RobbieH
New member
I've just fitted a class B transponder. It seems to be working fine at short range. It picks up boats around it and transmits to (at least) the end of the pontoon, verified on amother boats receiver.
However I don't see the boat on any of the Internet tracking sites when several boats just down the pontoon are being picked up. I suppose that is because the antenna is past its sellby date and/or is mounted to low to reach an AIS relay station that is serving the Internet sites. The antenna is a standard vhf whip currently mounted on the pushpit. I'm thinking of renewing the antenna (it's quite old and perhaps the connections require remaking anyway).
Is there any reason not to locate on the radar arch? That would give me an extra meter of height ASL and should improve the radio horizon slightly. It would also get it out of the way - the antenna often gets in the way when faffing around the stern with mooring lines etc.
It would be in close proximity - about 30 cm distance to the radar scanner (Navico broadband). I can't think of an RF reason why this would be a problem, are there any other considerations?
Note I don't want to invest in a splitter to use the masthead antenna, I like having separate antennas with the option to reconnect the ais antenna onto the vhf (or vice versa) if one gets damaged.
Tks,
Robbie
However I don't see the boat on any of the Internet tracking sites when several boats just down the pontoon are being picked up. I suppose that is because the antenna is past its sellby date and/or is mounted to low to reach an AIS relay station that is serving the Internet sites. The antenna is a standard vhf whip currently mounted on the pushpit. I'm thinking of renewing the antenna (it's quite old and perhaps the connections require remaking anyway).
Is there any reason not to locate on the radar arch? That would give me an extra meter of height ASL and should improve the radio horizon slightly. It would also get it out of the way - the antenna often gets in the way when faffing around the stern with mooring lines etc.
It would be in close proximity - about 30 cm distance to the radar scanner (Navico broadband). I can't think of an RF reason why this would be a problem, are there any other considerations?
Note I don't want to invest in a splitter to use the masthead antenna, I like having separate antennas with the option to reconnect the ais antenna onto the vhf (or vice versa) if one gets damaged.
Tks,
Robbie
