VHF - FM splitters

[jonathankent]

Are these worth their money - about 25-30 quid seems to be the going rate. Do they do anything different other than turn one core into two? Is there a cheaper diy way to do this myself? What have the rest of you done?

 

[sailorman]

i have one
generally good except @ LW in the marina ( in a hole ) when radio 3 sometimes a bad reception

 

[Benbow]

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Do they do anything different other than turn one core into two?

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Yes. If they didn't you would blow-up your receiver when you transmitted on the VHF


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Are these worth their money ...... Is there a cheaper diy way to do this myself? What have the rest of you done?

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IMHO they are a liablity. Why add an extra set of connections and a device that can fail to one of your most critical safety systems, when you can make a perfectly good antenna for your domestic radio with a scrap of wire that cocts nothing?

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Another school of thought is.... what is the value of getting much better radio reception, and hence being able to catch the shipping forecast on R4 because the aerial is higher......

We have one too.... works very well....

 

[hightech]

Avoid them like the plague. I have seen more VHF sets accused of not working properly because of these than I have had hot dinners!

One aerial for the VHF and one for your normal radio.

The VHF is a safety item and the more joints and the like you put in the cables the more likely it will fail when you need it!

 

[nigelhudson]

When we bought our boat it had two antennae at the mast head - one for the VHF and one for the domestic. We replaced one of them when the mast was down, because its mounting bracket failed, with an inexpensive new one at about the same cost as a splitter. This means that, in the event that the VHF antenna fails we can simply swap over to the domestic one.

You could employ a variation on this theme by putting a low cost antenna on the pushpit for the domestic at the same cost as a splitter. This could be used as an emergency VHF antenna even in the event of mast failure.

 

[woody001]

I have on board :-

VHF aerial on mast for DSC mounted on nav table
VHF in radar hoop for normal VHF mounted in after cabin. (if we loose mast)
Hand Held VHF
and an emergency VHF aerial thingie.

bit over kill but hey.
But no FM radio aerial! :-(

 

[William_H]

Two antennae on a mast top sounds bad. If the antennae are similar in size and paralell then you virtually have a connection between the two. given that they cannot be separated by more than a few inches.
VHF marine com is around 160 mhz while VHF FM broadcasts around 101 mhz so the ideal length is much longer. And of course if you want to listen to MF AM stations then the frequency is about 1mhz so dramatically unsuitable.
A piece of wire pushed into the back of the broadcast radio in a F/G boat should be adequate. A standby VHF marine com antenna on the pushpit would be a good idea if it can be connected to the VHF marine for emergencies like loss of mast. This antenna with suitable coax cable adapters should perform on FM broadcast reasonably well especially on a steel boat or carbon fibre hull.
If you want the very best reception from broadcast radio you need a very long wire for MF AM. An insulated backstay would be best. For VHF FM you need a separate vertical whip type about one metre long mounted as high as possible but not next to the VHF marine com antenna.

 

[jonathankent]

Thanks to you all.

I think that I will go for a cheaper option and make a diy aerial for the fm radio - this isn't as important and wouldn't matter if it didn't work all of the time. I have already got enough connections in the vhf coax (thru-deck, etc) so to add more would be foolish. I do like the idea of making the fm available for vhf though as a backup - best of both worlds then.