vhf reception

[Keven]

I noticed my radio will hardly receive another message from another caller but it get the weather reports just fine. Any idea what cannot hear other talking on it ? I usually run it on scan all the time.

 

[KRS]

Re: vhf reception

is the distance to the other caller known? Is it possible they were 100 miles away?

Were they calling you or you just overheard them?

Next time on the water, key up and ask for a radio check, say "this is xxxxxx, just completed radio repairs, need a radio check please".. and see what they say about your transmission and if you heard them okay.

Good luck.

Just for safe measure, check the antenna connection, be sure it's tight.

 

[Boatist]

Re: vhf reception

You have given no information about your VHF or antenna.
Hard to help much with no information.
Boat to boat distance with a 8 foot 6DB antenna on both boats is about 10 miles over open water. In a river with high banks and lots of trees can be only a few miles.

Antenna needs to be stright up when on the water for best range. If it leans back from vertical then range in front or in back of boat will be very poor.

Open the squelch up until you here static with no signal then turn it back until receiver just goes silent. In a scan mode you may have one channel that will have higher noise so if you adjust the squelch high enough to silence that channel and allow the radio to scan then weak signals may not break the squelch. In this case you need to decide if the noisy channel is really needed or you want to be able to here the weaker signals.

A Good antenna with copper or brass radiator will work much better and last longer. When I bought a Shakespeare 5225 to replace an old Shakespeare 497 it doubled the number of boats I could here.

Make sure connector clean with no corrosion. Make sure Coax has no splits or crackes in the outer cover where water can get in. Flex Coax in locations where the coax bends when antenna lowered, also where it goes thru decks. If you have a VHF SWR meter then hook it up and check antenna on 1 watt on a unused comm channel. Do not use 16 or 22 or 21 ever. While testing flex the antenna and the coax while watching the meter.

In my opinion if the radio is having a problem about 70 percent of the time it will be antenna related.

Weather Stations useully on a high mountain with 50 or more miles range over open water.