Howard Keiper
Moderator
So I was installing a new VHF system for a customer and discovered that I'd miscalculated the length of RG-213 I'd need for a seamless run from his mast base to the radio...about 15 feet. You have to pay attention to words like 'about', 'almost', 'practically', etc...anyway, I needed 18ft. I soldered connectors on both ends of a 4' length and connected that to the short cable and everything worked perfectly, as it should have.
Anyway, I've been thinking that I may very well make this same mistake again on every installation. There are a number of advantages to being able to break the coax at a convenient place, given that there is no discernable performance hit at the splice...which is true if the connectors are installed correctly. BTW, either Ancor brand RG-8 or Ancor RG-213 are a pure delight to work with, IMO...heavy maybe, but wonderful.
It's now possible to connect the radio to either the 3db masthead or a 6db whip at the stern, a good idea to have anyway. I have such on Sea Quest, on a fold down base mount. It's also possible to connect another radio..hand held maybe, to either antenna. My old Apelco hand held works very well with it's antenna 40' up.
Anyway, food for thought.
howard keiper
Sea Quest
Berkeley
Anyway, I've been thinking that I may very well make this same mistake again on every installation. There are a number of advantages to being able to break the coax at a convenient place, given that there is no discernable performance hit at the splice...which is true if the connectors are installed correctly. BTW, either Ancor brand RG-8 or Ancor RG-213 are a pure delight to work with, IMO...heavy maybe, but wonderful.
It's now possible to connect the radio to either the 3db masthead or a 6db whip at the stern, a good idea to have anyway. I have such on Sea Quest, on a fold down base mount. It's also possible to connect another radio..hand held maybe, to either antenna. My old Apelco hand held works very well with it's antenna 40' up.
Anyway, food for thought.
howard keiper
Sea Quest
Berkeley