I have a West Marine Vector II (which I think is the same as the
interphase Pilot II).

Recently its been having trouble finding a signal while sitting in my
slip, though it will usually pick up by the time I get out of the
marina.

PArt of the problem I found was a shoddy wiring job by the previous
owner -- the power wires had unprotected automotive type butt
connectors, which had corroded -- i replaced the entire path.

But, I have also noticed that the way the Coax was originally wired,
it got chaffed in several areas, exposing (in some cases breaking) the
braid.

I want to replace the coax as well, preferabbly all the way back to
the coupler. Does anyone know if it is possible to open up the
antenna coupler, and whether it had a connector or not? Or, does
anyone know where one could find a cheap Loran coupler w/ coax that is
compatible with this model?

Thanks,
Jon B

I have a Sitex Loran and coupler. I've opened that coupler up and soldered
new coax on the board twice. Just be careful not to damage the little
amplifier board.

Interestingly, I think it must get power through the coax; no other leads go
to it.

"RB" wrote in message ...
I have a Sitex Loran and coupler. I've opened that coupler up and soldered
new coax on the board twice. Just be careful not to damage the little
amplifier board.

Interestingly, I think it must get power through the coax; no other leads go
to it.

How did you open it up? The Interphase / West marine coupler is a
tube on which the antenna mounts -- but it isn't clear to me how to
open it! There is a 1 inch nut at the base, but I can only turn
against the "nut" at the bottom of the antenna itself (thur removing
the antenna from the coupler, not opening it), as the rest of the
housing is a smooth cone.

Well, I can only speak to the Sitex coupler I worked on. It may well be
that you won't be able to open others. I simply speculated that maybe
they're built in a similar manner.

Mine had a nut on the bottom of the housing that I was able to get off. The
coax went through a hole in the center of the molded nut, and had some
sealant goop on it (probably RTV).

I figured what the heck----I was in trouble with that unit anyway with the
broken coax, so why not experiment? And, turned out I salvaged it.

The inside of my nut is threaded to accept the lay-down mount. You thread
the coax through the mount and then turn the coupler onto the mount male
threaded stud.