vhf, am/fm antennas

[mattttt25]

i'll be installing new vhf and am/fm antennas on my boat this spring. they will mount on my hard top and run to my radios in an electronics box. seems every antenna comes with the standard 30' of cord. i really don't need 60' of cord wrapped up and shoved in my box. can i cut the cords down and install new connectors? i did this with my gps antenna (standard coax connector) and it worked fine. just wondering if it works for these applications. thanks-

 

[snapperbait]

Re: vhf, am/fm antennas

Most of the vhf antennas don't have the connector installed.. You have to put (and solder) the suppilied connector on yourself, so you could make the vhf cable as short as you wish..<br /><br />Am/Fm is another story... They have the connector installed from the factory... You could cut and splice the cable without much trouble.. Heat shrink tube over the splice, it'll last indefinately...

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: vhf, am/fm antennas

The VHF cable should be longer than 3'. You can probably accomadate that with no problem, right?

 

[Boatist]

Re: vhf, am/fm antennas

I agree with Paul better to have at least one wave length and two wave length I like even better, about 6 feet. I also throw the connector that comes with the antenna away and get a proper gold connector for your size coax. You can not go wrong with a Shakespeare Galaxy 5225 antenna.<br /><br />For the AM/FM I do not like splicing coax. I would just buy the proper connector, Motorola or RCA. You could also use the proper size PL259 coax connector with an adapter to fit your radio. Length does not matter.

 

[mattttt25]

Re: vhf, am/fm antennas

thanks-

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: vhf, am/fm antennas

You can consider using only a vhf antenna with a splitter/combo so you can use one antenna for 2 different things.I had one and for 25$ it worked great and it saved me an antenna install.The reception for both were fine.Charlie