Marine VHF Antenna Mounted on the very bow on a standard marine ratchet mount, this is a Shakespeare 3db stainless steel whip, 3 feet long, base loaded, model #5241-R. These antennas sell for about $40 at marine supply stores (the West Marine catalog number is 165714), and seem to be consistently good performers -- and very wide bandwidth as well according to a friend's scan with an MFJ impedance analyzer (the spec is 7 MHz). The unit ships with 15' of RG-58 coax, which we had to extend in order to reach the marine radio mounted inside the arch -- I wanted to put the antenna on the arch but the radio's manual insisted that it be at least 3' away. The joys of tiny boats... The ratchet mount mates with the 1" threaded base, and is bolted onto a molded pad on the bow with four 1/4-20 stainless flatheads . Here is a close-up photo of the mounted antenna. Detailed specifications may be found here. Back to Microshipnet drawing...