VHF splitter for improving AM reception?

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Will a VHF splitter to allow my stereo to use the masthead aerial improve LW / MW radio reception? I currently have a stubby AM/FM aerial on the pushpit which is chocolate teapotish - I get much better LW and MW reception in my car when it's parked next to the boat. I've had contradictory advice on whether a VHF aerial will help with AM reception.
 
HiAndDri said:
Will a VHF splitter to allow my stereo to use the masthead aerial improve LW / MW radio reception? I currently have a stubby AM/FM aerial on the pushpit which is chocolate teapotish - I get much better LW and MW reception in my car when it's parked next to the boat. I've had contradictory advice on whether a VHF aerial will help with AM reception.
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It might depending on how the radio works., but you'd be putting a point of failure into and reducing the range of a safety critical system. It's not a good idea.
 
A receiving aerial is just a length of wire. Higher and longer will improve reception. Work with that idea.
A splitter is a clever set of chokes (coils of wire) which in theory has very little to go wrong..... no moving parts ...... but point above noted.
 
For AM MW/LW reception your best bet is a long wire. ie as long as possible. It will always be too short to tune MW/LW.(but that is OK) An ideal antenna might be an insulated back stay.
However I think your best bet is a length of wire run around inside the cabin perhaps along shelves or inside cupboards. (assuming a GRP or wooden boat.)
You ,might also get good results by connecting a wire to the rigging. The GRP hull may well be an adequate insulator.
Do not use coax or screened cable as this will always be too low an impedance so in effect gobble up your signal and may also detune the input circuits of the radio.
Note all this is for MW/LW. The typical car antenna these days is optimised for VHF FM which has whole different needs so you might want to change antennae when you go to VHF FM from MW/LW AM good luck olewill
 
Thanks for replies. The Pacific device looks good and I will give it a go. I once tried a 10m length of bell wire to improve LW reception in a motorhome with no success, but it was draped along the ground which may not have helped. Longer term plan is to have a 2nd aerial for future AIS installation and this will serve the audio.
What I find odd is my Sony portable world radio, with only an internal aerial, outperforms both the car and boat.
Cheers
Andy
 
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HiAndDri said:
Thanks for replies. The Pacific device looks good and I will give it a go. I once tried a 10m length of bell wire to improve LW reception in a motorhome with no success, but it was draped along the ground which may not have helped. Longer term plan is to have a 2nd aerial for future AIS installation and this will serve the audio.
What I find odd is my Sony portable world radio, with only an internal aerial, outperforms both the car and boat.
Cheers
Andy
Click to expand...

That's because it has a tuned magnetic antenna. Do the maths. At 200kHz, a 1/4 wave monopole is going to be in the region of 400m, at 1MHz about 80m. Your Pacific device is trying to tune a 1.5m whip to a LW receiver. I doubt it'll make much difference. It will however reduce the range of your VHF setup.
 
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