[Rhodes22-list] R22 Instrumentation

[Ronald Lipton]

A mounted VHF raido with masthead antenna is pretty
cheap insurance for situations where the batteries die,
the radio falls overboard, or if you get so pissed at
the person you are talking to you throw it into the
sea (I am accused of doing this).

Ron
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <DCLewis1 at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] R22 Instrumentation



PT,

Thanks for suggesting a radio and EPRIB as baseline instrumentation.   I
agree.  I hadn't thought of an EPRIB w GPS, but it seems like an  excellent 
idea.

Regarding a radio, when I inquired about insurance the rep asked  whether we’
d have a VHF radio - and I instinctively understood the correct  answer.  I
suspect we’ll save much of the cost of a radio in the insurance  premium. 
She
didn't ask about any other instrumentation.

For the near term I thought I’d go with a hand held radio as opposed to a
larger unit. There’s less power and the effective antenna height is low 
which
will limit range.  On the other hand, it’s battery powered and portable so 
if
we were swamped, turtled, or whatever, it would be there and work.

Over the long term I think a mast mounted antenna is the way to go.   From 
my
perspective, for communications range forget the stern.  You may  pick up a
few dB with a larger antenna on the stern, but you will lose a couple  of dB 
in
the transitions and cabling to the stern.  You’ll be ahead, but  your big 
hit
is the line of sight issue - for example in the trawler accident  the 
antenna
could be substantially masked by the waves at least part of the  time.  If
you can get the antenna high (e.g. mast mounted) I think you’ll  be better 
off -
until you have to inspect or service the beaste.

Dave

__________________________________________________
Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list