What brand of antenna should I buy?

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NPMR

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I had TWO VHF antenna on our boat. As it turned out BOTH were defunct, accounting for no signal escaping the boat.

One was V-Tronix, the other a Dutch brand. My rigger says the V-Tronix ones have given them much grief lately. The sales guy I was going to buy a Danish-made aerial from says he can't get them at the moment and vaguely suggested Glomex (?spelling) but added they're a bit cheap (but more expensive than the Danish one!)

Confused!

As one of them is at the top of the mast, I want one that's going to be OK for a L O N G time, not 3-years like the last one!

Which one?
 
I,ve got a stainless steel 1/2 wave whip aerial, should last for ever! needs to be reasonably high, mines about 12 to 15ft. good for 20 miles providing no hills.
 
Beware - commercial interest!
We offer the Metz Manta-6 VHF antenna. It has a lifetime guarantee on the coil, is all stainless, is used by the US Coastguard and several UK Search and Rescue groups. We sell it for £35 plus shipping, which is the RRP in the USA.
I'm sure that other VHF antennas give satisfactory performance but my personal experience only extends to the Metz which I have had on my last two cruising boats where it's performance has been faultless.
 
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I have never had one that did not outlast the cable!!

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Wish you'd told me before! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I lost my V-tronix (with wind indicator) when the plastic mount at the foot broke off at the thread. I suspect that the nut was possibly over-tightened. Not my doing as the yard always remove the antenna before putting the mast up to avoid damaging it with the crane. I have replaced it with another of the same (at a cost of £70, ouch) as it was the only one I could find with wind vane. I have fitted a Glomex on the mizzen as a spare. It was only £25.

You say that it will need to be up for a L O N G time and suggest that will be more than three years. Don't you get your mast down more frequently than that?
 
Ken

Not sure I said the aerial would need to be up there for a long time. The current one had been there for at least 4 years, if not longer. As for taking the mast down, I take it down as little as possible. Even the rigger agrees its best left alone, more damage is done unstepping and stepping than leaving it in situ.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Beware - commercial interest!
We offer the Metz Manta-6 VHF antenna. It has a lifetime guarantee on the coil, is all stainless, is used by the US Coastguard and several UK Search and Rescue groups. We sell it for £35 plus shipping, which is the RRP in the USA.
I'm sure that other VHF antennas give satisfactory performance but my personal experience only extends to the Metz which I have had on my last two cruising boats where it's performance has been faultless.

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Should/Could I use this antenna for AIS use?
Secondly I would like to mount the antenna on the pushpit. Is there a problem with this (apart from the lack of height)

If necessary it could double as an emergency VHF aerial
 
Yes, a vhf antenna is what you need for AIS use. You can mount it on the pushpit with a rail mount bracket.
The lack of height is less important for AIS use because the transmitter antenna on a typical ship is very high and it's the combined height of the receiving antenna and transmitting antenna that provides the range.
It will provide an emergency radio antenna if you have the appropriate adapter to connect the AIS antenna into the radio. The radio takes a PL259, the AIS normally takes a BNC. You can buy an adapter for a couple of pounds, or make up a patch cable with the appropriate connectors on each end.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yes, a vhf antenna is what you need for AIS use. You can mount it on the pushpit with a rail mount bracket.
The lack of height is less important for AIS use because the transmitter antenna on a typical ship is very high and it's the combined height of the receiving antenna and transmitting antenna that provides the range.
It will provide an emergency radio antenna if you have the appropriate adapter to connect the AIS antenna into the radio. The radio takes a PL259, the AIS normally takes a BNC. You can buy an adapter for a couple of pounds, or make up a patch cable with the appropriate connectors on each end.

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Thanks for that. Much as I suspected except for the aerial connections. I take it your site sells the PL259 + BNC + Adaptor ?
 
Here's one solution:

mso1FD31.jpg
 
A marginally simpler and possibly more robust system would be to just have both antennas terminated with a standard PL259 and plug one into the AIS via one of these:

BNC_to_SO239.jpg


That way whe you need the AIS antenna for the radio, there are no extra connections to find and put in, just unplug from the adapter and put it straight into the VHF.


Plenty of suppliers, I have used these people:
http://www.diodecomms.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=21_31&products_id=101
 
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