I have had a NASA wireless wind instrument for a year now and am happy with its performance for the type of sailing I do except for one issue . Whenever the boat heels violently in wind gusts for example transmission can be lost between the masthead unit and the base unit causing the display to go blank requiring me to switch off the system for a couple of minutes notwithstanding the manual saying it will automatically reconnect after two minutes . I'm guessing that the issue is the aerial on the base unit as the base unit is hardwired to the switch panel for power and the display unit in the cockpit. The base unit is inside the cabin and the aerial is a short floppy piece of wire ,see photo. Any suggestions or advice on what other manufacturers have .

Its data sheet says it works at 433MHz. So if you made the dangly wire the right length that could boost signal enough that the problem would go away. For the 433 MHz band the wavelength is 299.792.458 / 433.000.000 = 69,24 cm. Half of this is 34,62 cm and a quarter is 17,31 cm.
So if the dangly wire was 17.3cm long from where it connects inside to the end that could boost it. And use stiff wire so it's straight. Coiled up wire works like an inductor not an antenna. Do the same at the top of mast too

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Trek said..
Its data sheet says it works at 433MHz. So if you made the dangly wire the right length that could boost signal enough that the problem would go away. For the 433 MHz band the wavelength is 299.792.458 / 433.000.000 = 69,24 cm. Half of this is 34,62 cm and a quarter is 17,31 cm.
So if the dangly wire was 17.3cm long from where it connects inside to the end that could boost it. And use stiff wire so it's straight. Coiled up wire works like an inductor not an antenna. Do the same at the top of mast too

I'll try it , thanks Trek

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Trek said..
Its data sheet says it works at 433MHz. So if you made the dangly wire the right length that could boost signal enough that the problem would go away. For the 433 MHz band the wavelength is 299.792.458 / 433.000.000 = 69,24 cm. Half of this is 34,62 cm and a quarter is 17,31 cm.
So if the dangly wire was 17.3cm long from where it connects inside to the end that could boost it. And use stiff wire so it's straight. Coiled up wire works like an inductor not an antenna. Do the same at the top of mast too

That's great info Trek.
Any advice as to base station antenna alignment? Does it benefit being run in the horizontal or vertical plane?

I have the Tacktick equivalent and after watching a couple of youtube videos I would suggest the batteries may need replacing in the masthead unit.

If its not a battery issue as Ramona suggested, make the antenna at top and bottom parallel too. ie both antennas horizonal and both pointing astern. The best signal comes in and out of the "side" of the antenna not the ends. Making it the right length and same polarisation might pick it up enough to fix it.

Thanks gents. Ask me to totally strip ,repair and service an Omega Speedmaster chrongraph watch not a problem. Ask me about electronics .What?
So excuse my questions.
There are no wires on the masthead unit. It has a built in solar panel to keep the batteries
charged .
Problem only occurs when boat heels or changes direction suddenly so my thought was that perhaps the floppy aerial flops around and the transmission is temporarily obscured by a metal object or some other electrical instrument . So from above if I extend aerial to 17.3 cm with stiff wire and secure horizontally in a place where the base unit is reading the masthead unit ok it should retain connection irrespective of the boats movement. Perhaps it will also automatically reconnect after two minutes when transmission is lost.
What do you reckon.

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Bananabender said..
Thanks gents. Ask me to totally strip ,repair and service an Omega Speedmaster chrongraph watch not a problem. Ask me about electronics .What?
So excuse my questions.
There are no wires on the masthead unit. It has a built in solar panel to keep the batteries
charged .
Problem only occurs when boat heels or changes direction suddenly so my thought was that perhaps the floppy aerial flops around and the transmission is temporarily obscured by a metal object or some other electrical instrument . So from above if I extend aerial to 17.3 cm with stiff wire and secure horizontally in a place where the base unit is reading the masthead unit ok it should retain connection irrespective of the boats movement. Perhaps it will also automatically reconnect after two minutes when transmission is lost.
What do you reckon.

G'day BB,
Sounds like the way to go. The antenna on the base unit is probably a coax cable, which makes it difficult to 'extend'. As the first test I would definitely be aligning the antenna as Trek suggested. Antennas bias their energy along planes so you want to align your antenna so that the 'plane' is directed toward your masthead. This is generalising, but if both antennas were straight up and down it will look like this:


If you lay your antenna/s horizontal it will look like this;


Much betterer! I get that you wont be able to manipulate your masthead antenna (internal?), but even biasing your base station antenna may help a lot.
Cheers!
SB

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Bananabender said..
Thanks gents. Ask me to totally strip ,repair and service an Omega Speedmaster chrongraph watch not a problem. Ask me about electronics .What?
So excuse my questions.
There are no wires on the masthead unit. It has a built in solar panel to keep the batteries
charged .
Problem only occurs when boat heels or changes direction suddenly so my thought was that perhaps the floppy aerial flops around and the transmission is temporarily obscured by a metal object or some other electrical instrument . So from above if I extend aerial to 17.3 cm with stiff wire and secure horizontally in a place where the base unit is reading the masthead unit ok it should retain connection irrespective of the boats movement. Perhaps it will also automatically reconnect after two minutes when transmission is lost.
What do you reckon.

Sounds like a plan

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Bananabender said..
Thanks gents. Ask me to totally strip ,repair and service an Omega Speedmaster chrongraph watch not a problem. Ask me about electronics .What?
So excuse my questions.
There are no wires on the masthead unit. It has a built in solar panel to keep the batteries
charged .
Problem only occurs when boat heels or changes direction suddenly so my thought was that perhaps the floppy aerial flops around and the transmission is temporarily obscured by a metal object or some other electrical instrument . So from above if I extend aerial to 17.3 cm with stiff wire and secure horizontally in a place where the base unit is reading the masthead unit ok it should retain connection irrespective of the boats movement. Perhaps it will also automatically reconnect after two minutes when transmission is lost.
What do you reckon.

The batteries still need replacing. The weak signal could be a result of the batteries failing.

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Ramona said..

Bananabender said..
Thanks gents. Ask me to totally strip ,repair and service an Omega Speedmaster chrongraph watch not a problem. Ask me about electronics .What?
So excuse my questions.
There are no wires on the masthead unit. It has a built in solar panel to keep the batteries
charged .
Problem only occurs when boat heels or changes direction suddenly so my thought was that perhaps the floppy aerial flops around and the transmission is temporarily obscured by a metal object or some other electrical instrument . So from above if I extend aerial to 17.3 cm with stiff wire and secure horizontally in a place where the base unit is reading the masthead unit ok it should retain connection irrespective of the boats movement. Perhaps it will also automatically reconnect after two minutes when transmission is lost.
What do you reckon.

The batteries still need replacing. The weak signal could be a result of the batteries failing.

Yep, absolutely. But I'm hazarding a guess if it is a wee solar powered masthead unit the battery might not be replaceable. My Tacktick's were but only by Raymarine, not field doable.

Thanks Shaggy and Trek. Strong winds predicted later this week so I will play around with the antenna and see what happens. Ramona , mate I hope your wrong but if above fails I know what the problem is thanks .
Hell I love sail boats.

Just want to thank Trek,Shaggy and Ramona for solutions to my wayward wireless wind. I straightened out the floppy arial and affixed it horizontally in line .
PERFECT.