What’s the best TV antenna for marine?

Boaters, you know that life on the water is different from life on land. No matter what it is you plan to bring on your boat, it’s got to be ready to live up to the harsh conditions that marine life entails.

And yet, the whole point of being on a boat is to enjoy yourself. During the day this means sun and surf and fun, but when you settle in for the night, you’re going to want entertainment. If you’re down in the cabin, you might not get great cell reception unless you put in a cell phone booster. Unfortunately, those only work a few miles from shore.

On the other side of the equation, there’s marine satellite TV. It’s a fabulous option and we at Solid Signal activate more marine satellite TV accounts than anyone. But satellite’s not for everyone. It’s costly and the antennas used are pretty big. They might be a bit much for a small cabin cruiser.

So that leaves you with TV antennas.

TV antenna signals routinely travel up to 50 miles offshore. Once you buy and install the antenna, there’s no cost at all and you get the highest quality signal. Antenna TV is a great value.

The problem is, there’s no one making a truly “Marine TV antenna.” I don’t know why and I’ve talked to several manufacturers about it. It’s possible the market could open up at some point for it, but for now you have to look at what your best bet is.

I’m pretty sure that you’ll find no antenna better suited to marine life than this Majestic UFO X RV antenna. It’s designed to be mounted on an RV, which is a rough environment just like marine. It’s completely sealed which is going to work better in a corrosive sea water environment. This antenna is even white, which will match a lot of the marine electronics you already have. It’s designed to work by being fished through a fiberglass panel, too. This antenna does so well that some of our competitors actually market it as a marine antenna.

Omnidirectional design

The omnidirectional design of this antenna means absolutely no aiming. That’s important because the last thing you want to do is start monkeying with an antenna five times a night as your boat drifts. That’s another reason this antenna really shines.

To install it, simply find a place where it can sit on a flat surface, as high up as possible. There is a mast mount available if you need it, so you have other options for installation. Run any RG-6 cable with solid copper core through the ship and down to the wallplate. There’s a power injector that will need to be wired into electrical power. While it’s designed to work with an outlet, it’s a 12 volt power supply so it should wire straight into the ship’s low voltage system.

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About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.