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Random Quote: never argue with idiots, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience
If you remember the Florida football players that drowned, they did not have a working base vhf radio on that boat. They relied upon a handheld and their cell phones. JFYI....some posters may have been trying to get that point across as well...
Rick
Are you sure? I don't recall reading that when the paper was talking with the owner's buddy who is a guide he fished with a fair amount. Same guy had clued the owner in about EPIRB/PLB just a week before the accident. Kind of thought I remembered him saying the boat did have a VHF, but I'm not sure. (For sure, they had no EPIRB or PLB.) As the OP mentions, that particular accident where it suddenly flipped while they were trying to pull anchor, fixed VHF wouldn't make much difference.
How do you mount a 3-5' antenna on a folding T-top or what type of antenna bracket do you buy? PLEASE FOR FFS no badmouthing hear, just a VERY Simple question.....or an shorth antenna recommendations?
Man, you might as well forget it. Birdman does not get it. Ron Widman has NEVER gotten it, about answering the questions in his own mind rather than the one that a poster asks. You asked a VERY SIMPLE question about advice for a brand of a specific type (handheld) of radio.
Key,
One VERY important thing you keep leaving out. He DIDN'T just ask for the best HH VHF!! He said I'm going 50 miles out, and want the best HH VHF to use out there.
So ANYONE, with ANY boating knowledge whatsoever, would first smartly adivse the person, NOT to try and use a HH VHF radio, out 50 miles, period.
Once the boater gets that concept, and then says he'll get a real fixed mount VHF, then he can banter all he wants about what HH model to get, to try and talk with oil rigs in the meantime. But I don't care where you are, and who or what you think is out there with you, if your venturing 50 miles out to sea, you should have a full power VHF.
And yes, I think it is more than warranted to beat that fact to death. The only reason I responded to this mess.
Are you sure? I don't recall reading that when the paper was talking with the owner's buddy who is a guide he fished with a fair amount. Same guy had clued the owner in about EPIRB/PLB just a week before the accident. Kind of thought I remembered him saying the boat did have a VHF, but I'm not sure. (For sure, they had no EPIRB or PLB.) As the OP mentions, that particular accident where it suddenly flipped while they were trying to pull anchor, fixed VHF wouldn't make much difference.
The above was mentioned in the Tampa Tribune, after questioning the lone survivor. And, yes, the one guy was warned by a guide just the week before that they should be taking an epirb with them. Also, I don't know about you, but I make regular radio checks to my Boat US as I venture farther offshore. If they had been doing that, someone would have had a location....at some point a handheld will quit receiving a base station and you should know when you are out of range...none of this speculation will help them, however...
Thanks, guess I'd missed that in the Tribune. And yeah, that was the guide I was referring to. Sad thing, as I recall the guide said the owner was enthusiastic about the EPIRB, and said he would have to pick one up. Didn't get around to it, obviously.
Ditto on the radio checks; I usually do mine to my neighbor's boat after getting out a ways.
How do you mount a 3-5' antenna on a folding T-top or what type of antenna bracket do you buy? PLEASE FOR FFS no badmouthing hear, just a VERY Simple question.....or an shorth antenna recommendations?
Aquarium you mentioned folding t-top a couple of times but could you give a little more info on that? How does it fold / is this something custom or one of the off the shelf products etc?
Assuming it's your traditional rectangualar tubular frame, you can mount a 4' antenna just like you would on any other t-top, with a ratchet mount that bolts onto the outside edge tubing.
When it is folded "down" parallel to the tube, as long as the t-top itself is close to 4' long, it should not be in the way. Wire routing may be a bit more of a challenge but is definitely not impossible, you can either put some sort of conduit into the tube to protect the wire, or run it outside of the hinges in the area where it folds. You could use a fiberglass or metal whip antenna, whichever makes more sense for you.
A 3' or 4' antenna is really not very much in the way on any boat which is why I think you took so much flack in the first place. Heck on a 19' boat I had with a bimini, I had a simple 3' metal whip bolted to the side of the console and that was never in the way either - but the higher you can get the antenna, the better.
