For the first time I was able to call out and make contact from my driveway on a mobile with a short whip and a small radio
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11 meter is very quiet?
- Thread starter Tweetybird
- Start date
I’m always curious about semis doing well per SSB. Straight AM hard enough. I can often hear, but am not heard on sideband in the plastic fantastics I’ve been driving.
Kept this fourstringburn pic as a reference for a future attempt.
I have the antenna mounted as far out on the antenna as I can get it. I am lucky to have a truck with the "old" style mirror mount.It seems to work well. I have talked ssb up to about 50 miles and AM maybe 25 or so. But that is to base stations. The browning antenna seems to work as well as any fiberglass antennas I have tried.
The browning can take a beating and keeps on working. The fiberglass antennas, not so much.
I even run the coax through the door jam. I know it's a no-no. But it just seems to work.
The browning can take a beating and keeps on working. The fiberglass antennas, not so much.
I even run the coax through the door jam. I know it's a no-no. But it just seems to work.
West Coast mirrors really do help. (Bonding from interior to arm bolts across bushing + across door hinges, also).
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Slow,
When I was in a big truck (Freightshakers and LT's) I had some decent success with SSB DX using a LII and a 7' Firestick on the drivers mirror. No biscuit burners used. Talked from Ohio to deep south quite a bit on the good days. Some days I could make good contacts when the band was open, some days I wondered if the radio was transmitting at all. Always ran a ground strap from antenna mount to frame, never counted on getting a good ground thru the door hinge. With so little sheet metal to use I always believed that the "ground plane" was actually the road under the truck (per K0BG). That 7' Firestick was by far the best antenna out of many tried.
73
How did you keep the firestik from getting damaged? I have all but given up on fiberglass antennas on the semi.
Codeman,
Never had a bit of trouble with damage with the 7 footer. Still have the antenna after 5 years or so use on the road. Always had it on the drivers mirror, tilted it forward just enough to have it vertical at speed. Only mishap was knocking off the cap on a tree behind a Lowe's I was delivering to. Kept the ice off of it in the winter. Took it off a time or two when killer headwinds were really torqueing it back.
73
Yeah he was bending the needle in sw Pennsylvania
Thx
Several years back I ran a pair of 7’ Skipshooter on an FL Evo. Didn’t care about SSB then.
Otherwise, if I could hear them, they could hear me. Local, and Skip.
It is since then — notably in 579 Pete’s — with the desire widened to SSB that I’ve been hampered by poor antenna mounts as one cannot mount to those mirrors (interference on opening with truck body).
Cross-hinge bonds helped, as did cab to frame.
Just not enough.
Other than this (details in last post of that thread) it was GTG for all expected truck AM work.
Don’t know what next tractor will be, but you’ll see my attempts with it.
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Yeah I heard Mark,he was a little annoying...............
Keep the faith @Slowmover !
I have made contacts with all 3 of my working SSB radios in the big truck over the past few months with a slightly less than optimal antenna setup in the Volvo. The problem is getting over the big strapping base stations and big power mobiles on 38LSB is almost impossible. As the cycle improves we'll probably have better luck as more folks move to the freeband frequencies they aren't as busy as the SSB "Superbowl"!
I myself had to put the Freightshaker install on hold as I myself am "out of service"! Took a bad fall at home and broke my friggin' neck! No worries, not as bad as that sounds, but I gotta heal up before getting back out there! Hopefully back after it sometime in August!
You guys are killing me reading about the improvement of "conditions"! Maybe try to string up the Radiowavz Double Bazooka in the next couple of weeks at the house and see what's going on?
Right now I have to hope the Missus doesn't kill me..............
JD
Helluva way to tell ‘em you ain’t gonna drive no durned Freightliner!
Sorry for that reminder of mortality you suffered. I’ve gone thru a few, but being a pain in the neck to others didn’t rebound the EXACT same way.
FWIW, (questioning yourself, maybe, as to “cause”) everyone is wired pretty tight lately. They’re worse on the roads every few weeks versus every few years (new stupid habits) I’m sure you’ve noticed. The poorer the tools to cope, the likelier the loss of control. For us, it gets harder.
As to being stuck at home, sure, get on the air. Better for us to be helpful on air (as a motivation) since getting out of ourselves just became more difficult the usual ways; the small things as drivers we learned to do as courtesies to remind ourselves we aren’t like those who just cut us off in traffic.
I got around to visualizing a home base station lately. Still a mobile install, but with some variances here in the travel trailer. Started a thread, and made some lists. Got the DX-99v2 rack-mounted yesterday with a new-from-the-box KL-203 on top. Dug thru the zipper bags of spares all over the place and put the kit together for power. “Borrowed” the puck mount from the pickup install: Wow! It’ll work.
Here’s hope to an early end to your troubles and that you have both a good appetite and can get restful sleep. I’ve learned that pain, etc, can be dealt with if those two are in good order.
So now you’ve graduated from being a PITA to a PITN, maybe a new pair of glasses goes along with it. A new way of laughing at adversity.
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