VHF antenna position

[st599]

Olewill, I've had a serious rf burn from direct contact with a 10W feeder. And yes in the near zone of an antenna you don't get all the power, but in the far zone the radiation pattern is established (about 1m at marine freq.).

 

[Impaler]

Thanks for the advice. Interesting about RF and all that guff. I knew from my military time that radar was bad for you. I've ordered a Navman jobbie covered in plastic. Mounted on the pushpit it should be fine for my purposes. Line of sight gets me to the harbour, lifeboats or CG / RAF so that's good enough for me. I hardly ever use it anyway so I don't think I'll be frying anyone.