www.iFourWinns.com

The wires are only carrying data signals. Larger wires are not needed. There saving $$$. At to placing the VHF annt. at the stern, the interference is minimal. That will only happen when the mike is keyed.

LOL - I was thinking about the guy giggling that made the default program.
Even the smallest crimp terminals are annoying at best with that small of a wire. I had to double mine over the insulation to give it enough mechanical surface to grab. I ended up putting them on a small terminal block so that I could easily utilize the chartplotter's NMEA0183 data among other devices. One of these days I should post some pictures...

While they are only carrying signals, they could be emergency signals. There is no way to reliably crimp such small wires. Cheap bastids.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I soldered them and used shirk tubing. On my new boat, NMEA2k, much easier.

A fixed VHF is the way to go for the boating you do. You can always take the VHF off for the newer boat later.

Things I would look for: Size, will it fit were I want to put it? NMEA2k connection. Hailer.

As Lou said about cell phones. Also, the first responders will be the boaters closest to you. Cell phones can't do that! All boaters should monitor ch16, If not mistaken, its the law after the Titanic sank.

Right there was a ship (The Californian) about 20 miles away from the Titanic when it sank. In fact the Californian had radioed the Titanic to warn them of the ice field. The captain of the Californian decided to stop for the night feeling it was too dangerous to proceed. The wireless operator went to bed and never received the distress signals sent by the Titanic. The captain saw rockets being fired but did not take any action according to reports. So this is why we are supposed to monitor Ch 16.....

http://jasonponic.hubpages.com/hub/The- ... ress-Calls

of course I soldered mine as well, even thought the CG electrical standards specifies that crimping is better, in this case its the only way.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

LOL - VHF wasn't even used for civilian marine communication until the 60s or thereabouts.
The crimp connections I used are pretty doggone tight, Lou. I don't think they'll come loose. I pulled on 'em good just to make sure. I have found that some of the manufacturers of the heat shrink crimp connectors seem to make real cheap-o ones that don't like to grab as good as others. I didn't bother with the heat shrink connectors though since the terminal strip is in a dry area, I garage the boat, and we are not in a salt environment. Even if we were, there is little chance of corrosion build up on the connection. Paul's method is best, but since I needed to branch out to other devices, the terminal strip was basically my only choice.