New VHF installation - reception problems

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by KP44

HF marine radios and Amateur Radio antennas are different and use a ground plane. High Frequency (HF) radios use the minimum wattage required to communicate - but up to 1500 watts to "bounce" off the ionosphere and communicate world-wide.

Your VHF (very high frequency) radio is 1 watt or 25 watts for line-of-sight communication. Usually 1 watt is sufficient.

To clarify:


All vertical antennas, regardless of frequency, use a ground plane or more precisely, a counterpoise.

There is no minimum “wattage required” to communicate regardless of frequency or mode. The 1500 watts figure is a max allowable transmitter output for ham radio, not related to ionospheric skip and not applicable to marine HF.

As to the OP, he described splicing coax absent the proper connectors. If his description is correct, that is the problem.