Grateful thanks from a lurker in Australia to paddlewise subscriber Steve Jernigan for his recommendations on extending the range of handheld VHF's. Some time ago Steve suggested replacing the rubber ducky antenna that comes standard, in favour of a half-wave wire rig lifted as high off the deck as possible. Digging around in my garage I unearthed an army surplus whip antenna about 16ft [ strikeone for us inveterate junk collectors!] which I have adapted to a new life. The antenna breaks down into four foot sections. I taped my antenna wire to the whip, and voila, I lifted the range, and thus the effectiveness of my VHF, quite considerably. I paddle/sail a Klepper which gives me the luxury of easy attachment /removal of the antenna. Which leads me to the thought that you can have the best and most waterproof handheld money can buy, but you still need to work on the best achievable line of sight antenna range. So, if you are out there and monitoring Steve, thanks! Peter Rattenbury *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Mar 05 1999 - 20:26:25 PST
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