gator1
Member
Anyone know why some boats I see have 2 vhf antennas on their boat? Only thing I could think of is they are running 2 different vhf's but was wondering if it was for any other reason.
Vhf
- Thread starter gator1
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Overpowered
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- May 12, 2009
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- 90 370 Express
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- Twin Bluewater7.4L 330 HP Mercruiser inboards Turning 4 Blade Props
on my boat 1 is used for vhf and one is used for am/fm
Jimmy Buoy
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- Dec 3, 2008
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A previous positioning system called "LORAN" used a VHS type antenna. It used land based transmitters to triangulate your position and translate it into Lat/Long coordinates. The system was discontinued once Satellite GPS came onboard due to the cost of maintaining the individual stations. Some boaters that had this system simply left the antenna in place after the system was defunct! That might explain some of them that you've seen with two antennas...
- Oct 6, 2006
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- 1996 450DA
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- 3116 Caterpillars
We are in a coastal area so a lot of boats here have an 8' cellular antenna.
tdschafer
Well-Known Member
I run 2 separate VHF radios. I ran everything for redundancy since I took a lightening side flash a couple years ago that smoked various systems & electronics irregardless of if they were on or off.
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Todd
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Todd
rcmafgny
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- Oct 10, 2009
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And i thought it was just 'cause you wanted to look cool....
- Oct 6, 2006
- 12,155
- Boat Info
- 1996 450DA
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- 3116 Caterpillars
Aside from redundancy, as Todd points out, I use 2 fixed-mount VHF's because we are in an area littered with restricted areas controlled by DOD for drone firing, submarine warfare exercises, submersible training, etc. When we travel with other boats we always monitor a working channel for boat to boat communication, but you have to monitor VHF16. If you stray near or into an active restricted area, you get a limited reaction time. The AF, Navy, etc. marine operations folks are polite and courteous, but they have you and their assets to protect and if you can't hear 16, you can get into trouble quickly.
