VHF Aerial splitter

[milfordman]

I have a Sangean radio with VHF,LW, MW, and several SW bands, which I use for entertainment and weather forcasts.

As my boat is made of steel, I have had to resort to poking the aerial out of a hatch, or at least positioned under the hatch, to get a good signal. This method worked OK while the boat was in the midlands, or the solent, but now she is at Milford Haven the reception is very poor.

I had been considering getting one of those aerial splitters that I have seen advertsed.

A couple of weeks ago I disconnected the aerial connection from the VHF radio, and tried touching it to the sangean's aerial, it did not improve the reception at all. The sangean does have a socket for an external aerial but the manual said that was for the SW bands. I do not understand. Can anyone please put me in the picture ?

 

[MichaelHomsany]

No one else has answered, so...

Not knowing intimately the geography of the UK, you could be outside the line-of-sight of the transmitters.

If it's a signal strength issue (in other words, if you can hear it at all, it can be improved), then improving the aerial will help.

From the sound of things, without some surgery on the Sangean to allow for an external aerial on the FM side of things, you're pretty much stuck for easy solutions.

Something not terribly dramatic would be to make a simple dipole.

Get some flat TV ladder antenna wire, split it two down for about 75cm, then plastic wire tie the two ends to a wood batten or rod.

Lead the wire to the radio. Disconnect the external whip (there are usually two thrust washers on either side of the bracket, don't loose if you want to go backwards), attach one of the pair of wires from the TV wire to there, connect the other half to the 'most negative' battery spring.

Suspend the dipole up and see what happens. You may need to rotate it so it lies broadside between you and the transmitter of interest.

Hope this helps and best,