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dual mother trucker II antennas

T

trailrider

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Jul 22, 2012
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in my closet i have a set of new still in the box mother trucker II antennas. they were made by HY-GAIN. the paper they were packed in is dated 1978.

anyone remember these antennas??? i'm debateing weither to go ahead and use these as a co-phased set up on my pick-up or leave them in ther box. hy-gains order number for these was 427. they have a 36 inch lower shaft' then the center load that looks like a beer can' and then a 35 inch whip. they were designed for 18 wheelers back in the day. while i would not be able to get the distance between them to work as they were intended' I think they would look killer behind the cab of my truck.
 
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A semi tractor would run these antennas with a cophasing harness.

coaxphs.jpg


http://signalengineering.com/ultimate/co_phasing.html

But they also run them 9 ft away from each other too - on each side of the truck and on the mirrors. Having them 9 ft apart - or farther - is ideal for a cophased antenna setup. But if they are any closer than 9 ft; then the effect is lost. IOW - you would be better served by just running one antenna on the roof - IMO.
 
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Because of how they are shown to be mounted I think they probably wouldn't work too well on a pickup as you suggest. But if 'looks' is what you're after, I think they would definitely be different. They would probably work as well as any other 'dual' set up mounted in the same way. No idea how 'well' that would be though.
- 'Doc
 
Usually when you see a cophased setup on a pickup it is just for looks. The antennas are pretty much always to close together to give you any real directionality, so what you get is a more difficult to tune than usual omni to start with. Then most of the antennas are directly behind the cab of the truck killing most of the forward facing RF energy.

That being said, if its looks you are after I can't say that I have seen anything like those on a pickup truck yet.

If you want them to actually function well I would make custom brackets that would let you mount the antenna portion of the set above the cab.


The DB
 
being as they were made by HY-GAIN from that many years ago i just have to believe them to be good quality antennas. I wish i had some of the newer trucker center load antennas from today like the k-40s and the wilson center loads to compare them against. it would be interesting how much or how little the newer antennas have advanced or not in the last 40 years.
 
I ran a set of MT II's on my '73 El Camino SS. Too narrow for co-phasing benefits but they looked totally cool, and I was pleased with the way they performed. Getting the match right is the key. If I had another set today ... I'd run them just for the WOW factor.

- 399
 
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here is the deal' I have a 2002 dodge pick-up that is red and a single cab. I was looking for a theme many years ago and one day it came to me. anyone remember the LIL RED EXPRESS pick-ups from 1978@ 79??? well i found a graphics company in canada that would reproduce the decals. so i ordered a set and put them on my truck. now i have a modern day lil red express pick-up. and since cb was big back then i got to thinking about combineing something old with something new' and since these antennas are from 1978' i got to thinking that this could turn out to be a match made in heaven. on the other hand considering that they are still brand new in the box' I thought maybe i should save these and maybe try to find someone who collects antennas and would enjoy having a set of these for their collection. still thinking.
 
find someone who restores and displays old semis (muesum maybe) so others can enjoy them also. if you break one then it is worthless.

you do what you want they are yours, just a sujestion nothing more.
 
trailrider said:
in my closet i have a set of new still in the box mother trucker II antennas. they were made by HY-GAIN. the paper they were packed in is dated 1978.

anyone remember these antennas??? i'm debateing weither to go ahead and use these as a co-phased set up on my pick-up or leave them in ther box. hy-gains order number for these was 427. they have a 36 inch lower shaft' then the center load that looks like a beer can' and then a 35 inch whip. they were designed for 18 wheelers back in the day. while i would not be able to get the distance between them to work as they were intended' I think they would look killer behind the cab of my truck.
Click to expand...

Back in '77 when I started Trucking Hustler came out with a set similar to those Antennas we call them Beer Can Antennas.
 

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