Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I carry a handheld but would prefer a mounted radio for more power and longer distance.
Was curious where some of you, if any of you, have mounted the antennae (8 ft).
My canopy covers my drivers seat so mounting at console most likely will be an issue.

Any picks or ideas would be great.

thx

Should have pics on my build, i mounted on back of hardtop BUT it is a pita because of covered slip, the whole up/down thing.
Slip we are getting w/land will have open slip so not an issue.

Keep this in mind...vhf is line of site, so the curveture s/p of the earth is limiting factor ie offshore it is like 15 miles (pure guess)

So on typical lake here, i
Range may be 1/4 mile or 6 miles, so typical lake pontoon doesnt really need to be up high.

Lots of info out there, I mounted mine up high because it's out of the way...and...higher is better all around

Hope this helps

Thanks, yeah I am on a river 200 miles long, intercoastal 400+ miles long and venture into the gulf 15 miles off shore sometimes, so sometimes out of phone range, rarely, but does happen. The handheld is, well, is what it is, good for very short distance.
Will probably use it more for fun/hobby than functional and emergency. But always good to have one.

I get your wanting an 8 footer. I had one on my boat in Panama City Beach and I could pick up the Coast Guard in Mobile. That's a lot of antennae when you don't have a hard top.

I have my grill deck-mounted on it's own pedestal like you'd use for a table. It's mounted to the outside edge on the stern deck. It's 3 feet off the deck and the top surface could support an antennae. Only other issue would be which way you want the antennae to fold down, or not. That pedestal actually has a ring-shaped mount bracket that screws into the deck and the pedestal slips into it and twists into place. So, the whole thing could break down in a minute of two of unscrewing a few connectors.

My two cents.

I ran across this posting in a pontoon group and it might give you some ideas.

Here's a rail mounted downrigger. "The bottom is bolted to plywood, the top mounting I made a plate and shims to attach to the rail."
Here's a grill, also rail attached.

That's a pretty clean looking mount for the downrigger. Thanks. I am still looking at some options.

Sorry for the late response...haven’t checked here in a while. I ended up using l-brackets with u-bolts on the side rail for my VHF & Sirius antennas. The l-brackets had a flange where you could screw down the antenna, & i put them next to my bimini posts so that they don’t have to be removed to put the cover on. Works great, although i know having the VHF next to a post does impact range.

Cc

You can get a quick disconnect for your antenna at most truck stops. Store the antenna with rods when not in use. I had one on my Jeep for parking garages.

Henpecked wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:19 am

You can get a quick disconnect for your antenna at most truck stops. Store the antenna with rods when not in use. I had one on my Jeep for parking garages.

Welcome back!