Temporary AIS VHF Aerial?

[OysterDriver]

I have bought a Digital Yacht AIT2000 AIS Transceiver which I need for this weekend. The Digital Yacht VHF splitter I ordered with it is on 8 weeks back order! I have been advised that a temporary dedicated VHF aerial will do the job, even an emergency VHF aerial. Does anyone have any experience of this or any suggestions? Its probably too late for me to organise anything fancy!

[MarkJ]

Any VHF Antenna will work.

They are cheap too

[senormechanico]

Receive only?
A piece of wire roughly 3 feet long.

[OysterDriver]

Thanks Senior and Mark. Looks straight forward, even I can manage that.
Regards

[s/v Beth]

I went the entire season last year with a small stubby vhf attached to a winch I rarely use. AIS worked just fine. This year I will attach to my dodger... Looks better.

[OysterDriver]

Thanks Guys, taken all the mystery out of it for me.

[bvimatelot]

Originally Posted by OysterDriver

I have bought a Digital Yacht AIT2000 AIS Transceiver which I need for this weekend. The Digital Yacht VHF splitter I ordered with it is on 8 weeks back order! I have been advised that a temporary dedicated VHF aerial will do the job, even an emergency VHF aerial. Does anyone have any experience of this or any suggestions? Its probably too late for me to organise anything fancy!

Yep - that's what I use and it works. Also I have heard it said that a splitter is not the best way to go anyway! Would be interested to hear comments from radio "experts" on that one!

Cheers, Tony

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by bvimatelot

Yep - that's what I use and it works. Also I have heard it said that a splitter is not the best way to go anyway! Would be interested to hear comments from radio "experts" on that one!

Cheers, Tony

I am no expert.

When i was setting up the AiS i put a spiltter in. Cost $250. I didnt like it but it may have been a problem with the AIS unit.
So i took the splitter back and got my $250 back and bought a new antenna $75 and coax $30 and put a dedicated antenna on the back bumperbar (pushpit).

When at sea i put the AIS on the mast head antenna and the vhf on the stern rail antenna. When in port and want good vhf range i swap them around
Also means i have vhf if i lose the stick.

The splitter cuts the AIS when the vhf is txing or rxing, but now i believe AIS is so important i dont want to miss just ONE AIS RX or TX.

So,a second antenna: cheaper, less electrics , less complexity, not three dissimilar or dissimilar brand products talking to each other, provides redundancy, so thats probably enough to make it attractive.

Mark

[Paul_DY]

It is good practice to have a spare VHF antenna mounted at deck level in case of the main antenna failing or (heaven forbid) a demasting and I hope you manage to get one sorted out this weekend.

Splitters use to introduce a signal loss on VHF and AIS reception, transit range was not affected as only one device is connected to the antenna when a transmission is taking place, but some of the latest models are "zero loss" and this is really what you should go for.

This article provides more info on dedicated antenna versus splitter.... http://tiny.cc/3xvhdx

[plebian99]

Just take your coax and mark off roughly 18 inches.
Peel off the plastic jacket for 18 inches.
Roll back the copper braid back over the jacket
or make a small hole in the braid and pull through the center conductor if its RG58
The center conductor of the coax will be your 1/4 wave antenna.
Tape the whole mess up with decent electrical tape and then tape it to a boat hook
or a piece of PVC pipe. This antenna will work as well as any commercial antenna.
But I am sure you will get the hammy whammy boys wanting to bounce their signals off the moon and tell you its bad because it does not have them thar DB's or it did not come out of a box or packet.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Receive only?
A piece of wire roughly 3 feet long.

its a transceiver the OP has


dave