I didn't say I didn't want to mess with the coax at the mast. For me, and I realize we are all different, I will raise the mast 3-4 times a year at most. My boat sits in a slip all year except winter when it's at home and all stowed. I pull it out occasionally if something comes up. My concern over the coaxial comes from all this talk. Doesn't seem it should be so fragile
My point was to lean on you all's expertise and don't let me cripple the effort by putting it on the mast if I am going to screw it up by not holding my mouth right or facing west and saluting Washington. If I can mount it on the transom, I don't have to worry about someone getting shocked if they touch it (now you see my ignorance). And I will have at least better than my $90 WM hand held. (Which I am keeping). I am good with that too if you guys tell me so, although I have had slips where I pull in aft first and we come in over the laz. My current slip is not this way.
I also, and I know someone will poo poo the notion, don't want it to look like sh** either. I don't want you guys arguing. We are all here to ask for and offer assistance to each other. A community, a brethren.
I can use a cell phone on most of the Chesapeake, not all, but most, if I can't, I will be able to in 5 minutes in my experience. Heck if I fired a flare, there is not a single place on the bay that it won't be seen. It's big but populated. A situation like Sumner dealt with is unlikely on the Chesapeake bay. Not the incident but rather the inability to call for help.
I like the DSC because it may be me that is injured. I can manage plenty of signaling if it's someone else or I am capable myself. The nice thing with DSC, I can get back to dealing with the issue at hand and not spending a lot of time building smoke signals.
Our boats present a challenge that a MB, large SB's, and others don't have to deal with. I think we all get that. The bend radius is interesting and concerning that the wire is so fragile (such as a kink or smash).
I think I have the idea at this point. I can always improve on it later if need be.
With no radio experience, it's too bad we just can't use the backstay as an antenna itself. It's become increasingly apparent that VHF is a lot more complex than am/fm.
Let me thank each of you for your input and expertise. If it was a broken A/C, heat pump or gas furnace, I can fix just about anything in that world but I am smart enough to know that's a completely different world.
