepping? Again which connectors did you go for?

Well the Metz antennas require you to use a PL259 to connect to them.
As for a joint - I did fit inline N type Male and female below deck.
If you want to do the same thing you need 2x PL259's, 1X inline N type female and one Inline N type male.
There are videos from M&P on youtube to show you how to fit the connectors, it's not hard but if you're new to soldering then maybe find someone who's good at it because the connectors aren't cheapies.

I bought the cable and connectors from Martin Lynch. The connectors themselves are the branded M&P ones. They're about £8 each but beautifully made with an O ring seal on the backing nut. (Obviously I taped them properly as well). Make sure you get the correct connectors for the cable you order in terms of diameter.
ML&S Martin Lynch and Sons Ltd

While we're on the subject of taping, make sure you protect your self amalgamating tape from UV (which destroys self amalgamating tape rather fast) with some good quality PVC tape. I use Scotch 88 because it's brilliant stuff but you can get away with bog standard off the shelf un-branded.

 

[Dunx]

Thanks G12, I’ll get the order in ?

 

[CFG98]

How does it 'consistently outperform all its rivals' ? You cant beat the laws of physics by throwing money at a bit of wire...

Would be interesting to see some VSWR readings of the Metz and the coat hanger version rather than bandy back and forth.

 

[CFG98]

Take one apart

The connection between the antenna cable and the antenna itself is rubbish and the base isn't particularly well sealed so it corrodes like nobodies business. I've honestly lost count of how many I've seen fail.

Performance isn't just about range, it's about reliability and durability too. But when it comes to transmission and reception performance i can only say that both myself and a significant number of customers have noted better performance after replacing other makes of antenna with a Metz

I've no skin in the game, fit what you like but i will never fit anything other than a Metz (my boat actually has two!)

A mate had a vitronix fail on him. I took a shifty. Full of corrosion and not a lot in there apart from the coat hanger type of stuff. Metz have that great big coil thing at the base, whatever that does.

 

[Gary Fox]

Would be interesting to see some VSWR readings of the Metz and the coat hanger version rather than bandy back and forth.

The VSWR readings would be influenced by other factors; coily bits have a couple of different purposes, none mysterious.

 

[CFG98]

The VSWR readings would be influenced by other factors; coily bits have a couple of different purposes, none mysterious.

what do the coily bits do? Mystery to me. I thought they made the aerial better.

 

[Gary Fox]

what do the coily bits do? Mystery to me. I thought they made the aerial better.

They alter the exact way the invisible waves resonate up and down the wire; and are also springy, if somebody is pushing the ragged bleeding edge of their bridge height calculations..