400: External antenna installation tips

[DavefromNZ]

L450, however good location as clear of all ropes. The aerial is essential and my iridium went from about 3 bar strength randomly to solid 5 about 95% of the time with the aerial.

[jugga]

Thanks for the photos arsenelupiga, interesting to see how you did the installation ! I will follow this thread for your report on performance of the antenna ...
Happy sailing !

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by jugga

Thanks for the photos arsenelupiga, interesting to see how you did the installation ! I will follow this thread for your report on performance of the antenna ...
Happy sailing !

As promised, finally completed setup and here are test results !!

Compare reception using antenna on the roof as per pic I sent (see couple posts earlier), vs having antenna behind nav desk on window shelf like Tuskie.

If anything, performance without antenna was better

This are my results and only couple of attempts. It is possible L 400 has friendly spot so no antenna needed.

Will continue comparing and if no advantage noticed over longer period, will throw antenna away as it interferes with reefing when one takes 2 reefs in one go.

[timinfla2]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

As promised, finally completed setup and here are test results !!

Compare reception using antenna on the roof as per pic I sent (see couple posts earlier), vs having antenna behind nav desk on window shelf like Tuskie.

If anything, performance without antenna was better

This are my results and only couple of attempts. It is possible L 400 has friendly spot so no antenna needed.

Will continue comparing and if no advantage noticed over longer period, will throw antenna away as it interferes with reefing when one takes 2 reefs in one go.

Hi there, just curious if you had any update on the performance? Did you ultimately throw the internal away? Or did you notice a strong performance gain.

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by timinfla2

Hi there, just curious if you had any update on the performance? Did you ultimately throw the internal away? Or did you notice a strong performance gain.

i kept it. Currently sailing south pacific and satellites are scarce. Downloading 150kb worth of weather forecast takes already 15 minutes. Add some bad weather, clouds and even small signal gain matters. I have added thin rope for reefing lines to stay away. Also holder made from soft plastic to give if by some magic reefing line catches it. Works without a problem. Never had a problem downloading weather.

Almost forgot: IT LOOKS COOL !

[davedindubai]

in case this interests anyone, we crossed the Atlantic with our iGo (forecasts every 6 hours plus emails, even sending photos to ARC race control for their blog plus phone calls from your iPhone of course!) and sailed the whole of the Caribbean up to Miami using for weather and email every day.

We have no antenna and no probs. Sometimes i move the Go from it's cradle at the nav desk and sit it on the window seal but as it's battery operated, this is no prob.

It's a great bit of kit and essential for any crossing IMO.

[davedindubai]

in case this interests anyone, we crossed the Atlantic with our iGo (forecasts every 6 hours plus emails, even sending photos to ARC race control for their blog plus phone calls from your iPhone of course!) and sailed the whole of the Caribbean up to Miami using for weather and email every day.

We have no antenna and no probs. Sometimes i move the Go from it's cradle at the nav desk and sit it on the window seal but as it's battery operated, this is no prob.

It's a great bit of kit and essential for any crossing IMO.

[TopherTO]

Hi everyone... circling back on this old thread, I'm curious if there are any updated remarks as to whether or not the antenna is beneficial or not. My research is showing almost 50/50... so I'm hesitant to purchase at this point.

Thanks!

Chris.