Strange VHF Antenna

[phwrd]

Strange configuration on my new - to me ? used boat. My first boat so please excuse the layman's terms.

I have two fiberglass Shakespeare 8 ft antenna, one each at the mid line of the boat. Both are mounted on top of the gunwale, parallel, same height and on rotating clamp downs.

Both coaxial cables are attached to one ?A-B? selector switch mounted underneath the console. This has a single lead to one VHF radio.

Why would you have a selector switch to choose between antenna ? As I understand it, the output watts on the radio are controlled by the radio and only the height of the antenna affects the broadcast / reception distance.

Any reason why I shouldn't plan on hooking one of them to an am/fm radio what I don't have yet ?

And I want to thank all of you experienced folks for taking the time to help me and all of us newbie seamen.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Strange VHF Antenna

I like to keep it simple. The less to fail then the more relibible it will be.
Take the switch out and run directly to the radio. If it not working well then check with VHF SWR meter.

A marine VHF antenna would not be my choice for a AM/FM radio antenna.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Strange VHF Antenna

The only thing I can think of is for redundancy but most like me would have installed two separate radio/antenna combos if that was the intent.

You?ll have no problems using the second antenna for your AM/FM. I have a VHF/FM splitter on my back-up VHF setup that I use for my CD player. I get just as good if not better reception using the 8? VHF than I did with the 3? FM/AM antenna it replaced.