FA-50 VHF Antenna Placement

[wsp2]

I've got a question about the FA-50 VHS antenna placement.

I recently had a problem where the coax going to the VHS antenna went bad so ended up replacing the cord. The antenna itself though is probably in a really bad position to begin with though. it's located under the helm with all the other electronics and is installed horizontally - almost like it's laying down. Not sure why this was done considering the coax cable was 10m long and I was able to replace it with a patch cord <1 m long.

The owner's manual indicates it should be 10 m away from other antennas or separated vertically by 2.8 m. Don't think I'll be able to achieve either of these. I'm thinking about having a horizontal separation of about 4m with little vertical separation unfortunately. I figure this will at least be better than it's current location.

Question is - does the interference caused by this mainly affect the VHF radio, the AIS signal, or both?

Thanks!

 

[BiminiTwist36]

Because AIS transmits within the range of VHF frequencies they could interfere with each other. If you are encountering interference you could consider a mast extension for one of the antennas to gain some vertical separation.

 

[jp498]

You definitely want some of both separation for radar antenna to VHF distances. I would try to keep the VHF >6 feet from another VHF antenna at a minimum. Vertical separation from a radar is easy.

It probably worked well enough for safety purposes laying down, but you'd get more range having it upright for sure.

 

[Titanic II]