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Mobile advice needed

T

trkdriver

Member
Mar 2, 2008
4
0
11
Can someone tell me to stop buying antenna's.Im new to this and have a cobra29(my first radio) with 2 4ft firestik's on my 379 peterbuilt currently.I was told not to skimp on the antenna because it is a big part of the system,so I went out and forked out the cash for a wilson 2000 trucker.When I switched out the wilson (1) with the firestik's I was told that there was no difference so now Im confused?I have bought francis also and still no difference I was under the impression that a good antenna would make a small radio(which mine is no mods)sound big and blah..blah...blah..I am willing to spend the money IF it will make a difference I mean is approx. 4 miles all I can expect to get with my stock radio no matter what antenna I buy?How does a 20$ antenna work as good as a 70$ (FIRESTIK VS WILSON)?
 

if you had duals on your Pete , that means your install should have used 75 ohm coax , Your Wilson 2000 is a fine antenna , duals are not what there all cracked up to be in the first place (long story) you should do great with your Wilson 2000 , it sounds to me that you need to change the coax to a good 50 ohm line to the Wilson , RG-8X should be good to go. You will be very surprised how good it will work. Nothing wrong with a little tune up on your radio as well , but your right to say , your antenna and feedline should be numeral uno ! Good luck to you. And welcome to the Forum. SK
 
Hoo-boy, talk about a 'deep' subject with a touch of 'a can of worms' aroma to it! What it boils down to, sort of, is that price isn't always the 'best' indicator of how well something will work for you. In most cases, at least some of that cost is there because of the 'name' on the item. Then there's always that "style'n and profile'n" thingy. And then there's the 'what are you expecting' part to.
As S.K. said, 'duals' aren't always the best way to do things, depending on what you want to start with. No 'magic' to it. I'd have to say that from what you've said that there's probably 'something' not quite 'right' with the way you happen to be doing things. I'm not going to try to guess what that 'something' is, just too many things it could be. The 'KISS' principal really is effective. Sort of 'tweaking' things doesn't hurt, but there are limitation$ to everything, right?
None of that was any help at all was it? Oh well.
- 'Doc

One way of looking at it is that if 'they' can't hear you, then it's 'their' loss, not yours.
 
Thanks for the replys guys.SK youthink the single wilson work as good then maybe I need to look into that it does bother me that I coughed up the cash only to have it sit behind the seat in the cab.Come to think of it I couldn't get the wip high enough to bring swr's down on ch1 maybe I wasn't using 18ft of coax only 12ft could that be the cause?
 
Its a99 day cab.I know that you adjust the stinger lenghth according to the swr's my point is I had the the stinger all the way out and it still was a touch short,maybe I need to buy a 10" shaft to replace the 5" and get the coil up higher?I think I have a 9ft lenghth of the clear mini8 coax would that be ok?
 
I'm gonna give you the same info SK gave me and it helped me out quite a bit.

http://signalengineering.com/ultimate/
http://www.firestik.com/Meas-SWR.htm

I'm using two Brownings BR-28 High Gain Broadband antenna that I picked up for 25 or 30 bucks for both. They're co-phase on a 2000 Pete with a sleeper. I made sure I had a good ground going to the mirror brackets and used the right coax, I think it's a 12 foot co-phase cable, and after checking the swr I have a 1.5 and can hear and talk around 10 to 15 miles down the road, so I've been told maybe even farther.
 
Another reason for that 'tilted forward' thing is that when moving, the thingy sort of straightens up from wind resistance.
- 'Doc
 
W5LZ said:
Another reason for that 'tilted forward' thing is that when moving, the thingy sort of straightens up from wind resistance.
- 'Doc
Click to expand...

the things guys will do to compensate for a limp stinger........
 
Solitude,
Oh, it can indeed make an antenna somewhat directional. The question is, how much, what direction, and is it really effective enough to make it worthwhile? Gaining directionality is always at the expense of something else. If that 'something else' isn't too much to give up for what's gained, great. I honestly have doubts about there being enough difference to make it worthwhile though. Certainly possible, just not very likely...
- 'Doc
 
Thanks to SK and others I decided to hook up the wilson with 18ft of rg8x and it seems to be working great.I just wish I could ditch the spot-light that is right above my miror bracket.Maybe a 10" shaft would serve me better or is it not bothering my signal?thanks again.
 
as long as your swr is good i wouldnt worry.how are your swrs on 1 and40?
i agree with what everyone has told ya.mainly cause been there done that myself
i dont know why 18ft. seem to be the lenth that works the best in a mobile situation
but it does
 

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