VHF Radio Install Question

[ltcavery]

I plan to install a 2nd VHF radio in my hardtop.

Is it OK to use the same power line as the 1st VHF radio or is it best to run another power line?

I can see there is not much spacing left in the tubing from the hardtop to the boat and running more wires will be a pain. 1st VHF ICOM 422, second would be what came with the boat, Raymarine 54. I put the ICOM in because I wanted full DSC but now want to have the Raymarine as the backup (to my backup handheld).

[Boomerang]

An Ideal setup would be a complete seperate system consisting of antenna,radio & power supply but any configuration of 2 vhf's are better than just 1,IMO. You cant use but 1 vhf at a time so a shared power cable would be fine if it were mine.

[baypro21]

You can use the same power line, be sure to pick up power (for the new radio) on the source side of the existing power wire, not after the existing fuse. Each radio will have it's own fuse. You can receive with both radios at the same time (like to monitor 2 differant channels) but I wouldn't transmit on both at the same time.

[Radio University]

The only concern I would have with sharing the same power line is IF the ICOM radio Receives a DSC call and responds WHILE you are transmitting on the Raymarine... In this case, BOTH VHFs would be transmitting 25 Watts. Could happen but probably very rare! Or if you receive a call and two people on your vessel decide to respond at the same time but on a different radio.

[ltcavery]

Thanks for the responses, I think in almost every case my Raymarine would just stay on 16 and be in the listen mode and use the ICOM for any and all transmitting.