Best place for aerial

[gardenblake]

I am about to fit a radio / CD player, and am stuck as to the best place for the aerial, I dont realy want to locate it at the top of the mast,as I have no spare deck plugs, any ideas thanks in advance

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[colvic]

You do not need to mount it that high, unless you expect to receive Radio 2 outside Calais. We mounted ours on the coach roof and it works very well.


Phil

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[Guest]

Agree you can normally get good AM/FM reception at coachroof level. You may even find running aerial around interior headlining works. However if masthead reception is required, you can buy a VHF/AM-FM splitter for about £25 to £30, which I understand works well. It fits between your existing VHF coax cable and VHF set, providing an extra lead for your AM/FM/stereo without reducing the strength of incoming/outgoing VHF signal. Expensive, but likely easier/cheaper than trying to mount a second masthead aerial with all the cable, deck glands etc. Anyone have experience of this kit?

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[philip_stevens]

You could do as I have done, and just fit a rubber ducky aerial inside and somewhere behind the radio. It does not need to be fitted outside the boat. Mine has been like this for six years with no appreciable loss of reception - whether mono AM or stereo FM.

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Philip

 

[mica]

We used a car aerial, quite cheap, from a car accessory shop.

It is just wedged between the cabin wall and the hull behind where the radio is fitted. FM reception is received O.K. Long wave for the shipping forecast is a bit 'iffy' though.

Regards,
Mica

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[vyv_cox]

Yes, we have one. I think it is a Shakespeare unit. Works very well in comparison with the previous car type aerial stuffed in a locker. For local FM stations there is probably little difference but for medium and long wave (Radios 4 and 5) received in Holland there is a distinct improvement.

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[charles_reed]

The splitter is not expensive - I bought mine at Radio Shack for £2.31 - but has one major drawback if you try transmitting on vhf with your radio on.

I have a co-axial wound aerial mounted on the side of the coachroof which is OK for FM reception and only use the mastlead for AM LW.
I find the Icom allows me to pick up BBC World Service on HF.

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[tr7v8]

A proper splitter should worry about the transmit mode as it should split the output power solely to the VHF aerial.

Jim
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[tr7v8]

A proper splitter shouldn't worry about the transmit mode as it should split the output power solely to the VHF aerial.

Jim
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[oldsaltoz]

G'day Sean,

Welcome to the WBW.com forums, I'm sure will get all the answers you require and a bit of banter as well.

Many years ago I ran a wire from the radio to one of the bolts connecting the pushpit rail as a antenna, works well and cost next to nothing, no maintenance required.

Hope this helps

Avagoodweekend Old Salt Oz /forums/images/icons/cool.gif


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[byron]

<font color=blue>On my last boat I just left the aerial dangling behind the set between the radio and the hull. Worked fine for me. Costs nothing and needs not drilling tto try it.

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[Johnjo]

Worked the same for me,
Only I put the aerial behind the head lining,

mike

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[BrendanS]

That's exactly how mine came fitted by manufacturer, and works perfectly

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[Guest]

I have just had a Sony CD/Radio professionally fitted and they have used a stub antenna mounted on the plywood box in which it has been encased.They say that this is standard for them and works well.As they normally work on v.large gin palaces I can only assume that it will be OK! Hoping to launch next week - so if there are problems I will find out then.

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[Guest]

Ours uses the back-stay which works fine and means that no other aerial is needed.

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[gardenblake]

Thanks to all, most helpfull

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[Nikolai]

I should say You don't need to pull it to the top of the mast, because the loss of signal's power in the coaxial cable would be too high in this case, and if You're sailing plain surface, the height doesn't matter that much.
Slightly different was the 450 MHz phone aerial workaround, as it seemed to me the higher - the better. It could be a mistake, though. By the way, that aerial refused to receive signal when fastened to any steel wires

Nikolai, Moscow, Russia

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