Do you have a suggested antenna? this will be mobile on a pick up truck, and I do have a center top of cab (crew cab) 4in.Breadlove puck mount.
-
You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
Best 10 meter mobile high power (legal power)
- Thread starter Mudduckmobile
- Start date
Agreed with W9CLL suggestion.
I only mentioned the simple to use and install Atas 120 to lure you into considering using a screwdriver antenna for a mobile instead of a bunch of mono- banders. The other screwdriver antennas like the Tarheels aren't difficult as they only require using a supplied control cable and some antenna matching with a supplied matching shunt coil.
The Atas 120 and 80 meter Little Tarheel are lossy antennas because all the inductance matching is in the inner antenna coil itself and requires no feed point matching. These antennas should be avoided if you want some better efficiency and also the ability to run an amplifier.
A breedlove puck mount will support the Little Tarheel HP which is a 500 watt 6-40 meter antenna weighing just over 1 lb.
Here is a pic of my Little Tarheel HP with a 24 inch mast and 24 inch. diameter capacity hat. With the cap hat, I increased efficiency by using much less coil to tune each band and significantly increased bandwidth where on bands 10 thru 20 meters, I now have full bandwidth with a flat SWR across those bands and picked up about 30 KHz more bandwidth on 40 meters before re-tuning in band. I lost 6 meters since the cap hat is equivalent to having a much longer whip in a much shorter height. I approximate my 2 ft. mast and cap hat is equivalent to using a 7 ft. whip. I did gain the 60 meter band and can tune there with about an 1 1/2 of coil left.
I use a auto screwdriver controller that is interfaced to my radio that will auto-tune the antenna simply by pushing a button to raise or lower the antenna to match the frequency which is great for mobile operation.
So how do you know where to place the "cap hat". I have read some about cap hats, and i understand how they work but I don't get how you know where to place them. Also what is the coast to set up any antenna as this, and we have real temp. swings here....I live at about 3500ft. in cent. oregon does the motor in this antenna go well with freezing temps? Also you say the tarheel is "lossy", is this the case with the little tarheel?Agreed with W9CLL suggestion.
I only mentioned the simple to use and install Atas 120 to lure you into considering using a screwdriver antenna for a mobile instead of a bunch of mono- banders. The other screwdriver antennas like the Tarheels aren't difficult as they only require using a supplied control cable and some antenna matching with a supplied matching shunt coil.
The Atas 120 and 80 meter Little Tarheel are lossy antennas because all the inductance matching is in the inner antenna coil itself and requires no feed point matching. These antennas should be avoided if you want some better efficiency and also the ability to run an amplifier.
A breedlove puck mount will support the Little Tarheel HP which is a 500 watt 6-40 meter antenna weighing just over 1 lb.
Here is a pic of my Little Tarheel HP with a 24 inch mast and 24 inch. diameter capacity hat. With the cap hat, I increased efficiency by using much less coil to tune each band and significantly increased bandwidth where on bands 10 thru 20 meters, I now have full bandwidth with a flat SWR across those bands and picked up about 30 KHz more bandwidth on 40 meters before re-tuning in band. I lost 6 meters since the cap hat is equivalent to having a much longer whip in a much shorter height. I approximate my 2 ft. mast and cap hat is equivalent to using a 7 ft. whip. I did gain the 60 meter band and can tune there with about an 1 1/2 of coil left.
I use a auto screwdriver controller that is interfaced to my radio that will auto-tune the antenna simply by pushing a button to raise or lower the antenna to match the frequency which is great for mobile operation.
The cap hat should be placed at the top of the antenna, hence the word "hat". Simple as that!
As for costs, that varies for what you want. A Little Tarheel HP antenna sells for around $400. which includes the manual control switch, 20 ft. motor control cable, shunt matching coil and other odds and ends for install. You already have a puck mount so you are good to go there.
A cap hat is something you can add on later if desired but worth considering. Tarheel doesn't recommend them on the Little Tarheel series because the weight and wind loading could put too much stress on the antennas inner coil. I use the DX engineering caphat system because the mast is lightweight aluminum and been doing so for years with no issues. The Tarheel caphat they sell looks to be much heavier and probably why they don't recommend using it. One concern about caphat is the height issue. While your overall height is greatly reduced from using a whip, one direct hit from a tree branch and the solid mast will destroy the antenna. Using an antenna spring on the mast won't help because at highway speeds, the caphat has too much wind loading and will flop around all over the place. I already tried it with a stainless steel heavy duty pot-belly type spring and same results.
As for cold weather? not a problem. Being an over the road truck driver I have operated this antenna for the past 4 years in the high country of Colorado over 8000 ft. elevations down to sea level and through ice storms and sub zero temps in the plain states one day and down to 60 degree weather in Phoenix Arizona 2 days later. Obviously if your antenna is iced over from sitting out overnight during a winter storm, you would want to break the ice off of it before using it.
Thank you.
My plain, was to use a mono band antenna when mobile. I do not talk and drive....may be a little but as a rule I don't talk and drive. So whit that said a mono bander was the thought for driving. Now that you all have me thinking about this screwdriver antenna, if mounted to the top of my crew cab I am thinking only mount it when I am stationery, I dont want to bust it off on some tree branch as I mobile on our mountain back....way back roads.
Any thoughts on the very long mil. type multi-band whip antennas?
Ham sticks can get long especially on 20 meters and below but can take a beating. With the whips pulled out and tuned, they can be up to 7 ft. or more.
Another good option is to use a 102 or 108 whip and a remote tuner. This is what the over priced Icom AH-4 is based off of. These can effectively tune up a long whip and cover the HF bands 6 thru 40 meters. You would have to change your installation to to do this though but that might be the way to go for what you are looking for.
This setup can ONLY work with the remote outdoor type tuner and is directly mounted at the base of the antenna and connected with a super short coax jumper of 1 ft. or less. Reason being is on the lower bands below 10 meters and even at 12 meters, the antenna is too short and a long piece of coax between the tuner and antenna will act as the missing part of the antenna and radiate in a very undesirable way causing RFI and other issues. So with the tuner connected to the antenna with a very short jumper, the tuner itself in essence becomes part of the antenna system as an effective matching unit.
The MFJ-926B is a good example of a remote tuner. These are weatherproof with mounting brackets so you can rig it up to your whip as close as possible. These are auto-tuners so they work when you key up with 10 watts or less and the SWR is over a preset amount. They receive their power to operate directly from your main coax line using a supplied coax bias TEE so no other cabling is required. This tuner is rated for 200 watts and sells for around $280. There are higher power versions also.
Another good option is to use a 102 or 108 whip and a remote tuner. This is what the over priced Icom AH-4 is based off of. These can effectively tune up a long whip and cover the HF bands 6 thru 40 meters. You would have to change your installation to to do this though but that might be the way to go for what you are looking for.
This setup can ONLY work with the remote outdoor type tuner and is directly mounted at the base of the antenna and connected with a super short coax jumper of 1 ft. or less. Reason being is on the lower bands below 10 meters and even at 12 meters, the antenna is too short and a long piece of coax between the tuner and antenna will act as the missing part of the antenna and radiate in a very undesirable way causing RFI and other issues. So with the tuner connected to the antenna with a very short jumper, the tuner itself in essence becomes part of the antenna system as an effective matching unit.
The MFJ-926B is a good example of a remote tuner. These are weatherproof with mounting brackets so you can rig it up to your whip as close as possible. These are auto-tuners so they work when you key up with 10 watts or less and the SWR is over a preset amount. They receive their power to operate directly from your main coax line using a supplied coax bias TEE so no other cabling is required. This tuner is rated for 200 watts and sells for around $280. There are higher power versions also.
Last edited:
Thank you. I do have 4 or 5 102 whips here and a 108 too as well as a 32in. "tuning tube" with the end removed for a 102 or a 108 will give me from 102in. to 132in. in length, I can also put a VERY heavy duty s.s spring on to add 4.5in.Ham sticks can get long especially on 20 meters and below but can take a beating. With the whips pulled out and tuned, they can be up to 7 ft. or more.
Another good option is to use a 102 or 108 whip and a remote tuner. This is what the over priced Icom AH-4 is based off of. These can effectively tune up a long whip and cover the HF bands 6 thru 40 meters. You would have to change your installation to to do this though but that might be the way to go for what you are looking for.
This setup can ONLY work with the remote outdoor type tuner and is directly mounted at the base of the antenna and connected with a super short coax jumper of 1 ft. or less. Reason being is on the lower bands below 10 meters and even at 12 meters, the antenna is too short and a long piece of coax between the tuner and antenna will act as the missing part of the antenna and radiate in a very undesirable way causing RFI and other issues. So with the tuner connected to the antenna with a very short jumper, the tuner itself in essence becomes part of the antenna system as an effective matching unit.
The MFJ-926B is a good example of a remote tuner. These are weatherproof with mounting brackets so you can rig it up to your whip as close as possible. These are auto-tuners so they work when you key up with 10 watts or less and the SWR is over a preset amount. They receive their power to operate directly from your main coax line using a supplied coax bias TEE so no other cabling is required. This tuner is rated for 200 watts and sells for around $280. There are higher power versions also.
With this tuner and a whip I could mount to my tool box behind the cab, and the tuner could be mounted under the tool box lid with about 2in. of coax to the antenna. but do you think the screwdriver would be better?
I never tried the Tuner whip combo but according to what I read, the screwdrivers are better. Is it a real difference that one can notice? maybe. Typically mobile installs like even base installs are a compromise of many factors and we go with what will work best for are given situation.
Your idea for mounting a tuner/whip combo is Ideal though.
Here is a quote from K0BG who I believe you are aware of,
Auto-couplers (call them antenna tuners if you please) can get rather lossy, especially at the edges of their matching capabilities. One common reference is an 8 foot CB whip driven with an AH-4. Seemingly, the combination works well, and folks make contacts with the set up. Who cares if it is a couple of S units down from your average screwdriver?
Typically, nothing bad happens if you're cognoscente of the high RF voltage present, even on 40 meters where it is at its max matching range. But, how many folks have put their hand atop their AH-4 after a long QSO? I suspect not many. If they did, they'd easily feel the warmth. I personally have never seen one with a melted cover, although I've been told by a few users that their's did.
The same type of losses can happen to even large base stations tuners when running modest power when they're improperly tuned and/or at their matching limit. They don't melt perhaps, but they sure do arc!
The only reason some mobile antennas don't burn up, is simply due to the fact they have enough heat dissipation; surface area if you will.
The whole point here is, you can work the world with modest power if conditions are correct. The only addition you'll get if you go all-out with your mobile installation, is a few more contacts, you might not make otherwise.
Your idea for mounting a tuner/whip combo is Ideal though.
Here is a quote from K0BG who I believe you are aware of,
Auto-couplers (call them antenna tuners if you please) can get rather lossy, especially at the edges of their matching capabilities. One common reference is an 8 foot CB whip driven with an AH-4. Seemingly, the combination works well, and folks make contacts with the set up. Who cares if it is a couple of S units down from your average screwdriver?
Typically, nothing bad happens if you're cognoscente of the high RF voltage present, even on 40 meters where it is at its max matching range. But, how many folks have put their hand atop their AH-4 after a long QSO? I suspect not many. If they did, they'd easily feel the warmth. I personally have never seen one with a melted cover, although I've been told by a few users that their's did.
The same type of losses can happen to even large base stations tuners when running modest power when they're improperly tuned and/or at their matching limit. They don't melt perhaps, but they sure do arc!
The only reason some mobile antennas don't burn up, is simply due to the fact they have enough heat dissipation; surface area if you will.
The whole point here is, you can work the world with modest power if conditions are correct. The only addition you'll get if you go all-out with your mobile installation, is a few more contacts, you might not make otherwise.
One trick you could do with a tuner/whip combo is when you are parked and want to operate, MFJ sells a 17 ft. telescoping whip that collapses down to 26 inches for easy under seat storage. These sell for about $55.00
I use this on my screwdriver when operating stationary to get much improved efficiency on 40 meters and can easily operate on 80 meters. It comes just short of operating 160 meters though.
This can really improve the performance of a tuner/whip combo. These telescoping whips have a standard 3/8 x 24 CB type threaded stud so you easily swap out with your 108 whip.
Here is a pic of my antenna with the telescoping whip.
I use this on my screwdriver when operating stationary to get much improved efficiency on 40 meters and can easily operate on 80 meters. It comes just short of operating 160 meters though.
This can really improve the performance of a tuner/whip combo. These telescoping whips have a standard 3/8 x 24 CB type threaded stud so you easily swap out with your 108 whip.
Here is a pic of my antenna with the telescoping whip.
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
I use the KW160-6 mounted behind the cab of my Crew Cab Silverado with a 63 inch whip out of the top
You have opened my eyes.One trick you could do with a tuner/whip combo is when you are parked and want to operate, MFJ sells a 17 ft. telescoping whip that collapses down to 26 inches for easy under seat storage. These sell for about $55.00
I use this on my screwdriver when operating stationary to get much improved efficiency on 40 meters and can easily operate on 80 meters. It comes just short of operating 160 meters though.
This can really improve the performance of a tuner/whip combo. These telescoping whips have a standard 3/8 x 24 CB type threaded stud so you easily swap out with your 108 whip.
Here is a pic of my antenna with the telescoping whip.
This something good. I drive if you will to a place and set up, have fun.
All done antenna back to "mobile mod." ( tle-whip swiched out for mobile stinger).
And off you are.
Glad to help. Ultimately you make a decision on what''s best for what you want for your particular operation. We just pass on what we use or are familiar with.
Here is a link for that MFJ telescoping whip.
http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-1979.
They have a version with an adjustable loading coil to that you might want to look at. This is good for portable operation and the coil has a 3/8 x 24 female thread which will thread into your CB style stud mount.
http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-2286