VHF Antenna

[gkuypers]

Recently had my radios (Cabin & Cockpit) ran to my existing VHF Antenna. Before I received nothing and now I receive some channels, but should receive a lot more (others I boat with do). I'm not 100% sure what antenna I currently have (in the parts manual it only lists it a 8' Premium), so I'll need to check this weekend, but has anyone changed there vhf antenna to improve radio reception? Since my boat is a 2008, maybe the antenna is bad? Also, on mine the black cap on the top is missing, so not sure if this effects the reception at all.

 

[JimG]

With a standard 8' VHF antenna, you should get the same reception and transmission that your mates do. It sounds like you have a pinched cable or bad connection in a plug.

How was your reception before you added the cabin radio? Did you use a splitter?

I have a mate that had a bad antenna/cable straight from the factory.

The cap on the top will not affect reception... it's there to keep water from building up in the base. That said, if your antenna was full of water, that would affect performance.

 

[Molson]

I had the same issue. When I replaced my radio, I still had crappy reception. I cut the connector off and put a new one on. Its like a brand new antenna again, and I'm getting about 15 miles of reception.

 

[scoflaw]

Even new connectors suck, don't cheap out, get the gold ones , also had the same issue

 

[Bucit]

Missing that black cap will cause problems if water got in it. Use black electical tape once it's dry to seal it up.

 

[AKBASSKING]

I recently had the same problem. I replaced the antenna first, same issue, weak transmit. I bpought a Uniden VHF from Defender ($99) and it works great now. I will say that this is my backup VHF radio. My primary is an Icom.

 

[Bt Doctur]

All RF transmitters need tuning to perform at their maximum.Antennae`s are a major source of poor performance. A coat hanger tuned to a radio will work just as good as a $500.00 ant.
Get yourself a good SWR Meter and connect it between the radio and the ant. My guess is that you`ll find your hi priced marine radio is only putting out 10 watts instead of the legal 25.The mis-match is sucking up the power.
In radio transmission terms , the length of the cable in not important .Its the wavelength that matters.
Google SWR readings, SWR mis-match . you`ll get a better understanding .
Cutting the cable and taking readings to reduce the SWR to as closes as 1:1 will let you transmit at max power.

 

[JimG]

Sea Ray is notorious for adding coax length and couplers in the arch for ease of manufacturing. A lot of the time... that's where your trouble is.

 

[magstang1]

My antenna had seen better days and WM was having a sale. $60 or so got me a new antenna with a solder on connector. I did pull a splice out of my arch while removing the old one. The new one was simple to install.

The cheap antenna got me at least 10 miles of crystal clear reception.

 

[gkuypers]

Went to the boat today, to try and figure this radio reception thing out. My Glomex RA 1225 seems to be working fine, because I have crystal clear reception on my Northstar vhf radio when tuned to weather channels and following some tips I found online, radio reception does seem to get better. Now the interesting part, when I disconnect the Vhf radio, I do get more radio channels, but some of the channels that come in with it connected get worse? It almost sounds like I need some sort of inline noise suppressor or maybe need to look into replacing some of my PL-259 coax connectors. Do they make a splitter with a built in noise suppressor. I currently have the Shakespeare Vhf splitter.

 

[tbirdvet]

Recently had my radios (Cabin & Cockpit) ran to my existing VHF Antenna. Before I received nothing and now I receive some channels, but should receive a lot more (others I boat with do). I'm not 100% sure what antenna I currently have (in the parts manual it only lists it a 8' Premium), so I'll need to check this weekend, but has anyone changed there vhf antenna to improve radio reception? Since my boat is a 2008, maybe the antenna is bad? Also, on mine the black cap on the top is missing, so not sure if this effects the reception at all.

I had poor VHF reception. Dealer found bad connector at the antenna. He put a new one on and then all OK. I had same boat as you.

 

[MancaveII]

Missing that black cap will cause problems if water got in it. Use black electical tape once it's dry to seal it up.

Go to the racks in autozone or advanced auto, you see tons of automotive black caps for various things that will work as a replacement cap.

 

[magstang1]

Electrical tape is not waterproof.