Masthead aerial wisdom required.

[Drascomber]

I need to replace my damaged masthead whip aerial with a stubby rubber cased helical one as I am a trailer sailor. After every trip the mast is lowered and the present long aerial has to be unbolted and refitted downwards. That is probably how the previous owner damaged its base and it is still vulnerable when down. The problem is that the masthead light is mounted on a 3" tall tubular bracket. Only a few inches of the whip aerial was obstructed by the bracket and light but presumably the stubby would be badly affected. If I mount the stubby above the light then the aerial bracket will obstruct the light. Any ideas?

 

[john_morris_uk]

I don't think you will find that the stubby antenna will be affected very much by the light. Fit it near the light (so long is it doesn't obscure the light too much) and try it. My strong feeling is that you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[William_H]

ON my trailer sailer I have had lights on the mast over the years but eventually I would forget to disconnect the wirte and it would get damaged. Even though I keep it on a mooring and bring it home for winter I have settled on VHF aerial on the stern rail and lights on cabin sides and stern rail. If I need to motor at night well I will just be ilegal. The outcome then is no wiring in the mast so one less problem. The setrn mounted aerial works really well. It is a 17.5 inch SS rod using the pole and rails as ground plane.
good luck olewill

 

[TSB240]

We had a trailer sailer for a number of years and never regretted getting rid of the original stubby antenna.

Its performance and range was so much more limiting than the Metz with a hawk wind indicator on it that replaced it.

The Metz and wind indicator can be easily unscrewed and removed by hand no other tools required.

 

[lw395]

We had a trailer sailer for a number of years and never regretted getting rid of the original stubby antenna.

Its performance and range was so much more limiting than the Metz with a hawk wind indicator on it that replaced it.

The Metz and wind indicator can be easily unscrewed and removed by hand no other tools required.

Most of the difference is likely to be because the stubby was old, possibly poor quality, connected with old corroded coax etc.
A helical is typically about 3dB less gain than a whip, if that, in real life a small fraction of the dynamic range, and the difference gets less or can even be reversed as the boat heels.

You don't need optimum, you need stuff in good working order and reasonably sensibly installed.

 

[iBlob]

How about attaching a bracket to the masthead plate in order to separate the antenna from the light. The more separation, the less the antenna will obscure the light. The small problem of masthead bits and pieces partially obscuring the masthead lights is present on most yachts.