Marine VHF home antenna

fireboat61 · May 27, 2018

I am considering buying a marine vhf antenna which would typically be mounted on a boat to the roof my home. I primarily listen to marine vhf and fire dept vhf 154-158 mhz. I read that the large whip antenna's have a 6db gain @ 156.8 mhz. Will i receive the results I am looking for ? Has anyone had this setup at there home ?

prcguy · May 27, 2018

Most marine band antennas will work fine for your range of frequencies but the advertised gain of most marine antennas is very exaggerated. For example it takes about 21ft of antenna at VHF to achieve 6dBd of gain and there is no magic way around that.

Most 3-4ft versions are about 0dBd gain at best and some 8ft versions might be around 3dBd gain. I was just playing with a 3ft Shakespeare 5215 whip the other day and was surprised that it had a decent match from about 152 to 162Mhz and made an ok general purpose VHF antenna.

fireboat61 said:
I am considering buying a marine vhf antenna which would typically be mounted on a boat to the roof my home. I primarily listen to marine vhf and fire dept vhf 154-158 mhz. I read that the large whip antenna's have a 6db gain @ 156.8 mhz. Will i receive the results I am looking for ? Has anyone had this setup at there home ?

fireboat61 · May 27, 2018

prcguy said:
Most marine band antennas will work fine for your range of frequencies but the advertised gain of most marine antennas is very exaggerated. For example it takes about 21ft of antenna at VHF to achieve 6dBd of gain and there is no magic way around that.

Most 3-4ft versions are about 0dBd gain at best and some 8ft versions might be around 3dBd gain. I was just playing with a 3ft Shakespeare 5215 whip the other day and was surprised that it had a decent match from about 152 to 162Mhz and made an ok general purpose VHF antenna.

Thank you for the information. Im still learning about antennas and the gain vs length ect. I have learned that the most expensive radio is useless without a good antenna.

ipfd320 · May 27, 2018

I Used the Shakespear 8300--Man that was a Good Antenna--Decent Price too from West Marine

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/shakespeare--mariner-8300-8-6db-vhf-antenna--6966048?recordNum=18

iMONITOR · May 27, 2018

Approximately how far will marine VHF signals travel inland from the water? I live about 15 Miles from Anchor Bay in Lake St. Clair, and about 30 Miles from the St. Clair River. If I mounted a decent marine antenna on my roof with a tripod and a 5' mast I'd be about 25' above ground level. There are no tall buildings in-between but there are miles of mature trees. Possible?

ipfd320 · May 27, 2018

I Did Roughly 63 as the Crow flies miles--from Island Park Long Island to Barnegat Light NJ with an apelco marine Mobile radio--25 watts and at the Time was a 3 foot Fiberglass Whip Antenna---the Antenna was Mounted 26 ft from Ground Level--Run with 50 feet of rg-58 with no Problems or High SWR--Actually it was 1.2 to 1

I Dont Think You will have Any Problem---What can it Hurt if you Try--Good Luck

iMONITOR · May 27, 2018

ipfd320 said:
I Did Roughly 63 as the Crow flies miles--from Island Park Long Island to Barnegat Light NJ with an apelco marine Mobile radio--25 watts and at the Time was a 3 foot Fiberglass Whip Antenna---the Antenna was Mounted 26 ft from Ground Level--Run with 50 feet of rg-58 with no Problems or High SWR--Actually it was 1.2 to 1

I Dont Think You will have Any Problem---What can it Hurt if you Try--Good Luck

Sounds good! I think I'll be able to get the USCG as well as the big freighters. I'm not real interested hearing all the drunks on their pleasure boats.

ocn29rsc · May 30, 2018

I have a 6db marine antenna set up at my house with 1/2" coax and on a mast about 30' up.

pretty good results...I have this antenna on a marine radio.

virtualking · Jun 7, 2018

I use 8' VHF Antennas For T-tops, radar arches, speedboats, yachts and commercial vessels. Wide band models for land and marine use.

P25Radio · Jun 27, 2018

I have the 21ft antenna and this thing rocks. The 476 is huge. I use one for my repeater at the house and one for marines use on my tower.
Great antenna!!! Expensive but worth it.

Marine VHF home antenna

fireboat61

Member

prcguy

Member

fireboat61

Member

ipfd320

Member

iMONITOR

Silent Key

ipfd320

Member

iMONITOR

Silent Key

ocn29rsc

Member

virtualking

Newbie

P25Radio

Member

Similar threads