OK... This is a project I've been wanting to do for some time and I've finally got everything designed and ordered. The electronics on the top of my 480 where starting to look like a nightmare and had performance issues. The dude who designed putting a big KVH dome in front of the open array radar must have been out in the Florida sun too long as I've always had this blind spot in front of the boat on the radar.... sometimes in gives me a big blob on the screen and sometimes I just don't see anything... very nice... but I can track helicopters. On top of that, the factory anchor light has always looked a little odd with this bent forward tube thing with a 49 cent looking light on top.... and I need to put more antennas up.. never have enough antennas. I also wanted to put some new 16' antennas and standoffs on for the VHF and SSB, a 4' cell, a 4' WiFi, 4' spare VHF, and XM
I just contracted a custom designed mast to be built with some spreaders (wings) on it. I made a wood jig/template and fit it to the current radar mount and hard top for the measurements. The total height of this thing is about the same as the current anchor light. The XM antenna will have to be put on an extension to clear the dome... and I'm using 4' white fiberglass antennas.
I also did a little work in photoshop to see how it will look when the "new stuff" is all consolidated.... we'll see how this all goes... Never too many antennas... you will all have antenna envy.
I just contracted a custom designed mast to be built with some spreaders (wings) on it. I made a wood jig/template and fit it to the current radar mount and hard top for the measurements. The total height of this thing is about the same as the current anchor light. The XM antenna will have to be put on an extension to clear the dome... and I'm using 4' white fiberglass antennas.
I also did a little work in photoshop to see how it will look when the "new stuff" is all consolidated.... we'll see how this all goes... Never too many antennas... you will all have antenna envy.