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Poor VHF Transmission Great reception - need advise


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I have a 3-4 year old VHF radio and just replaced the 8' antenna as I was having poor transmission quality. This did not help. Example - clear line of sight 6 miles resulted in very static transmission. I am told that I am very clear within a mile or so. I tried Hi and Low no help. The reception is much better with the new antenna - both NOAA weather and regular listening to Ch 9 or 16. The boat is a Robalo 22' WA cuddy - radio mounted in storage compartment next to the helm. Antenna mounted outside that area, I left 3' of looped and tied cable between the antenna and radio as instructed. There are minimal wires in the area.

Before I drop $ on another radio - I wanted to make sure I did not miss anything or see if there is something else I should do.

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There is probably a stray wire in your coax cable on the connector. I would redo that connection and pay attention to the strands to make sure you don't get a stray and make sure that all is tight and that you use solder to make sure that you have complete filling of the center portion of the connector.

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There is probably a stray wire in your coax cable on the connector. I would redo that connection and pay attention to the strands to make sure you don't get a stray and make sure that all is tight and that you use solder to make sure that you have complete filling of the center portion of the connector.

Yeah, thats what I would start at too.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 11 years later...

You've already made some smart moves by replacing the antenna and checking the cable. That improved your reception, which is a good sign. A couple more things to consider could be grounding and interference. Check that your antenna and radio are properly grounded. A solid ground connection can make a big difference. Sometimes, nearby electronics or even engine noise can mess with your signal. Try turning off other electronics onboard and see if that helps. Don't forget about antenna height. The higher, the better when it comes to transmission range.
 

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