VHF Marine Antennas Mounting Instructions
No matter how wonderful your VHF marine antennas maybe, placing it in the wrong position or in the wrong manner could make it loose its effectiveness and will receive little or no signal.
This is why you don't just have to buy a good antenna, but have the know how to mount it and get the best of it. This is why I would like to show you how best you can mount this antenna so that you can get the most of it.
The 3 types of mounting I would recommend for this product are:
Mounting on masts: if yours is a sailboat, the mast would be the highest point of your boat. And the higher your VFH marine antenna is mounted the better in terms of signal and reception quality.
Mounting on rail: The rail of your boat is a second alternative. But it would have to be in a position where it would be a bit out of reach from individuals.
Mounting on a flat surface: Some boats have one or two areas where the surface is flat. Mounting your antenna in such an area would give it the right balance and help give your radio clear a signal boost.
The sea is not a smooth hard surface so you most make sure the VFH marine antennas is well secured so that the vagaries of the sea will not cause it to become loose.
To get the right location for mounting, there are some locations you must avoid:
Avoid interference for metal objects: mounting your VFH marine antennas beside shiny metal objects would distort the signal being received. It would then be like a background static noise would be permanently at the background of your radio reception.
Avoid other antennas when mounting: the same disturbance would occur if you mount your VHF Marine Antenna besides other antennas. You should mount it separately because the job this Antenna does is quite important.
Avoid mounting too far away from radio: the most ideal position should be from 3 to 20 feet away. But the further it is, the weaker it gets.
Avoid mounting low: this means direct line of sight connection might be broken and this would affect your signal reception.
Signal Strength is Very Important
But when you go for very high ground like the top of your mast, you are more likely not to have any interference between the radio and you VHF Marine Antennas. Your antenna will need a cable from it to your radio. If you mount your antenna too far away from the radio, you would loose valuable signal strength because of the length of the cable.
That is the longer the cable, the weaker your signal strength will be. You need the length to be as short as possible so that the signal and the voice would come out strong and clear. You can actually loose as much as 80% of your signal strength if your cable is over a hundred feet long.
You can use your VHF Marine Antennas for just one thing or you can combine with to be an antenna for your typical FM receiver. But doing this will make your VHF Marine Antennas to be less effective for your radio.
If you want to get the best out of your Antenna, the best solution would be to have an antenna for your radio and another one for your FM receiver. And by the time you put all this into consideration, you will get the best out of this product.