Re: [Paddlewise] Boosting handheld VHF range

From: Gary Pewitt <gpewitt_at_execpc.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 18:08:56 -0600
Hams don't call them "rubber dummy loads" for nothing.  The higher you can
mount the antenna the better.  T.V. station transmitting antennas are only
a few feet tall but are mounted on towers 500
to a thousand feet tall.  They don't spend all that money for nothing.  73
 Gary  N9ZSV/KT


At 05:47 PM 1/21/99 -0500, Kenneth Cooperstein wrote:
>I have an Apelco 510 5w. handheld VHF radio that I use on my sailboat.
>No one can hear me even 3 miles away unless I climb onto my cabintop.
>
>I can boost the range by using a 4' base-loaded s.s. whip antenna (3 db)
>at the masthead, which is the standard solution.  However, the folks at
>Raytheon told me that I would do almost as well by just mounting the
>whip on the rail, because that would get me almost to the limit of what
>5w will do with a 3db antenna.  Although Raytheon wouldn't quantify the
>range, they felt that it would at least triple -- going from the rubber
>ducky in the cockpit to the whip on the rail.
>
>I am considering bringing the whip antenna along on a paddle, in the
>belief that if I need greater range, switching to the whip (handheld or
>on a stick) will greatly increase my range.  Anyone know if this will
>work?
>
>Ken Cooperstein
>
>
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>
Gary Pewitt  N9ZSV/KT  gpewitt_at_execpc.com
6120 W. Calumet Rd. Apt. 204, Milwaukee, WI  53223
414 355 8147 home    414 297 4307 work
Sturgeon's Law "Ninty percent of everything is crap."

	
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Received on Thu Jan 21 1999 - 16:09:22 PST

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