Coaxial and mast light cable thru deck

[MacWind19]

Hi,

I am attaching an antenna to the top of my mast. I am having a hard time finding a good connector to use for the coaxial through the deck connection. Does anyone know of a connector that I could use for both my mast light and my coaxial RF cable. I am fairly certain the coaxial shouldnt be connected through one of the regular two prong deck connectors, as this leaves a length of unsheilded RF signal that may cause too much noise in the line. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Aaron

 

[sailingdog]

You can get a long PL-259 female-to-female connector to lead the coax connection through the deck. Something like this:


image courtesy of C-mesales.com, click photo to see product page.

 

[Maine Sail]

You'll

You'll want to bed that 259 through deck and then wrap the entire fitting and the 259 on the coax with a waterproof tape to seal out moisture as well.

I would suggest the largest low loss cable you can possibly fit in the mast. I am using RG-8U and had RG-58, which totally stunk, because it had considerable loss in transmission output when compared to a beefier cable. The VHF is a safety item and you'll want the best possible transmission when you need it most..

I plan to do a "how to" on PL-259's soon..