I used to support a fleet of vessels spread across the country. Morad was the "go to" antenna for Marine VHF, as well as commercial band VHF and UHF, as these antennas never broke and had great reception and gain. There was only one that did not work well, and someone had accidentally cut into it with a Sawzall. Recently, the local Police and Fire Departments were given a vessel to patrol waterways by DHS, which had several Comprod and Shakespeare antennas, all high gain, 9-12dB. This is not a good thing on a smaller vessel, as the high gain makes the radiation pattern more like an LP record. I get a call asking why they can sometimes speak to a car on shore, but not always. I explain that lower gain antennas are better for small vessels, some of the Shakespeare antennas were broken. Not lowered when going under obstructions. The antennas get replaced with Morad lower gain version and life goes on, with a lot better function.