Mobile Phone Antenna's / VHF

Hey guys, lately we have been pushing further and further out to sea, particularly with the deep drop, and can be up to 35nm out.

I am only in a 5.6m boat, and during this off season I want to try and improve my communications out there. ATM I only have 27mhz with a 1.8m aerial.

So the first thing I am going to do is install a VHF radio, most likely with a 2.4m whip.

The second thing is to try and get an external antenna for my phone.

I have found a phone with an antenna port, so I will use that, no cradle required.

Does any one on here run an external phone antenna, and if so, what sort of results are you getting?

What sort of antenna will I need to get phone coverage 35nm out?

Cheers


Posts: 5739

Date Joined: 18/01/12

just concentrate on the VHF,

Wed, 2015-10-14 17:46

just concentrate on the VHF, if you have it working right you should easily get that distance to VMR.
We use our iphone (not 100% of the time) at 90 miles out.
Your phone has a very weak transmission and is more affected by atmospherics than aerial-i.e it works when the conditions are right.
I get moderately reliable signal from the Abrolhos at 32NM and when we are steaming along the coast outside the shelf usually have enough at least for texts.

Phone=not worth the money/bother.

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Bucko's picture

Posts: 138

Date Joined: 08/05/10

Cheers Rob, will take that on

Thu, 2015-10-15 13:03

Cheers Rob, will take that on board.

just dhu it's picture

Posts: 1081

Date Joined: 14/05/09

Vhf radio

Fri, 2015-10-16 06:03

Bucko.  As rob said I would ensure you have a good quality antenna and radio setup , especially the antenna and maybe get it checked for its output power and receiving signal strength  which should easily get you 30 plus miles,   I have done a lot of phone antenna work and you would need two different gain antennas for your phone to cover what you need , yes you would get up to 50 miles but the two antennas would cost around $ 200 and then there's no guarantee they will work in the areas you travel to and would change depending on the weather / atmospheric conditions as well but it does give you piece of mind ,   Out wide you definitely need a GPS active Epirb.  And DSC radio is a bonus.  IMO