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| I just bought a fixed mount marine radio and now I need to pick out an antenna. Any advice? Should I get a 8'? Any brands better than others? Thanks in advance any help you can provide.
Huey
ps I'm still wandering if it's worth a couple hundred bucks to listen to my blow hard buddies BS all day. Oh well ... should be fun. |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | Depends a lot on the lake size you will be fishing. I fished a huge lake way up in Quebec last summer and we had an 8 footer but some of the other boats only had short stainless steel whips. From 5 or 6 miles apart they could hear us transmitting very good but their responses were between non-existant to lousy. We concured that had we all had the long antennas it would have been a lot better. We had the basic shakespeare fiberglass 8 footer, I'm not sure if one brand is better than another. Somone might know. But like everything else in this fishing game, as in life, you usually get what you pay for. |
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Posts: 5874
| Get the best you can. 8' Shakespeare Galaxy 5225-XT. Absolutely awesome range and clarity. So good, that I had to be the relay station up at Cass Lake last fall.
Edited by Shep 3/18/2003 5:49 PM
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Posts: 364
Location: Kentucky | Thought I'd tag on a question here. My boat's in shop and one of the things they're installing is that Shakespeare 5225 on the stainless ratchet mount. My brother just ordered the same setup. What's the easiest way to use/stow this in terms of travel and garage? Do you leave it connected and just flip the ratchet and mast down, or is there a handy way to disconnect the antenna and stow it? |
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Posts: 5874
| Sputter,
I usually just put mine down along the gunnels. I have mine mounted next to the console, and the tip just reaches the back of the boat. I also configured mine with a bulkhead connector, located next to the mount. I shortened the lead to allow for moving the antenna up and down, plus a little more in case I ever have to redo the connector. I bought a 3' premade cable, and ran this from the underside of the bulkhead to the radio. If and whenever I want to remove the antenna, all I do is remove the connector from the bulkhead, and unscrew the antenna from the base. The bulkhead comes with a cap for protection. Works great. I will try to get a pic and post. Hopefully this weekend, as the boat comes out of storage.
Edited by Shep 3/19/2003 10:08 AM
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Posts: 1936
Location: Eau Claire, WI | My new rig has the 3' Shakespere stainless one and I think it's ok up to about 3 miles beyond that it's questionable.
Shep,
Do you think a shorter 3-4' fiberglass would be better than the stainless?
I am not sure that I have room to lay an 8-foot model down where mine is mounted and I don't want to bore more holes.
Is there a place I could call in Milw. to find out..? The dealers in our area aren't that knowledgeable on radio stuff. |
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Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | While a good antenna is very important. There's lot's of tricks to getting good performance from two-way radio's. The best is to take the whole rig to a Licensed two way radio service tech & let him check it out for you. He can check it a realign the RF sections if needed. The modern stuff is pretty well digital but there are things he can do to peak the performance of both the reciever & transmiiter RF sections, especially for a specific channel /frequency. Lot's of transmitter power can also be lost in loose or corroded coaxial cable connections . Also make sure your DC power supply cabling meets the manufacturer's minimum recommendation and check those connections also. To small of wires means more losses/voltage drop between the battery and the radio- this will greatly affect the transmitter output power. Al |
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | Hey I was a two way radio service TECK back in the 60 . I wouldn't let me work on my radio |
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| Teck- Doesn't surprise me. You're one of the blow hard buddies I was talking about. Why are you hiding behind your fish?
Thanks for the info, guys. I like to burn gas on the big lakes so I'll get the 8' Shakespeare.
Huey aka Chris Cochran |
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Posts: 364
Location: Kentucky | Thanks, Shep, I figured it'd be something like that. If you get a chance to post a picture, that'd be cool. Got a hunch the dealer working on my boat may not think this through, so I'd like to pass on a description or picture. Thanks for the help! |
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Posts: 5874
| Sputter,
I came up with this pic from last fall. Hope this helps. If not, the cover comes off on Saturday, and I could get a better pic then. If you need a better pic, let me know.
Attachments
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 antenna.jpg (55KB - 280 downloads)
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Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | Do you guys ever add a linear amp to your radios? We added a 100watt linear to one of our farm FM's and could reach a 200' tower (where our repeater was) from about 70 miles away. I know radio signals don't like water to well. Maybe FM's do. I don't know. Just a thought.... |
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Posts: 364
Location: Kentucky | Thanks, Shep! That's exactly what I needed. I've sent the info on to my installer (they're half hour away). Like I said, I'm not sure my installer "gets it" so I may just go pick my boat up and do the work myself since they've had it for 3 weeks and haven't started yet. One more stupid question: where could I buy the bulkhead connector and cable? I got my original stuff from Cabela's but I didn't see it listed there... Thanks for the help! Very much appreciated. |
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Posts: 5874
| I got mine from Boat US.
Let me know if you need another better pic. |
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Posts: 364
Location: Kentucky | Hey Shep if you get a chance to post another picture or two, I'd be grateful. Looks like I'll be doing the work myself. Called and drove up to the dealer today to claim my boat since they hadn't started on it and got into it with the service manager. Estimate to install bowmount trolling motor, bow sonar, VHF radio and antenna, and track down wiring problems was $1,326.00. Ridiculous! After I pitched a fit and we took off the VHF radio and antenna and sonar, estimate is $350.00. Hopefully I'll have boat back soon. I wouldn't advise anyone to use Southern Indiana Marine in Scottsburg. |
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Posts: 14
Location: Ravenna Ohio | If you are going to add a linear amp to your radio make sure the antenna is rated for it or you can kill your radio most marine antennas are no ground and will not handle the amp |
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Posts: 5874
| Sputter, you asked for it, you got it, Toyota.
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Antenna1a.JPG (196KB - 273 downloads)
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Posts: 364
Location: Kentucky | Thanks, Shep. Appreciate your taking the time to post the pics and describe the install. Got my boat back today, other work looks good (mainly bowmount trolling motor). My brother and I are putting these iCom 402's and Shakespeare 5225 antennas into our boats (he has Esox Mag). Got to order the barrel connectors or bulkhead style then we should be good to go. We have the mast and radio mounted in his rig. Thanks for the help! |
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Posts: 5874
| Sputter,
If you haven't mounted your antenna yet, here is some more pics of the bulkhead connector I used.
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VHFConnecter.jpg (192KB - 229 downloads)
Bulkhead.jpg (98KB - 212 downloads)
FemaleBulkhead.jpg (143KB - 215 downloads)
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Location: Minneapolis, MN | Anybody have any pictures of smaller antennas mounted in fiberglass? I have a bass boat and cannot figure out where I would mount an antenna. I'm possitive there's no room for an 8ft'er that's for sure. |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Wishin I Was Fishin' | The 5225-XT is around $100, but the range gain is well worth the extra money.
If you are going to do it, do it right the first time.
If at all possible go with this antenna.
I know 8' may be tough to work around but the height is important for the performance.
If you only need to talk within a half mile, buy a set of two way radio's.
If you want the features of a marine band, like 20 mile range and weather band / alerts don't scimp on the antenna. |
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Posts: 335
Location: Orland Park | Careful where you mount the antenna, fellas. I'll post a picture of mine tomorrow, but if the antenna is close to your electronics, they'll start zapping out every time you key up on the ship to shore. Blow a lot of fuses too. I have my antenna on the other side of the boat, in front of the passenger console, away from most of the electronics. Unfortunately, the stereo is right there and it gets zapped. |
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Posts: 5874
| Mine is within a foot of both my X-15, and the AM-FM radio. No problems with either. Perhaps the antenna makes a difference. I know the 5225-XT is made different from the $50 model. I used to repair radios in the Air Force. I'll be darned if I can remember all the techno jibberish about wave propagation, polarization, SWR, and such. LOL
Luke, DaveJ is going with a smaller Shakespeare Galaxy. Little Giant, I think it's called.
Edited by Shep 4/20/2003 9:53 PM
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Posts: 364
Location: Kentucky | Shep, Got the antenna mounted yesterday and it's great! I wanted to say thanks to you for all your help on the boat topics. You've given good advice and pictures since my boat dealer came up lacking. Besides, learned more doing it myself. My brother helped me out, and when I get a chance I'll post some pics you'll like. Got the bow finder and radio installed, and the wiring fixed to the console. About the only thing left is the stabilizer for the bow mount. Looks great and I'll have it out on the Cave this weekend! |
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