VHF Antenna

[eidiohir]

I will be going through the inland waterways of Belgium this summer and we will have the mast down and lashed to the boat.Therefore the vhf will be non-operational.The law in Belgium requires that a vhf is fitted and working so i am wondering how I can get my vhf up and running.I am thinking of buying a second aerial and mounting it on the wheelhouse roof as a permanent fixture to act as a spare.Anyone got some better ideas?

 

[William_H]

I would suggest that an antenna on the pushpit (stern rail) may be mre unobtrusive and less likely to be damaged. That is where mine is and it works well. (home made to) PM If you want details. olewill

 

[rogerthebodger]

Do you have a hand held VHF as a backup to your fixed VHF ?

 

[NPMR]

We have a 'spare', just in case. On a pole secured to the pushpit - out of harms way (mostly) and works fine.

 

[Gothik29]

We keep an emergency VHF antenna on the boat in case we lost the mast (or in case the connection failed). They're telescopic, so pack away into a small container, kept next to the EPIRB. It comes with a velcro tie for securing to stanchions.

It might be about the same cost as a second antenna, but more useful in future?

 

[freebird1]

Interesting. Put a VHF aerial on the push pit rail. Get an AIS system and use it on that aerial normally. Have a connector handy so that it can double as an emergency VHF radio aerial or as you need in your case.

 

[Moonshiners]

we sail in the solent and after seagulls continually breaking our mast ariel/wind indicator, we simply use a rail mounted 4ft glomex one, i understand height is an issue over long range but works fine and clear in the solent. So i'd buy an inexpensive one and rail mount it. (it still gets much better signal than our H/H)

 

[Talbot]

get a cheap JGtech 1.1m whip and mount on the pushpit. As has already been said, connect to an AIS engine, and have the connectors interchangeable.

 

[eidiohir]

pm sent

 

[eidiohir]

sounds like a good idea where did you get it.