Help installing VHF antenna

[c130king]

My Fellow Mac Sailors,

Greetings from the great state of Florida...which I am back in for the first time in 8 months. Doing my mods/installs/upgrades.

New electrical system (dual batteries, new battery swith, new electrical panel) went in great this morning. Now I am working on my VHF, antenna and stereo.

Problem with the antenna install and hoping someone can give me some guidance. Attached the antenna to the mast arch on my 2005 . Ran the cable down the arch and drilled a hole up under the hinge of the captain's seat. But that area seems to be full of foam...can't get the cable to go in. And I am having difficulty in getting a look or feel back up in there due to all the "stuff" in the way.

Has owners installed a cable there before? Any guidance?

Thanks,
Jim

[bastonjock]

i dont know but im sure that someone does

[Terry]

I installed my antenna at the top of the mast but I thought I'd throw in an extra tidbit from my experience that you may wish to consider. Shakesphere makes one of those little splitter thingies that you can use to split the use of your antenna between the stereo and VHF radio and have them both make use of the same antenna at the same time. Worked for me and I got the idea from Hammin X on one of his posts.

[Rick Westlake]

I installed my antenna on the port-side pushpit railing of my X, using a "clam"-type pass-through for the cable; the M and X can't be all that different, in the foam-block department. I think you might be trying to drive "around a corner" from your description, and you may have to mount an access plate and pull some of the foam out of the way. Temporarily, of course....

I used a stiff fish tape to poke forward along the underside of the gunwale, until I was able to reach an access plate the factory had put in the quarter-berth overhead. I removed that plate and pulled out enough foam blocks to reach into that space, then pulled a mason line through to the hole I'd cut for the antenna lead-out. Then I ran the fish tape from the companionway switch panel to the access plate, and pulled the other end of the mason line - and used that to pull the antenna cable to the VHF radio, which is bracketed by the switch panel to the quarter-berth overhead.

There are good reasons to put the antenna on the masthead - but for me, it's better on the stern of the boat.

Hope this helps -
Rick

[markh1f]

I mounted mine on the back arch as well, just ran the cable down and fed it thru the existing whole that the motor wires come thru.

Mark

[c130king]

Mark,

Thanks. I may have to do that. Just thumping on that wall you can tell there is foam up in the top and it seems hollow down lower. But I was concerned about running my cable down that low...but I may not have much choice.

Any chance you can email me a picture of how you secured that antenna cable? Did you have to extend the co-ax? I don't think mine will be long enough if I do that.

Thanks,
Jim

[Shane]

Hi Jim,

If you're doing a similar install like mine was, I used some bailing wire and went starting from the outside (from the outboard engine well) in. I pushed past the styrofoam and it (the coax) found its own way down. Try angling it aft, towards the stern. IIRC I had my father in law help, as it needs one non-clastrophobic person to wedge an arm in up towards the wire path from within the stern berth. I did have to take that nice cover at the foot of the mattress to gain access.

Hope that helps. Good luck. I'll check if I have any photos of that part of the install, but doubt it. I'll email them if I have them.

Regards,
Shane

[Highlander]

Hi Jim

Here's some pic's whats in the S/B stern where I installed my bilge blower motor
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010053.jpg
Here I removed some floatation
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 0015-1.jpg

Here's how I ran my cables for my vhf, gps, tv antenna , ST40 wind indicator cable
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010057.jpg

I installed 8" deck plates in both sides of the eng. well this allowed me to remove the floatation install my wiring, blower hoses blower motor wash down pump then replace the floatation & now I always have easy access to these area's
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 0007-3.jpg

my vhf antenna wiring came out here
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010029.jpg
then fed it up to here
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010027.jpg

Hope these help you out

John

[K9Kampers]

...Ran the cable down the arch and drilled a hole up under the hinge of the captain's seat. But that area seems to be full of foam...can't get the cable to go in. And I am having difficulty in getting a look or feel back up in there due to all the "stuff" in the way...

Although mine is an , I had the same considerations for my antenna install. For the process of rewiring my boat, my has a 2" hole, with finish plug, for access to the helm seat hinge. From here I carved out enough foam to reach under the stern light placement, then pulled the new wire thru while pulling the old wire out. I should have, but did not run the antenna cable thru here. I may use the new stern light wire to pull the antenna cable & a spare pull line thru to keep the antenna on the port stern rail.

Before doing that tho, I'll look at relocating the antenna to the starboard stern rail & running the cable thru the hole with the engine controls. Currently, my antenna cable runs along the outside of the cockpit & thru the companionway to the VHF. For final install, I'll use a Blue Seas cable clam.

[Kelly Hanson East]

I worked mine through the companionway rail up to the mast step then have an antenna connection on deck so that my 3' whip is 30 beautiful feet up in the air. The VHF is under the port winch, up above the 'swamped' water line, hopefully transmitting my GPS coordinates on DSC as long as possible....

[Terry]

I worked mine through the companionway rail up to the mast step then have an antenna connection on deck so that my 3' whip is 30 beautiful feet up in the air. The VHF is under the port winch, up above the 'swamped' water line, hopefully transmitting my GPS coordinates on DSC as long as possible....

OK, so is the battery that powers that VHf up above the 'swamped' water line?

Curious about the 3' whip, is it a typical powerboat antenna? I remember quite a while back someone posted diagrams of the transmision patterns of the powerboat whip vs the typical sailboat antenna which clearly showed the benefits of having the sailboat antenna at the top of the mast. IIRC the pattern of the whip would not enjoy the same benefit 30'up the mast as the sailboat antenna due to the difference in transmission pattern therefor it was best to install the whip on a railing near deck level. Does this still hold true?

[Hamin' X]

OK, so is the battery that powers that VHf up above the 'swamped' water line?

If your battery is an AGM, it will work underwater, on it's side, or upside down.

~Rich

[Kelly Hanson East]

Ive always wondered how long a battery will work underwater (in salt) the wires are still going to be the low resistance path for current even when submerged - my guess is it will take of the order of an hour before the salt water invades the electrolyte and kill it.

(Battery would get wet of course, Rich)

I dont recall the exact make of antenna, but it was designed for sailboats (I remember exploring the xmit pattern issue wrt heeling when I got it)..i lll check and report. I do get reports from boats around Block Island while on Vineyard Sound so I do think Im getting a good line of sight performance (thx to you guys I appreciate that xmit/rcv distances are more complicated than that, of course)

[MSN-Travelers]

My Fellow Mac Sailors,

Greetings from the great state of Florida...which I am back in for the first time in 8 months. Doing my mods/installs/upgrades.

New electrical system (dual batteries, new battery swith, new electrical panel) went in great this morning. Now I am working on my VHF, antenna and stereo.

Problem with the antenna install and hoping someone can give me some guidance. Attached the antenna to the mast arch on my 2005 . Ran the cable down the arch and drilled a hole up under the hinge of the captain's seat. But that area seems to be full of foam...can't get the cable to go in. And I am having difficulty in getting a look or feel back up in there due to all the "stuff" in the way.

Has owners installed a cable there before? Any guidance?

Thanks,
Jim

Jim,

I installed my antenna on the arch too. I ran the antenna cable down the arch tube, out the bottom and into the hull at roughly thr rub rail level.




I didn't encounter any foam at this level. The stock antenna cable reached to the location where I installed the VHF.



I installed the stereo in the space above the mid-ship mirror. I used a Shakesphere splitter at the VHF radio and ran the "car" radio antenna to the stereo radio location.

I hope this helps.

Paul

[Hamin' X]

Ive always wondered how long a battery will work underwater (in salt) the wires are still going to be the low resistance path for current even when submerged - my guess is it will take of the order of an hour before the salt water invades the electrolyte and kill it.

(Battery would get wet of course, Rich)

AGM batteries are sealed and water intrusion at the depth of a swamped Mac would not occur. Although salt water is conductive, it would not discharge the battery for many hours.

I dont recall the exact make of antenna, but it was designed for sailboats (I remember exploring the xmit pattern issue wrt heeling when I got it)..i lll check and report. I do get reports from boats around Block Island while on Vineyard Sound so I do think Im getting a good line of sight performance (thx to you guys I appreciate that xmit/rcv distances are more complicated than that, of course)

1/2 wave Metz antennas are best for sailboat use on the masthead.

Shakespeare makes a 1/2 wave, also.

~Rich