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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Broke our TV Antenna

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britinusa
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5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/25/2013 : 17:50:55

After a successful sailing trip Friday & Saturday pull out Sunday, we arrived home and I found, to my dismay, that I had left the TV Antenna in the raised position!

I'm guessing that a tree at the marina is holding it ransom!

I'll have to replace the stainless steel supporting post and the Antenna. I have plenty of Stainless tube, but the $130 for the new Antenna sucks.

Of course, I could mount the new one on the Mast head!

Paul

Joint Decision. (Sold)
PO C250WB 2005 Sail # 841.

Moved up to C34 Eximius

Updated August 2015

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GaryB
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Response Posted - 08/25/2013 : 20:20:42

Sorry to hear of your misfortune Paul.

I recently purchased an antenna for the boat and it has add more satisfaction than I thought it would.

I've been trying to figure out where and how to mount it to a pole to get it up about the height of the boom. So far I have been just laying it on the top of the bimini when I need it and then removing and laying on the quarter-berth when not in use. Do you have any pictures of your installation?

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Voyager
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Response Posted - 08/25/2013 : 21:02:36

Paul - I usually don't endorse specific products but the "Mohu" Leaf HDTV antenna has insane performance over any other TV antenna I've tested. And it's American designed and built! Something like $40 for the basic unit.
See [url="http://store.gomohu.com/the-leaf-indoor-hdtv-antenna.html"] The Leaf [/url].
It's the size and thickness of an 8.5"x11" Manila envelope that can be mounted inside or outside the cabin with a piece of chewing gum. You could replace yours with a mast-based version but it probably wouldn't perform any better. Freakin' amazin'

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 08/26/2013 : 03:27:24

Bruce, did you try the leaf (or leaf plus) on the boat?

Our previous Radio Shack Omnidirectional antenna was definitely not 'Omni' directional! As the boat swung on the anchor (even limited with our riding sail hoisted) we would go in and out of signal.

The shakespere model worked really well, and we would pickup more channels and signal strength would remain high enough despite swinging on the hook.

I mounted ours using a piece of 1" stainless tube secured vertically to the starboard catbird seat, inside that tube was a 7/8" stainless tube that could slide up and down. A simple push pin through a hole drilled right through the inner tube held it up. I would guess the tube is about 9' above the cockpit deck.

To trail the boat, simply pull out the pin and lower the tube, it would reach down below the rounddown.

The only issue I had with that setup was the antenna cable, it passes through the hull just below the catbird seat aft support tube. It had to be long enough to stretch from the bottom of the tube to the hull when lowered and in the raised position, so there is about 3' of antenna cable hanging out the bottom of the tube. I had not figured out a way to keep that neat and tidy. I have the same issue with my solar panel on the port side.

I did read up on the leaf via the link you provided and on Amazon, only found one negative comment that mentioned directional issues. Hence my question did you try it on your boat?

Paul

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Voyager
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Response Posted - 08/26/2013 : 11:48:56

Paul - no, never tried it on the boat - I dont have a boat TV. In your TV market are you within 5-10 miles, 10-40 miles or > 40 miles from the transmitters? That matters. I bridge 2 markets - within 40 miles of Hartford-New Haven and 50+ miles from NYC.

The literature claims that the antenna is omni and when I tested it with local stations, the antenna didn't care about orientation. But for distant stations, reception did change according to position not angle - I assumed micro reflections were creating peaks and valleys of signal strength (aka picket fencing).

Since signal equalization is typically performed during channel setup, swinging on the hook could move you through the peaks and valleys and the receiver would be unable to track that.

I also have a "frisbee" Shakespeare omni and it's great for nearby channels but poor on distant signals. It truly is omni, thus has no gain.

So as in most things technical, it's a trade off.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 08/26/2013 : 12:15:49

We 'had' the Shakespeare Antenna, as you said, worked great, until some idiot left it in the raised position and departed the marine with the boat in tow

We still have the amp for it in the Cabin!

All of the towers appear to be about [url="http://www.antennapoint.com/antennas/show?id=33032&commit=Search"]40+ miles[/url] from our regular anchorages.

Searching!

Paul

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GaryB
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Response Posted - 08/26/2013 : 16:54:04

I have the Shakespeare antenna too and my boat is 30 - 35 miles from most of the antennas in our area (I live 2 miles from the Houston are antenna farm with 7 - 2000' antennas which I can see from my front door).

If I set me antenna on top of the cabin top I gt most channels, if I set it up on the bimini I get excellent reception on all channels even if the boat moves around. I'm very satisfied with it.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 08/26/2013 : 19:02:36

So far from my online research, I'm planning on getting a replacement Shakespeare antenna

Seen a couple of alternatives, but nothing seems to get the reviews of Shakespeare.

Paul

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 08/27/2013 : 04:37:41

[url="http://www.thegpsstore.com/Shakespeare-SeaWatch-3020-Marine-TV-Antenna-P3490.aspx"]Shakespeare won[/url]

The new model that replaces our old one looks to be even better!

Paul

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Voyager
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Response Posted - 08/27/2013 : 18:38:42

It looks like a very beautiful thing. Will it fit on your pipe within a pipe to raise the antenna up? I might pull mine out and give it a try with my FM radio.

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britinusa
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Response Posted - 08/27/2013 : 19:24:32

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Voyager
 It looks like a very beautiful thing. Will it fit on your pipe within a pipe to raise the antenna up? I might pull mine out and give it a try with my FM radio.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Should do.

it's on 2nd day air, so should get it in time to do the repair for a trip this labor day weekend!

paul

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GaryB
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Response Posted - 08/27/2013 : 20:09:55

I believe this is the same model I bought a while back (I'll check this weekend). As I said above it works great.

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