VHF Ariel/Sea Me & Radar

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robbieg

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I have a radar mounted on a stub mast attached to the transom.

I am thinking of getting a U shaped fitting made up that will attach under the radardome & go over it and on the top of this fitting (ie over the radardome) I want to mount a VHF ariel. Any problem with doing this ie will the VHF ariel interfere with the radar or vice versa?

Other than in emergencies the VHF ariel will not be used for transmitting-it will simply be receiving signals.
 
Shouldn't affect the radar transmisions, the beam is directed horizontally all round in a width of approx 7 deg for a good set, wider for the cheaper ones. So will be more or less clear of the radio.

But why not the masthead?

We have a radar dome half way up the mast (as usual), and Seame and VHF aerial at the masthead, the Seame being fitted on a tripod lining up with the blind spots of the tricolour light. tidy, not heavy and best signal range.
 
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But why not the masthead?



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I would guess that there is already a VHF aerial at the masthead and, as the new aerial is to be used for receiving only, it may be feeding an AIS receiver.

I understand that you should not have 2 VHF aerials close together?
 
You are correct in that new VHF ariel is for AIS feed & I don't want it interferring with the mast head ariel. Also its a lot easier to install & deal with the cable runs if only installing 6 ft above the deck rather than 15m up in the air!
 
Why put it above the radar? Seems an awful lot of work - the antenna works upsidedown as well - you could mount it below the radar quite easily ... and far cheaper.
 
Good point. The only reason for putting it over the radar would be that the tip of the ariel would then be approx 8ft over the deck rather than 5ft if done as you suggest. My simple assumption is that the extra 3ft or so will give me a slightly better range for receiving signals-but not sure if its so slight as an improvement as to be not worth the work. Any thoughts?
 
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