Hello:

I want to install a new FM radio / CD player on my boat. Thought I
would mount the antenna in the stern area. I also like the idea of
having a redundant marine VHF antenna.

Is it reasonable to use a marine VHF antenna for an FM car radio
antenna? Other sugestions that will alow me to get the local tunes and
news and also have secondary VHF antenna?

Thanks
Chris

wrote:
Hello:

I want to install a new FM radio / CD player on my boat. Thought I
would mount the antenna in the stern area. I also like the idea of
having a redundant marine VHF antenna.

Is it reasonable to use a marine VHF antenna for an FM car radio
antenna? Other sugestions that will alow me to get the local tunes and
news and also have secondary VHF antenna?

Thanks
Chris

You can get a splitter to have the VHF antenna serve both units, but it
isn't as good as dedicated VHF + FM antennas. Chandlers can usually supply
the splitter.
- - -
Satellite photocharts of the UK & Ireland
available, excellent detail and accurate
calibration using Oziexplorer.
Remove *nospam* to reply.

wrote:

Hello:

I want to install a new FM radio / CD player on my boat. Thought I
would mount the antenna in the stern area. I also like the idea of
having a redundant marine VHF antenna.

Is it reasonable to use a marine VHF antenna for an FM car radio
antenna? Other sugestions that will alow me to get the local tunes and
news and also have secondary VHF antenna?

Thanks
Chris


Yeah, but not very, really.

Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night
with a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad,
noisy antenna.

Car AM/FM antennae should be mounted on a metal surface to act as a
counterpoise to the marconi antenna. You can improve it's reception
on a glass boat by adding a couple or three of wires four feet or so
long (unequal) connected to the base plate of the entenna, fanned
out under the deck. Nothing (well, almost nothing) beats a 250'
whip for AM, oriented to the transmitter AE, and a seperate
rotatable yagi for channel 2 for your FM stereo. A channel 12 AE
would work better for VHF.

To make it efficient at VHF freqs, you would detune it somewhat for
FM broadcast reception. A spare, emergency VHF antenna for channel
16 would be about 4 feet long, (I can't be bothered to look up the
formula and solve it) or one coat hanger's worth of stiff wire, with
the varnish gnawed off the end and a kink bent into it to assist
making a snug connection when it is jammed into the connector on
your radio. Mine is collapsible, and has a proper connector and
swivel. It works about the same. It cost about five bucks. It
should be tucked away somewhere close to the radio, in case you get
dismasted, inverted and trapped inside the hull with broken bones
and burns. It won't have great range, but, what the hay, it's
something to play with while you use up all the air trapped in the
cabin with you.

Your house batteries are mounted on gimbals, or are spill proof gel
cells?

I don't really mean to be so cynical, but if you are planning for an
emergency at sea, you need to either do it right or do it cheap, I
guess. You get what you pay for. Surviving an apocalypse in style
is expensive.

Terry K

Terry Spragg wrote in
:

Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night
with a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad,
noisy antenna.


Is now a good time to show off the XM Radio satellite antenna magnet stuck
to the side of the fire extinguisher next to the hatch?...(c; One of these
days I gotta actually find a place to put it but it works so good stuck to
the fire extinguisher I hate to screw around with something that always
works. It's even sideways from the way it's supposed to be stuck.....go
figure??

XM is the way to fly, not that damned string of continuous commercials
spaced with minor bits of "programming" playing in between......on USA
commercial FM from Clear Channel.

Problem is that XM and Sirius only work in the US and near coastal
waters. No Coverage in the BVI and south.
krj

Larry W4CSC wrote:
Terry Spragg wrote in
:


Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night
with a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad,
noisy antenna.



Is now a good time to show off the XM Radio satellite antenna magnet stuck
to the side of the fire extinguisher next to the hatch?...(c; One of these
days I gotta actually find a place to put it but it works so good stuck to
the fire extinguisher I hate to screw around with something that always
works. It's even sideways from the way it's supposed to be stuck.....go
figure??

XM is the way to fly, not that damned string of continuous commercials
spaced with minor bits of "programming" playing in between......on USA
commercial FM from Clear Channel.

I thought Sirius and XM worked off of geosynchronous sats over the equator.

"krj" wrote in message
...
Problem is that XM and Sirius only work in the US and near coastal waters.
No Coverage in the BVI and south.
krj

Larry W4CSC wrote:
Terry Spragg wrote in
:


Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night with
a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad, noisy antenna.



Is now a good time to show off the XM Radio satellite antenna magnet
stuck to the side of the fire extinguisher next to the hatch?...(c; One
of these days I gotta actually find a place to put it but it works so
good stuck to the fire extinguisher I hate to screw around with something
that always works. It's even sideways from the way it's supposed to be
stuck.....go figure??

XM is the way to fly, not that damned string of continuous commercials
spaced with minor bits of "programming" playing in between......on USA
commercial FM from Clear Channel.

There are two satellites in geosynchronous orbit, XM-1 (named Roll) at
85 degrees and XM-2 (names Rock) at 115 degrees. Both are 24 transponder
C band satellites with antennas that are positioned to have a footprint
for the CONUS. The footprints extend slightly into Canada and Mexico and
about 100 miles offshore.
krj

Doug Dotson wrote:
I thought Sirius and XM worked off of geosynchronous sats over the equator.

"krj" wrote in message
...

Problem is that XM and Sirius only work in the US and near coastal waters.
No Coverage in the BVI and south.
krj

Larry W4CSC wrote:

Terry Spragg wrote in
:



Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night with
a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad, noisy antenna.



Is now a good time to show off the XM Radio satellite antenna magnet
stuck to the side of the fire extinguisher next to the hatch?...(c; One
of these days I gotta actually find a place to put it but it works so
good stuck to the fire extinguisher I hate to screw around with something
that always works. It's even sideways from the way it's supposed to be
stuck.....go figure??

XM is the way to fly, not that damned string of continuous commercials
spaced with minor bits of "programming" playing in between......on USA
commercial FM from Clear Channel.

OK. Thanks for the info.

"krj" wrote in message
...
There are two satellites in geosynchronous orbit, XM-1 (named Roll) at 85
degrees and XM-2 (names Rock) at 115 degrees. Both are 24 transponder C
band satellites with antennas that are positioned to have a footprint for
the CONUS. The footprints extend slightly into Canada and Mexico and about
100 miles offshore.
krj

Doug Dotson wrote:
I thought Sirius and XM worked off of geosynchronous sats over the
equator.

"krj" wrote in message
...

Problem is that XM and Sirius only work in the US and near coastal
waters. No Coverage in the BVI and south.
krj

Larry W4CSC wrote:

Terry Spragg wrote in
:



Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night
with a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad, noisy
antenna.



Is now a good time to show off the XM Radio satellite antenna magnet
stuck to the side of the fire extinguisher next to the hatch?...(c; One
of these days I gotta actually find a place to put it but it works so
good stuck to the fire extinguisher I hate to screw around with
something that always works. It's even sideways from the way it's
supposed to be stuck.....go figure??

XM is the way to fly, not that damned string of continuous commercials
spaced with minor bits of "programming" playing in between......on USA
commercial FM from Clear Channel.

So the antennas on the bird are directional targeted at the US? Otherwise
I would think that an equal area below the equator would be covered.

Doug

"krj" wrote in message
...
There are two satellites in geosynchronous orbit, XM-1 (named Roll) at 85
degrees and XM-2 (names Rock) at 115 degrees. Both are 24 transponder C
band satellites with antennas that are positioned to have a footprint for
the CONUS. The footprints extend slightly into Canada and Mexico and about
100 miles offshore.
krj

Doug Dotson wrote:
I thought Sirius and XM worked off of geosynchronous sats over the
equator.

"krj" wrote in message
...

Problem is that XM and Sirius only work in the US and near coastal
waters. No Coverage in the BVI and south.
krj

Larry W4CSC wrote:

Terry Spragg wrote in
:



Normally, I would want my entertainment radio to have excellant
reception, and could not bear to be at anchor on a hot, buggy night
with a nice new tune just barely distinguishable through a bad, noisy
antenna.



Is now a good time to show off the XM Radio satellite antenna magnet
stuck to the side of the fire extinguisher next to the hatch?...(c; One
of these days I gotta actually find a place to put it but it works so
good stuck to the fire extinguisher I hate to screw around with
something that always works. It's even sideways from the way it's
supposed to be stuck.....go figure??

XM is the way to fly, not that damned string of continuous commercials
spaced with minor bits of "programming" playing in between......on USA
commercial FM from Clear Channel.

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in news:gp-
:

So the antennas on the bird are directional targeted at the US? Otherwise
I would think that an equal area below the equator would be covered.

Doug


No, most US-targeted satellite services have directional antennas pointed
this way. It's bad enough trying to get enough field strength to lock up
the cheap XM/Sirius receivers with miniscule antennas so tiny. They're
pointed to the States, all right.

Wonder how they'd work duct taped to the side of the feedhorn of the Dish
Network antenna pointed at the XM bird?....hmm....

Having a more serious receiver antenna capture area would seem to extend
their range much farther than that little plastic blob magmounted to the
fire extinguisher.