Poor reception???

[Lyn]

I replaced my fixed VHF with a brand new eclipse this year and the reception is terrible. I have a shakespeare 3'whip antenna mounted at the top of the mast with several connectors along the way. I also have a splitter for am/fm/vhf which is suppose to enable same cable and antenna for both. AM/FM has great reception! Could the splitter be the source of my problem or the connectors?

 

[Ken Palmer]

Bypass it for test

You should be able to buy a "barrel" adaptor at Radio Shack. Use this to "splice" the coax from the radio to the coax to the antenna, bypassing the splitter.The biggest problems with connectors is the shield (ground) not making good contact inside the coax connector. If you can twist the whole connector body on the coax, you have a bad connection. Take the connector apart and try again. Instructions for putting a connector on properly can be obtained in the ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Handbook, available at your local library.Ken Palmer, S/V Liberty