Help! Identify Antenna’s

[Ecosta]

This boat is new to me. Most of the equipment is approximately 18 years old (see photo attached) I cannot identify the purpose of the dome and swirl antenna on this tripod. I’m also not sure why there is 2 gps antennas. One being a Raystar and the other I’m not sure. I’ve tried to follow the wiring back but it gets lost inside the boat. Can anyone help me decipher this mystery please?

 

[Tom J]

Wow, that is a plethora of electronic thingies! Not sure about most of that stuff, but I think the swirly thing might be a wind generator. Be careful the Coast Guard doesn't board your boat for being a national security risk.

 

[Ecosta]

Wow, that is a plethora of electronic thingies! Not sure about most of that stuff, but I think the swirly thing might be a wind generator. Be careful the Coast Guard doesn't board your boat for being a national security risk.

Lol, yes I’m sure they’ll be looking for high tech spy equipment. No the swirly thing is stationary (doesn’t move) and has a wire coming out of it.

 

[kloudie1]

Swirled thing is an old sat nav antenna, before GPS. Two GPS antennas and a radar maybe.

 

[dlochner]

Most if not all of those antennas could be sent to a recycler. 20 years ago the technology was not good enough for satellite reception to build antennas into chart plotters so they needed an external GPS. Thus, any device that needed a GPS had a separate antenna, the array was often referred to as the mushroom farm.

All of those devices are archaic and simply add more weight to the stern. They can go away.

 

[Brian D]

The "swrily" antenna is, as mentioned, a satellite antenna. It could be archaic GPS or weather satellite.
The big one on the left is radar
The one if front (closest to the camera) could be phased array satellite/tv/internet antenna
The others two look like GPS antennas.

Mostly all guess on the phased array. But the swrily is still useful, we hams use those types of antennas for data.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

It’s called a turnstile antenna. A google search for that will explain what it is. The rest is trash easily replaced with a combo AIS/VHF antenna. gPS is typically internal these days.

 

[rgranger]

I’d does look cool though…

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Do birds like to perch there and drop poop on the boat? Remember the Poop Deck naval term

 

[ifmdalvey]

Is that really all mounted on a sailboat? One of the gps receivers could be a Sirius receiver, i had one that looks the same on my boat. The one that could be a radar scanner looks far to small to me, i would need to see what's inside it.

 

[jssailem]

The big one on the left is radar

The large cable indicates an analog radar

The one if front (closest to the camera) could be phased array satellite/tv/internet antenna

Looks like a large coffee can. Would guess a satellite phone. Check for an MSat G2 Satellite phone at the Nav station. If correct the antenna would be a 3 axis marine grade unit.

The pair of mushroom like antennae center in top look to be GPS units.

 

[DArcy]

Wow, that is an impressive antenna farm for a 30 ft boat. The previous owner must have been a real gadget guy. I'd be tempted to get rid of all of them and just put a new radar on the post. Or repurpose it for solar panels or a wind generator which would be much more useful.

 

[BarryL]

Hey,

It looks like somethin from the movie 'waterworld'!

I suggest trashing it all and starting over.

My boat does have two GPS sources - one for the B&G plotter and a separate one for the Vesper AIS system.

Barry

 

[rgranger]

... I'd be tempted to get rid of all of them and just put a new radar on the post. Or repurpose it for solar panels or a wind generator which would be much more useful.

Or move it onto a 14' aluminum john boat and have fun watching people scratch their heads as you motor by.

 

[Ecosta]

Wow, that is an impressive antenna farm for a 30 ft boat. The previous owner must have been a real gadget guy. I'd be tempted to get rid of all of them and just put a new radar on the post. Or repurpose it for solar panels or a wind generator which would be much more useful.

Oh geez I forgot to update my boat on this site. This is on a 44 foot boat I recently purchased. I have wind generators on the side.

 

[Ecosta]

Wow, that is an impressive antenna farm for a 30 ft boat. The previous owner must have been a real gadget guy. I'd be tempted to get rid of all of them and just put a new radar on the post. Or repurpose it for solar panels or a wind generator which would be much more useful.

The big one on the left is radar

The large cable indicates an analog radar

The one if front (closest to the camera) could be phased array satellite/tv/internet antenna

Looks like a large coffee can. Would guess a satellite phone. Check for an MSat G2 Satellite phone at the Nav station. If correct the antenna would be a 3 axis marine grade unit.

The pair of mushroom like antennae center in top look to be GPS units.

Bingo Brian. You got it. That’s what it is then. I have a sat phone on this boat. The pair are gps. I was wondering why there’s two. I have two MFD’s but they connect to each other. All I could think is that even though they connect they both need their own antennas. Thanks for solving the coffee can mystery!

 

[Ecosta]

Wow, that is an impressive antenna farm for a 30 ft boat. The previous owner must have been a real gadget guy. I'd be tempted to get rid of all of them and just put a new radar on the post. Or repurpose it for solar panels or a wind generator which would be much more useful.

The big one on the left is radar

The large cable indicates an analog radar

The one if front (closest to the camera) could be phased array satellite/tv/internet antenna

Looks like a large coffee can. Would guess a satellite phone. Check for an MSat G2 Satellite phone at the Nav station. If correct the antenna would be a 3 axis marine grade unit.

The pair of mushroom like antennae center in top look to be GPS units.

Most if not all of those antennas could be sent to a recycler. 20 years ago the technology was not good enough for satellite reception to build antennas into chart plotters so they needed an external GPS. Thus, any device that needed a GPS had a separate antenna, the array was often referred to as the mushroom farm.

All of those devices are archaic and simply add more weight to the stern. They can go away.

Thank you I believe you’re correct about the 2 mushroom gps. I have 2 Raymarine RL80C MFD’s that are connected to each other. I think each has its own gps like you mentioned. Cheers!

 

[Ecosta]

Wow, that is an impressive antenna farm for a 30 ft boat. The previous owner must have been a real gadget guy. I'd be tempted to get rid of all of them and just put a new radar on the post. Or repurpose it for solar panels or a wind generator which would be much more useful.

The big one on the left is radar

The large cable indicates an analog radar

The one if front (closest to the camera) could be phased array satellite/tv/internet antenna

Looks like a large coffee can. Would guess a satellite phone. Check for an MSat G2 Satellite phone at the Nav station. If correct the antenna would be a 3 axis marine grade unit.

The pair of mushroom like antennae center in top look to be GPS units.

Most if not all of those antennas could be sent to a recycler. 20 years ago the technology was not good enough for satellite reception to build antennas into chart plotters so they needed an external GPS. Thus, any device that needed a GPS had a separate antenna, the array was often referred to as the mushroom farm.

All of those devices are archaic and simply add more weight to the stern. They can go away.

The "swrily" antenna is, as mentioned, a satellite antenna. It could be archaic GPS or weather satellite.
The big one on the left is radar
The one if front (closest to the camera) could be phased array satellite/tv/internet antenna
The others two look like GPS antennas.

Mostly all guess on the phased array. But the swrily is still useful, we hams use those types of antennas for data.

Do birds like to perch there and drop poop on the boat? Remember the Poop Deck naval term

Lol, no they prefer the lifelines. Funny enough I’ve never seen a bird on this contraption yet. Hmm! Wonder if that has something to do with radiation.

 

[Ecosta]

Wow, that is an impressive antenna farm for a 30 ft boat. The previous owner must have been a real gadget guy. I'd be tempted to get rid of all of them and just put a new radar on the post. Or repurpose it for solar panels or a wind generator which would be much more useful.

The big one on the left is radar

The large cable indicates an analog radar

The one if front (closest to the camera) could be phased array satellite/tv/internet antenna

Looks like a large coffee can. Would guess a satellite phone. Check for an MSat G2 Satellite phone at the Nav station. If correct the antenna would be a 3 axis marine grade unit.

The pair of mushroom like antennae center in top look to be GPS units.

Most if not all of those antennas could be sent to a recycler. 20 years ago the technology was not good enough for satellite reception to build antennas into chart plotters so they needed an external GPS. Thus, any device that needed a GPS had a separate antenna, the array was often referred to as the mushroom farm.

All of those devices are archaic and simply add more weight to the stern. They can go away.

Do birds like to perch there and drop poop on the boat? Remember the Poop Deck naval term

It’s called a turnstile antenna. A google search for that will explain what it is. The rest is trash easily replaced with a combo AIS/VHF antenna. gPS is typically internal these days.

Thank you! I have an Icom M802. I’m assuming this is for that SSB. The coffee can looking one will be for my sat phone as mentioned in this thread. That makes sense too.

 

[Brian D]

None of that is for the 802. SSB will have its own wire antenna usually connect to the top of the mast from the stern. Usually being the operative word.