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HF in the mobile ??? or just 10 meters???

M

mr_fx

Sr. Member
Oct 8, 2011
1,536
172
173
Kansas City
right now I run CB (102 whip) and 2m (1/4 wave mag mount) in the Jeep (Cherokee)

So running 10 meter would be simple

However what would I need to run 80m-12m?
 

I agree with Audio and 42....

I would think that 10 to 17 would be very doable with a tuner and a 102 inch whip...but any lower in frequency would be pushing it a bit

And I do still see antennas with the stingers (coils) for the various bands or a ham stick antenna would not be a bad idea
 
I have two problems with a screwdriver antenna:
1) Difficult to mount, unless you use a license plate mount or trailer hitch mount. I don't have a trailer hitch so the license plate mount would do me. But you need a rigid, robust mount to handle a screwdriver.
2) Winter is hell on a screwdriver. We have cold winters up here which screws up the motors, and we also have road salts and calcium to contend with which will rot out a screwdriver over the winter.

So that leaves Ham Sticks, or a Hustler system, or if you can find one a Webster Band spanner.

I'm currently running a Hustler system with my Yaesu 857D.
 
Tuner & band spacific ham sticks. Im aure you have room on the floor board to lay the unused sticks in the Jeep.

★ Sent from my Droid★
 
I run 160m and 75m mobile with an 857 and an original bugcatcher with no tuner, just a lot of tap points.
Everyone always asks why I don't get a screwdriver so I wouldn't have to get out and tune.. well I don't wander too far from my freqs and I prefer the bugcatcher over a screwdriver.
so if you've got the real estate and don't mind the funny looks you WILL get, then go with a big antenna.... besides, it's nice to load it up QRO and watch the corona lighting up the highway on those winter nights ;)
If you do decide on a screwdriver type antenna I highly suggest the Hi-Q line... sure they cost more but they perform way better.
 
QROdx said:
I run 160m and 75m mobile with an 857 and an original bugcatcher with no tuner, just a lot of tap points.
Everyone always asks why I don't get a screwdriver so I wouldn't have to get out and tune.. well I don't wander too far from my freqs and I prefer the bugcatcher over a screwdriver.
so if you've got the real estate and don't mind the funny looks you WILL get, then go with a big antenna.... besides, it's nice to load it up QRO and watch the corona lighting up the highway on those winter nights ;)
If you do decide on a screwdriver type antenna I highly suggest the Hi-Q line... sure they cost more but they perform way better.
Click to expand...

I coulda swore Texas bug catcher hung up his hat (they shut down) ?

★ Sent from my Droid★
 
Henry,one of the best guys you could ever talk to, temporarily retired.
He now builds stuff when he feels like it.
I own the last 6160 coil he built before he retired.
Richard sweet talked Henry out of full time retirement and is selling bugcatcher parts and accessories through his store in Paris,TX maintradingcompany.com
 
I see a lot of screwdriver antennas mounted on pickups around here. Most vehicles don't have ham plates or call signs in the windows, so I don't know who they are. Usually see several every week.

I hear a lot of 40 meter mobile stations, out 4-800 miles and quite a few on 17 meters as well. They other day I heard two mobiles talking to each coast to coast!:D
 
Captain Kilowatt said:
Forget about using a 102 whip and a tuner below 20m. Been there done that. 40m sucked big time and 80m was just not there at all. It did work quite well above 20m however.
Click to expand...
That definitely is not my experience. I used a remote tuner such as an Icom or SGC right at the whip feed point. I used a piece of copper strapping as the conductor. Worked well.
 
VA3ES said:
That definitely is not my experience. I used a remote tuner such as an Icom or SGC right at the whip feed point. I used a piece of copper strapping as the conductor. Worked well.
Click to expand...


Tuning was not the issue for me but signal strength was. I used copper strap as well, about 8 inches of it, from tuner to feedpoint. If you had good signals on both RX and TX then you are in the minority as almost anyone that has used such a setup reports crappy performance on 80m and barely marginal on 40m.My 80m Hamstick worked better and actually allowed me to work Europe from the mobile on 80m on many occasions where the 102 and tuner sucked.
 
I use a Hi-Q 4-80 on my Jeep Wrangler. Almost all of the issues you will run into are mechanical or structural. If you have an aftermarket tire carrier on your Cherokee, you could mount one there like I did. I had to reinforce mine, though. It's a bit of work to get one of these big antennas mounted and working properly, but they do perform as good as possible in a mobile environment once you do.
 
I've used several mobile HF antennas, they all 'worked' to some extent, some better than others (naturally). I've spent a lot of time on 80 meters and have found that the 'bigger' and 'uglier' the antenna the better it worked. 80 and 40 meters are the least 'efficient' bands as far as mobile antennas go, they just require 'large' antennas. Even then, the efficiency is down into the single digits, and the lower the frequency the lower those 'single digits' get. There's just no way around that. But, that doesn't mean that you can't do a lot of communicating HF mobile, you certainly can. And you don't need a lot of power either (it does help though).
For a lot of years the 'bugcatcher' antennas were the most efficient/best around. The distinction between a bugcatcher and the next in line isn't all that great anymore, but it's still there. So what's the 'runner-up' to that bugcatcher? A really big screwdriver antenna. The diameter of the loading coil really does make a difference. In a very general way, the fatter that coil and the longer the whip on top of it, the better it will do. There are limits to that though, so getting carried away with that fat coil thingy turns into a liability sort of quickly.
So what's best? Depends on the person using it and just what he wants to do. The biggy about the screwdriver antennas is that you don't have to stop and change coil taps. They are great for us lazy people, even us cheap ones.
Most of all of this is dealing with 80 meters. I've tried 160 meters and just gave up on it, too much antenna even for me.
- 'Doc

(Ain't got rid of my bugcatcher and don't plan to. Would sell my screwdriver, but only for more than what another one would cost. I think that's saying the same thing just in another way, huh?)
 

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