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Chris,
Do the tests at home. Stick a piece of wire into the center conductor of the SO-239 UHF connector on the back of the radio. That should be sufficient to receive WX broadcasts. Verify that it's working correctly. Don't worry about the ground issue.
On the boat, personally, I'd lose the two switches. Coax switches all have losses, even when they're working right. Often, they're not, especially with the cheaper ones. You don't need an antenna switch anyway to choose an emergency antenna; it's easy enough to connect one directly to the radio if/when you actually need it.
Get a real AM/FM antenna. Shakespeare makes one; West Marine and others have them.
Run an unbroken length of RG-8X from the connector at the base of your mast to the radio.
I don't know if you have a separate ground wire connected to the VHF, but it really isn't a great idea to have one even if the manufacturer recommends it.
Bill
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