Masthead VHF antenna replacement recommendations?

[George_SD]

Hi all,
It's time to go up the mast and replace the old antenna with a new unit. Current came with the boat in 2005 and is in poor shape. I was looking at Shakespeare 5215, 4200, 5241, but know little to nothing about atennas.

Any recommendations?

[Jammer]

Any of those will work OK. A careful, high-quality installation with good feedline that is properly terminated will matter more than what antenna you choose.


5215 is an end-fed 1/2-wave whip with a loading coil that is bracket mount. I believe that the only difference between the 5215 and the 5241 is in how they mount, with the 5241 having a 1" threaded mount rather than a bracket mount. I believe the 4200 is a cost-reduced version but I'm not sure. They are more the same than they are different.


Last summer I experimented with a higher quality 9' long fiberglass antenna and RG213 feedline and did not find the difference in VHF performance to be operationally significant. I am rethinking my approach to marine VHF as a result. There simply aren't that many situations where the slight additional range matters.

[George_SD]

I should probably climb the mast and take a look at the existing mount before ordering then. Thank you for the input.