VHf Antenna with wind direction

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Lundylad

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One of jobs to be done this winter is to replace an old but functioning masthead antenna.
Thoughts please as to the type to fit, eg is stainles better than fibreglass?

Was also thinking of a combined antenna and wind vane what are peoples experience of these?

My initial reaction from google searches is that Metz and Glomex seem to be of good quality but most are I assume manufactured to a comparable quality.

Thanks for any help.
 
I've had good results with the Glomex type with built in windex.
It is important to connect the coax properly, keeping water out of coax is critical to performance.
Stainless ought to last forever, but I expect both types will fail in the end when UV and old age gets to the plastic bits.
Metz is a respected make in the trade too.
A long GRP aerial has more windage than the same length of thin ss, so might be giving your masthead bracket a hard time.

Devil's in the detail, a neat installation where all the cables are secure and out of the way of halyard, gulls etc will be better than the optimum components that don't fit very well IMHO.

If the windex can make it unpleasant for the gulls to sit on your instrument MHU, that's a bonus.....
 
Lundylad said:
One of jobs to be done this winter is to replace an old but functioning masthead antenna.
Thoughts please as to the type to fit, eg is stainles better than fibreglass?

Was also thinking of a combined antenna and wind vane what are peoples experience of these?

My initial reaction from google searches is that Metz and Glomex seem to be of good quality but most are I assume manufactured to a comparable quality.

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Cheap as chips.
Last forever.
Fitted to almost every new yachts these days.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vtronix-H...osters_Extenders_Antennas&hash=item4abc8e557d
 
lw395 said:
What was the problem with the Glomex?
Click to expand...

I fitted a glomex once. Wouldn't fit another. I couldn't get the windex to stay lined up and centred. very poor design if I remember right. On looking around the marina I spotted many other Glomex ones with the same problem
 
lw395 said:
What was the problem with the Glomex?
Click to expand...

The one I bought, had a connection made with a very poor substitute for the real thing. You cut the inner insulation at 45 degrees and fold down the inner conductor and push the inner into an opening hoping that there is enough friction to make a good contact.

Then tighten everything up. It works, but any damp that gets in will cause problems.

I replaced it the following year.

Regards

Ian
 
After fitting a cheapie which leaked within the first year, I bought a Metz from Saltyjohn along with the coax and plug he recommends and am still happy four years on.

I also did away with a deck connection and have unbroken coax between antenna and VHF which is good for signal strength and reduces the number of places water can get in.
 
machurley22 said:
After fitting a cheapie which leaked within the first year, I bought a Metz from Saltyjohn along with the coax and plug he recommends and am still happy four years on.

I also did away with a deck connection and have unbroken coax between antenna and VHF which is good for signal strength and reduces the number of places water can get in.
Click to expand...

I second all of that, my V'tronix/Hawk lasted two years. Metz with Windex and new cable from Salty John increased my range massively. I can get Stornaway and Liverpool Coastguard at the same time in the N. Channel. Bit more expensive but well worth it for performance and durability. (Order a longer screw stub if you are not using the supplied angle bracket). However my mast is keel stepped and the cable runs to the VHF in a duct behind the cabin side lockers so I have a connector housed in the hollow front leg of my saloon table.
On our boat the wooden front table leg against the mast foot is hollow with an access panel so all the cables that come down the mast go into and up the leg so that the connectors are in a neat and accessible dry location.
 
I've been impressed by the reports of the Metz aerial from SaltyJohn, and was wondering about asking Santa....

However, thinking about it a bit more, much as if I were ever in trouble I would want the best possible signal going out, I hear enough chatter, and distant and irrelevant to me goings on, to be getting on with, and don't really want to hear even more distant stations coming in. (We heard Oostende Radio the other day, I think on the hand-held - though the atmospherc conditions were a bit unusual.) So now I'm not so sure.
 
It's Metz then

I had looked at the Metz from Salty John and have to say it did look good, so decision made.
Thanks for all the replies.
 
LittleSister said:
I've been impressed by the reports of the Metz aerial from SaltyJohn, and was wondering about asking Santa....

However, thinking about it a bit more, much as if I were ever in trouble I would want the best possible signal going out, I hear enough chatter, and distant and irrelevant to me goings on, to be getting on with, and don't really want to hear even more distant stations coming in. (We heard Oostende Radio the other day, I think on the hand-held - though the atmospherc conditions were a bit unusual.) So now I'm not so sure.
Click to expand...

I don't understand your post.
Aerials are reciprocal devices, one that has the best gain on transmit will have the best gain on receive.
(simplified version!)

Think of it as like a lens, one that focuses the outgoing power toward the horizon will be better able to 'see' stations on the horizon.

On a yacht, the amount of gain that is desirable is limited by the fact that it has to work with the boat heeled. So the 'pattern' needs to cover +/-25 degrees of elevation or whatever.
 
Chalker said:
Can you fit a wind direction vane to the Metz?
Click to expand...

I bought an ordinary one and modified a Windex to go over the rod but this was because I had a new Windex which came with the boat in the box of bits for commissioning but had not been needed when I made the mistake of buying the Hawk, there were instructions somewhere on line for this but I had the job done before I came across them. There is now a modified Windex available from Salty John for the Metz antenna which does not require further modification. The standard Metz bracket is designed for the side of the mast so it needs changed if you want it centred behind it, I used a scrap of left over flat duralumin that I had kept in my scrap box ever since the days when we used to fit Triumph engines into Norton frames but I could have used the rather fragile plastic bracket bracket that came with the V'tronix.
 
Lundylad said:
I had looked at the Metz from Salty John and have to say it did look good, so decision made.
Thanks for all the replies.
Click to expand...

Good choice.

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)

Glomex have been known to suffer leaks and fail - there was at least one post on here about it (can't find it without a heck of a search, but I bookmarked it on one of my computers). I'd have Vtronix if I did not have a Metz.
 
VicMallows said:
I am sure that is not true! .... however I expect that advertisers, and particularly those who place large ads in the mag, are asked if they would like to feature in some comparative testing :)
Click to expand...

It would be good to have an employee answer this one.

I didn't buy the mag when I noticed the Metz wasn't in the test. I put it back on the shelf.
 
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