2-8 Installation
2.4.6 Antenna Mounting Suggestions
The best radio in the world is useless without a quality antenna and good
location. Mounting the VHF antenna properly is very important because it
will directly affect the performance of your VHF radio. A VHF antenna
designed for marine vessels should be used.
• Since VHF transmission is essentially line-of-sight, mount the antenna at
the highest possible location on the vessel and free of obstruction to
obtain maximum range.
• If you must extend the length of the coaxial cable between the antenna
and the radio, use a coaxial cable designed for the least amount of power
loss over the entire cable length.
2.4.7 Grounding
It is good marine practice to properly ground your VHF radiotelephone, as
well as all other electronic equipment, to the ship's ground system.
One of the mounting tabs on the edge of the base station transceiver has
been designated for this purpose. See Figure 2-7 below. After the base
station has been mounted, you should ground the unit by attaching a wire
to the screw inserted through the tab labeled “GND”. Then connect this
wire to the nearest ship's ground connection point. The recommended
wire to be used for such grounding is #10 AWG.
GND
Mounting Tab
Mounting Tab
Figure 2-7 Typical Grounding Method