A question concerning VHF antennas...

[Sailor_Jeff]

I have a mast top and a rail mount Vhf antennas mounted. I did actual experiments on range and signal strength. Swapping the coax on the back of the radio to first one antenna then the other. Found that both provide about the same range and the same signal signal strength on both transmit and receive.

The maintenance And installation of the top of mast antenna is challenging. In future, I doubt I will install another antenna on top of my sailing main mast opting instead for just a rail mount on my Bimini frame. Way easier to inspect, clean, adjust and install.

Why are they the same? I don't know. Perhaps it's the loss in the coax because it's a considerably longer coax run through to the top of the mast perhaps it's some other reason. Don't really care. I encourage everyone to do these tests on their own boat. Make up your own mind.

[Bycrick]

In post #61, if "signal strength" means that it "sounds good," that doesn’t mean much. One of the characteristics of FM transmission is that it will "sound good" regardless of the measured carrier signal strength until the signal is so low that it drops out completely. You can’t make any judgement about how strong the signal is from just listening to it.