What Are All of these Antennae for ?

[hoppy]

I was just looking at a photo I took of the a Bavaria 44 that was getting ready for the ARC and I am wondering what all of the 7 antennae are for.

(yes it is a dull Saturday night in my apartment)

I have identified some.

1) On the right there is the Echomax radar reflector which was easy to figure out.

2) I'm guessing that the black cable supported by the back stay is perhaps for HF as it connects to the backstay.

3) The Furno "mushroom" looks to be their GPS antennae.

4) The middle is a Metz Mantra 6 VHF. I think it has a 2nd one of these on the masthead.

I cant find the taller Furno antennae on google. I suppose there is perhaps one more GPS and maybe one of them are for Navtext ?

[Paul Elliott]

That mushroom-with-attached-whip on the left looks like a combination GPS/VHF antenna used in some AIS systems. The conical Furuno looks sort of like a satphone antenna, but I couldn't say for sure.

[fairbank56]

The antenna with the red gasket at the bottom just to the left of the Furuno mushroom is an old Magnavox helical GPS antenna although it could also be a Northstar as Magnavox sold that design to Northstar. Seems to me though, that Northstar had their logo on the side of it whereas Magnavox did not.

Eric

[MarkJ]

I have a few antennae on my boat... all the 'normal' ones and a few extras, of course I have all the ones in your photos but I have more... I have ones that do all sorts of stuff that, well, ... if you don't have them your not a real sailor. Many are very expensive, in fact some cost MORE than the boat... I didnt really want a boat, I just wanted a thing to put my antennae on. The guy at the shop said "Put them on a stick" but I thought that would look a bit lame, so I bought a boat

One is a TV antennea so I can watch myself at the nav station. I think I look quite good from this angle... don't you? Perhaps I should shift a bit?


Mark

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by fairbank56

The antenna with the red gasket at the bottom just to the left of the Furuno mushroom is an old Magnavox helical GPS antenna although it could also be a Northstar as Magnavox sold that design to Northstar. Seems to me though, that Northstar had their logo on the side of it whereas Magnavox did not.Eric

Actually, I'm pretty sure this is an Iridium satphone antenna (or other satphone?). My satphone antenna looks identical to the one in the picture. Inside of mine there was a helical quadrafilar antenna made out of flexible circuit board. I cut it apart because it had stopped working -- salt water and corrosion inside. I have a new one now, so far it's still OK.

It could be an old GPS antenna I suppose. GPS uses 1.575 GHz, and Iridium 1.616-1.626 GHz so the antennas will be quite similar. It's been a long time since I've seen anything other than a patch antenna for GPS.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

One is a TV antennea so I can watch myself at the nav station. I think I look quite good from this angle... don't you? Perhaps I should shift a bit?

Mark, baby, you look beautiful! You really need HDTV though...

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

One is a TV antennea so I can watch myself at the nav station. I think I look quite good from this angle... don't you? Perhaps I should shift a bit?

That seems fair enough especially as I guess being on camera probably financed your boat. You have probably also claimed it as a tax deduction as part of your profession

I suppose instead of writing a book, as seems practice for RTW cruisers, you'll be releasing a DVD instead?

[hoppy]

Mark, I recall reading that you want to mount an "arch" on your Bene. I think a scaled down one of these would go well on the 393

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by hoppy

you'll be releasing a DVD instead?

You have a choice: Me on DVD on your small TV, or me on a HUGE cinema screen with surround sound. Whatsitgunnabepunk?




IMAX is good

[hoppy]

How about the middle ground, on blueray in 3D

[MarkJ]

Not to take aside from your thread...


I have never done 3D. They say its very boring work because the technical side overshines the other side. i.e if setting up one camera is difficult the setting up 2 for 3D is a real pain.

[hoppy]

just to continue with the off topic. I heard that they have to shoot 3D differently to 2D which make the production more complex. In 2D they cut to different camera angles to give a feeling of depth but doing this in 3D can make it a bit disorienting to the viewer.

Hmmm I wonder if a 3D camera on a boat would give the viewer a better appreciation of the wave height?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by hoppy

Hmmm I wonder if a 3D camera on a boat would give the viewer a better appreciation of the wave height?

Its not one camera. Its 2 cameras in stereoscope.
2 cameras running next to each other (in parallel is not good enough. I did some films where they used parallel cameras in some shots) is not the same.

I dont know the difficulties as thats not my game, but its only done in studios where the focal length is exactly known. On waves one would always be out of focus.

Anyway, in reality, because of cost, it would always be done by computer generated graphics and the actors 'green screened ' in - superimposed also by computer.

There would be no time a 3D camera system would be on a ship taking 3D waves as it wouldn’t include the actors and if it did the waves wouldn’t look as good as CGI wave can... and even those look crook!

You need to remember the cost of this stuff compared to the value of it. watching waves in 3D would be exciting for a sailor for 30 seconds but it woulnt be worth the money to grab it.

In one way, I suppose, its good, because it gives us something unique that those at home will never see


Yes, you are right that there would be editing problems too. You can't cut between dissimilar footage - but you can dissolve - however I don't see how it can work in 3D as the apparently extended nose would suddenly snap back into someone’s face on the cut.

But knowing the amount of money pouring into films anyhting is possable soon enough. Pitty the poor bugger who have to work in it!

[fairbank56]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

Actually, I'm pretty sure this is an Iridium satphone antenna (or other satphone?). My satphone antenna looks identical to the one in the picture. Inside of mine there was a helical quadrafilar antenna made out of flexible circuit board. I cut it apart because it had stopped working --

Well, you could certainly be correct, but it also looks identical to the Magnavox antenna. I still have a couple of them stored in my shop. You don't have to cut them apart to get inside. The top part just unscrews from the bottom where the red gasket is although you do need to firmly attach the bottom section and then use a strap wrench to get it going as the threads have silicone rubber on them. Here's a pic of the Magnavox one. Could be that different manufacturer's use the same enclosure. BTW, I have a couple of Garmin GPSMap76 handhelds that use quadrifilar antenna's.

Eric

[Paul Elliott]

And here's my old satphone antenna:


I think we're both right.

No doubt I could have unscrewed my dead antenna -- I tried for a while but eventually resorted to a hacksaw. I was bored and curious. My spare "hockey puck" antenna was working fine, so I wasn't particularly interested in trying to fix the old one. Once I cut it apart it was obvious that there was no repair possible.