Re: replacement vhf antenna
Yes you can't forget that VHF is line of sight, plus a little bit. VHF signals seem to curve over the Earth's surface about 1/3 further than a beam of light over the same area. Nobody really knows why, it just happens.
If you put a 3 foot on top of a 5 foot mast, you'll get almost the same performance as an 8 foot mounted on the bottom of the boat (in theory). Altitude, and not so much gain, makes the difference, although yea a higher gain antenna will pull in weaker signals, it can only do so much. The ideal situation is an 8 foot mounted on about a 50' pole on your boat. Obviously that isn't feasible so just get it as high as practical. I would even go so far to say that if you can mount a 3' whip safely higher than you could mount an 8' fiberglass, I'd go with the 3' any day. Again, altitude is your friend in a VHF setup.
An interesting FYI, did you know that a HAM operator can talk to the space shuttle with a 5 watt handheld? Radio waves don't stop, they just hit something and reflect.
Oh yes, something for all you VHF people out there. If you venture out beyond the range of your radio during the day and something happens, just wait until nighttime and try again. The atmosphere is much more conducive to "skip" at night for VHF than during the day. You just might have a chance if you save your battery for night time.
Maybe it's MY antenna that's faulty....
