Get Satellite Radio and forget commercials

Marine Satellite Receivers are now available.

When satellite TV first came out I thought I had died and gone to heaven, no more commercials, or so I thought. Now many of the stations on "cable" carry commercials. You can still get uninterrupted movies on many of the stations, but you have to pay for them.

For now, you can pay a low monthly fee, usually twelve dollars a month, and get commercial free (over half of the stations are commercial free) satellite radio feeds right on your boat from either XM Satellite radio or Sirius Satellite radio receivers.

Satellite radio works much like satellite TV. The signal is sent to the satellite and the satellite sends it back down to subscribers. Some cities have ground repeaters if there are obstructions but for the most part it is direct to the receiver.
The best news is you do not have to replace your radio, you just tune your radio to a pre-selected FM station and away you go. Many models include wireless remotes also.
What the two leaders say about themselves.
SIRIUS is a service offering over 120 channels of satellite radio featuring digital-quality music, sports, news and entertainment programming when and where you want it.
XM is America's #1 Satellite Radio provider. America's most popular satellite radio service gives you the power to choose what you want to hear - wherever and whenever you want it.

How satellite radio works
Nice article at how stuff works on satellite radio

XM Satellite Forum
Try this forum to learn more about satellite radio

Sirius Satellite readio
Sirius FAQ page with lots of information

Topic Tags: marine radio, marine satellite radio, marine stereo, satellite radio, sirius radio, xm radio

Get the right length VHF Antenna

Figure out how long your antenna should be on your VHF Radio.

It is quite simple to figure out what your antenna length should be. Of course there are other factors that enter into the decision but it is really quite simple to figure your required antenna length.

First figure out how far you have to go to the radio you are going to communicate with. If it is a fixed base radio at your cabin you can get better coverage because you can mount the antenna on the cabin roof.
Basically, for 1.4 miles you need one foot of antenna. If you have two radios, both with 3 foot antennas you divide the number of miles you need to cover by 1.4 and round up to the nearest whole number. Divide it in two if you know both radio positions.
If you do not know the receiving antenna length just use an average of 3 feet (three feet times 1.4 is 4.2 miles) and you know how far away you will reach the other radio.
Because you both can reach out 1.4 miles for each foot of antenna, you can double the mileage that you can effectively reach.
If that confuses you just follow the links below to get a more detailed overview of how it all works.

Here is a formula for calculating the range of an antenna:

Calculation for Range of an Antenna:

Square Root of Height (in feet) above water x 1.42 = Range in miles

Remember to perform the calculation for BOTH vessels, and then add the results to get the range between two vessels.

Choosing an antenna
This is a great write up from the Shakespeare website on how to select and mount a VHF antenna.

Antenna Mounts
Great site for reviewing the different antenna mounting solutions available

Topic Tags: fixed mount vhf radio, marine antenna, marine radio, marine vhf antenna, shakespeare antenna,