marine vhf @ my home

[unclefish]

I am think about setting up a marine vhf @ my house, I live about 1 mile up the creek from long island sound. 1 person did say to me I should use hard line to the antenna?
I have put up some rohn 25 towers but it might look a little funny in my neighbor hood. I also have some 30 ft flag poles I can get my hands on. will 30 feet be good. I have all icom vhf's on my boats, does it matter which one since they are all 25watts or the $ 300-$500 better for sound and distance ? I did look for a good 12 foot and taller antenna, I found shakespear and digital, is there a better one or will one of these work good? where can i find hard line and fittings and is there different sizes? Is the astron a good power supply to run my 12v radio ? If anybody has experince in doing this i would appreciate any help. thanks alot

 

[office888]

I am think about setting up a marine vhf @ my house, I live about 1 mile up the creek from long island sound. 1 person did say to me I should use hard line to the antenna?
I have put up some rohn 25 towers but it might look a little funny in my neighbor hood. I also have some 30 ft flag poles I can get my hands on. will 30 feet be good. I have all icom vhf's on my boats, does it matter which one since they are all 25watts or the $ 300-$500 better for sound and distance ? I did look for a good 12 foot and taller antenna, I found shakespear and digital, is there a better one or will one of these work good? where can i find hard line and fittings and is there different sizes? Is the astron a good power supply to run my 12v radio ? If anybody has experince in doing this i would appreciate any help. thanks alot

Hihi unclefish, welcome to worldwidedx!

Coaxial cable:
It all depends how long the run is. If it's less than 100 ft, I'd use regular Times Microwave LMR400. It's VERY high quality RG8U cable. Belden 9913 would probably work okay as well. For VHF / UHF, I'd have to say, quality coaxial cable is more important than the antenna!

For longer runs, or if you want ultra-low loss, I'd use some rigid coaxial cable, specifically Andrews Heliax. Remnants of LDF4-50A can be found on ebay for pennies on the dollar. Per 100 ft, this 1/2" thick coax only has a loss rating of 0.8 dB @ 150 mhz. The downside is that you need special connectors for it. A regular PL259/SO239 connector can be bought for about $4, while a 1/2" heliax connector is about $25 each! Not only that, you need special tools to crimp the connectors. Heliax is also VERY heavy, so you'll want to anchor it to the mast to keep strain off the antenna connector.

Personally, I'd just keep the run short, and use LMR400 to save money!


Antenna:
Diamond® Antenna ~ F23H Monoband Base Station Antenna

I use the same antenna with the feed point at about 30 feet off the ground. Through the hills of southwest Michigan, I get about 35 miles of range on 45w output, through 80 feet of OLD RG8U (probably 2x or 3x as lossy as LMR400) on 2m VHF ham band. You can retrim the antenna to ~156 mhz without a problem. It's a very nice antenna, and doesn't generate much wind resistance either. A flagpole would work great.

Astron power supplies are great. Get one that can support a higher amperage than you need, just in case you want to add an amplifier or other 12vdc accessories down the road.

Good luck!

-Richard-

 

[Robb]

Hardline RG-58 coax is preferred on VHF/UHF bands. Less db losses over the length of the coax run - especially when VHF is the issue. VHF works best when line-of-sight can be accomplished. The higher the mast; the better you will receive/transmit. Too low - and you might get nothing...

 

[packrat]

Keep in mind that it is illegal to operate a marine vhf on land unless you operate a fixed base operation and have a fbo radio license. In other words, you have to be a licensed marine facility of some sort to use a marine radio from land.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Hardline RG-58 coax is preferred on VHF/UHF bands. Less db losses over the length of the coax run - especially when VHF is the issue. VHF works best when line-of-sight can be accomplished. The higher the mast; the better you will receive/transmit. Too low - and you might get nothing...

Hardline RG-58 coax ???

There is hardline or heliax and then there is RG-58. They are miles apart in quality.

 

[Robb]

Hardline RG-58 coax ???

There is hardline or heliax and then there is RG-58. They are miles apart in quality.

Ooops
I'm just a bit tired...

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Ooops
I'm just a bit tired...

 

[Beetle]

Hmmm... Mr. Homer appears to have fallen asleep while flossing with a blue flosser...

 

[unclefish]

thanks for help. I just want to listen to the vhf marine , is there a better way to listen and pick up a longer distance. I was hoping to pick up some of the radio chatter from the offshore fisherman coming back home. thanks mike

 

[office888]

thanks for help. I just want to listen to the vhf marine , is there a better way to listen and pick up a longer distance. I was hoping to pick up some of the radio chatter from the offshore fisherman coming back home. thanks mike

For VHF, height is might.

30 feet is a good starting point.

Above that, your range goes up exponentially for every 5 feet taller you get.

If I had my way, I'd have a 6m/2m/70cm/23cm Yagi on top of a 75 foot tower. =(

Oh yeah, and if don't mind spending more, a yagi will do better than a traditional vertical antenna. You'll have to mount a rotator though. Ships transmit with vertical antennas, so you'll have to mount the yagi for vertical polarity.

You'll probably have to trim the yagi too if you buy one...they're tuned for 144-148 mhz, not 156 mhz.

-Richard-

 

[Robb]

I think most ships/vessels use vertically-polarized antennas.
Isn't using a Yagi kinda 'horizontally polarized' - make it a bit of a problem?