Odd silence

[johnphilip]

Called ahead to lock, VHF works fine. In lock call for berth and no reply, except there was and we heard it on the neighbours cockpit speaker, but the speaker on our set and in our cockpit remained silent despite three attempts. Moored up and later tried again, all is working. Was this a one off or is the beginning of the end of our VHF?

 

[sailor211]

Squelch control

 

[johnphilip]

Squelch control

I am sure I never touched the squelch control between the time it worked and when it did not, but I agree it seems the logical answer.

 

[Pye_End]

Check all the connections first. Sending pumps out amps so will bridge an iffy connection, but incoming will not.

 

[sailor211]

I am sure I never touched the squelch control between the time it worked and when it did not, but I agree it seems the logical answer.

I hardly touch the squelch. But occasional do not hear messages on both handsets that have separate squelch settings

 

[rob2]

You don't say where you were, but most locks are surrounded by buildings and you were surrounded by other masts and aerials. It is perfectly possible to encounter "weird" performance in cluttered areas like this. I wouldn't worry unless it starts to happen elsewhere.

I have had weird interactions on my own boat, when motoring toward a marina, called ahead on the h/h from the foredeck (less engine background noise). The fixed set was not touched but was on scan - so how come it found us and captured the channel? Nobody has ever offered me a credible explanation for a receiving set capturing, but I have three witnesses that it happened! It sounds very like your situation and is the proximity of two aerials in close proximity tuned to the signal. Likewise, I could transmit but could not hear the reply.

Rob.

 

[Richard10002]

I had a poor connection on my VHF cable where it was joined before passing up through the deck to the aerial at the top of the mast. This must have gone on for years until Rob from rusailing noticed we weren't hearing what we should be. Eventually got a meter, found the culprit join, and got it fixed. After that it was like Picaddilly Circus

 

[rob2]

It is always a good idea to periodically check the condition of the antenna feed, so an incident of this type is useful in that it raises awareness and leads us to do some "minor" maintenance which may otherwise be overlooked. I believe though that VHF performance in crowded conditions with a very local station is probably harder to achieve than maximum range at sea! If you consider all the masts and other aerials tuned to the same frequency and in the same orientation, you may be effectively using a Yagi configuration and the station you're trying to contact may well be in one of the nulls created (They will hear you but you may not hear them). So if you don't find any fault, don't be too frustrated, but consider acquiring and testing an emergency aerial. I carry a commercial emergency aerial which came with the boat, but if making a DIY one, I prefer the Slim Jim type - much better propagation.

Rob.

 

[johnphilip]

Answer came later

Called ahead to lock, VHF works fine. In lock call for berth and no reply, except there was and we heard it on the neighbours cockpit speaker, but the speaker on our set and in our cockpit remained silent despite three attempts. Moored up and later tried again, all is working. Was this a one off or is the beginning of the end of our VHF?

Found the answer this week. I thought it was about time after X years to have the rig checked. The riggers gave a thorough check with an almost clean bill of health except that the top man came back from the masthead with the VHF whip aerial stuck through his belt. This Silva aerial had snapped through a plastic insulator and the aerial was merely plugged loosely into its base, why it was still up there I don't know, a loose pin extending about 5mm into a socket holding up a metre of aerial.
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