VHf Antenna with wind direction

[LittleSister]

I don't understand your post.

And I don't understand the relevance of your reply to my post!

I was saying that I might find irritating the increased reception area various people have reported with the Metz (I already sometimes switch the VHF off when I tire of the babbling as it is). So the increased 'technical' performance might be a mixed blessing - downside (for me at least) in everyday practice could be receiving distant stations I'm not interested in (+ cost), but have to weigh that against the upside: wanting to have the best available should I ever need to send an emergency message.

I remain undecided and welcome any views.

 

[tim_ber]

And I don't understand the relevance of your reply to my post!

I was saying that I might find irritating the increased reception area various people have reported with the Metz (I already sometimes switch the VHF off when I tire of the babbling as it is). So the increased 'technical' performance might be a mixed blessing - downside (for me at least) in everyday practice could be receiving distant stations I'm not interested in (+ cost), but have to weigh that against the upside: wanting to have the best available should I ever need to send an emergency message.

I remain undecided and welcome any views.

Buy a metz and keep as emergency antenna and use whatever other one you want?

 

[Quandary]

Yes i bought one of these but as there is no height extension the windex does not clear my nav light at the mast head. I rang Salty John and no extension is available

Perhaps you could do what I did and take the barrel of an old biro and slip it under it, cost zero or perhaps up to 20p. if you buy a new one.

 

[Quandary]

And I don't understand the relevance of your reply to my post!

I was saying that I might find irritating the increased reception area various people have reported with the Metz (I already sometimes switch the VHF off when I tire of the babbling as it is). So the increased 'technical' performance might be a mixed blessing - downside (for me at least) in everyday practice could be receiving distant stations I'm not interested in (+ cost), but have to weigh that against the upside: wanting to have the best available should I ever need to send an emergency message.

I remain undecided and welcome any views.

We tend only to listen on 16/67 so the distant 'babbling' we hear is mainly from coastguard stations, it is a comfort (and quite interesting) to hear them because if we ever decided we needed to call them again (we last did in about 1990 when we towed in a disabled speedboat) we might be confident they would hear us.
With the Shakespeare/V'tronix Hawk after only two years we had to wait until we were entering a marina before enquiring about berthing but we did not hear any babbling from anyone for days on end so it would meet your demand for silence.

 

[dpugh]

John's Metz outperforms many others.

Why did PBO not test this one in their recent article?

I'd be interested to know. I have heard that manufacturers have to PAY Pbo to have their kit included in tests (only told by a mate whilst sailing - he said he had dealings with the media, but that is all I can say - second hand info - maybe someone can step in and say for certain)

Hands up - we missed it. When we carry out tests we try to include the full range of products available, but I'm afraid we do sometimes overlook things, especially when they aren't available in the shops.

Apologies to all those who would have liked to have seen the Metz in the test, especially John - it's on our list for next time. However, it's not fair to test it as a one-off, as antenna tests are strongly affected by atmospheric conditions and we couldn't replicate the same situation. It's a shame we left it out - the antenna shares many features with the Shakespeare 'squatty body' antenna, which we liked.

I must STRONGLY deny that manufacturers pay to have products included in our tests. We try really hard to make PBO a useful read every month, and that means being unbiased. Accepting backhanders would massively compromise our reputation and probably be the end of PBO - so we won't be doing it, ever!

David P

 

[LittleSister]

We tend only to listen on 16/67 so the distant 'babbling' we hear is mainly from coastguard stations, it is a comfort (and quite interesting) to hear them ....

Probably sounds generally a bit quieter on 16 in Argyll than down here!

 

[Plevier]

I was saying that I might find irritating the increased reception area various people have reported with the Metz (I already sometimes switch the VHF off when I tire of the babbling as it is).

If you only want to receive the stronger local signals adjust the squelch accordingly. It doesn't have to be set absolutely on the hiss threshold.

 

[LittleSister]

If you only want to receive the stronger local signals adjust the squelch accordingly. It doesn't have to be set absolutely on the hiss threshold.

Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Thanks for the tip.