VHF Radio Install

[nymart]

Am going to install a VHF on my 2005 191 FS in the next couple of weeks. I know many of you have done this so I had a couple of questions. 1. Did you power directly from the battery or did you tap into the fuse panel? 2. What size antenna are you using and where did you mount it? 3. What type of distance are you getting from the antenna you are using? I am probably going to go with an 8' antenna, but that is a lot for this size boat so I wanted to see if anyone is getting good response from a 3'. Thanks for being helpful as usual.

[rrweather]

I installed the standard horizon ps1000 in my 191 FS. I opted for it because I only have the hand piece visible, which is nice. I installed the main unit inside the console and hung the hand piece next to the seat. I powered mine through the power distribution panel, both power and ground. I have the bikini top so I used the shakespeare antenna adapters to mount the antenna to the bar on the top. I ended up using the low-profile 3 ft antenna. All of this is mounted about 3 ft above the side of the boat so the antenna extends up above the top nicely. I also mounted my sirius antenna to an antenna mount and extension on the other side. Each antenna extends about the same distance above the top, so it looks pretty good (the most important part, right?). I have no idea what kind of range I get. The only non-lake boating I do is in the California Delta, which is never more than a few miles wide. I pick up a few different weather channels from different regions of the Delta (San Francisco and Sacramento) so I know the antenna works fairly well. I don't have any intentions of going too far from land with my boat so this setup works well for me. I mainly got the vhf for the times I am out on the delta by myself. The DSC feature could come in handy if something were to happen and I were out alone or with an inexperienced boater. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

[aronlevin]

I have a lot of electronics mounted so I wanted to make a little more room for my self and put my vhf just under the cooler box. I tapped into a power supply that is hot at all times and mounted the handset so I could lean over and grab it while underway. I have an 8 ft antenna and I mounted it about a foot infrount of the windshield. I have it on a mount that I can stand it up or lay it down. It is clean with only a few holed drilled. I am out of town but will post picture when I get home in a few days. You may be able to see the antenna in a pic I had posted with my full enclosure.