VHF antennas 4' or 8'

[setterguy]

Looking at finally mounting my vhf radio and I need to get an antenna. The 8' is just so big, am I really going to lose that much range with the 4' antenna? The biggest bodies of water I fish are probably Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnie, maybe LOTW and Michigan once in a while. Am I going to be able to get good enough reception for the weather channels with that 4 footer or should I bite the bullet and get the 8?

[ripstick]

Dont know for sure about LOTW but Mile lac & Superior I found out 8 works better. Started with 4 and yes I had to bite the bullet. But all in all its your call.

[setterguy]

That's exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for...was/is most of your communication boat to boat or were you struggling to get the weather also...I'm thinking that's all I would ever use mine for. Thanks for the quick response.

[Bandit]

I also started out with a 4 ft. and changed to an 8. Mostly so I could talk to friends at a longer distance on LOW. I never had problems getting the weather with either one.

[Northlander]

Go 8' and you will be fine and no regrets.

[setterguy]

That sounds like the consensus...thanks guys.

[LMITOUT]

I used a 5' Shakespeare and it worked well, but longer/higher is better with all other things being equal. Even with a shorter antenna there is typically a weather channel you can find on one of the channels that comes in better than the rest. I don't remember how many weather channels I had on the RAY 45, but there was always one or two that you could get depending on you location.

[PerchJerker]

There is no substitute for height, you will have noticably better transmission and reception boat-to-boat with an 8 foot antenna.

With that said, I am contemplating getting a shorter antenna to have on the boat most of the time, so it takes up less room but is still usable. And switching back to the 8 footer when I'm on big water and want to maximize the range.

Regarding weatherband stations, they transmit with so much power that you should have no trouble receiving them. In my garage with my antenna down I can receive 3 different wb stations.

[DinkADunk]

Go with the 8', smaller antenna's are pretty much useless unless you have a very tall boat (and can get the antena up high). I generally keep my 8' laid down unless I need (feel) to talk, traveling (say a long run on LOW or Mille Lacs), or trolling. Even with the antenna down I still pull in the weather channels just fine.

[sparkyaber]

Setterguy- why don't you get the big guy, and then just take it off when you don't need it? If you are interested, I could give you the part numbers for the options that I found to connect and disconnect the coax cable throught the bulkhead of the boat.