Extension pole for VHF

[Simon B]

We'll be replacing our aerial soon, have been looking at Metz and Vtronics Rib Raiders, now, what I was wondering was during normal operation standard height is ok but if required would extra height help.

Would an extension pole sort of telescopic thing be of any use to yak the aerial up a height say 1-1.5 metres higher? lives out of the way down side of A frame tube with aerial mounted ontop of it for normal use.

We've previously used a pacific GRP whip its ok but not brilliant the most annoying thing is walking into the blasted thing when its folded down or nearly having your eye out on it, hence the shorter neater rib type thing.

[jyasaki]

For VHF, for max range, higher is better.

Question is, is it worth the hassle to get that extra range? Telescoping extender has drawbacks: What to do with the extra cable while it's not extended, stowing/dispensing, etc.

Someone on this site mentioned having a short whip (3'?) that was mounted near the top of the A-frame, which when folded down was flipped 180 degrees, so it paralleled the frame tube. Sounds like it would be well out of the way like that.

jky