Anyone recommend a budget amp?

[9C1Driver]

You could stick a mag mount on a washing machine in your back yard and it would work.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

preferably a round circle of sheet metal nine foot in diameter

 

[redbeast]

Hey Rabbiporkchop....nuthin for nuthin, but in that vein of thought, if you were to use a beedlove puck mount, and drill&tap it for lets say 8 radials about 18" each and then mount a sirio 5000 would that give a decent/better ground plane? Just a thought, probably been tried.

preferably a round circle of sheet metal nine foot in diameter

 

[rabbiporkchop]

Hey Rabbiporkchop....nuthin for nuthin, but in that vein of thought, if you were to use a beedlove puck mount, and drill&tap it for lets say 8 radials about 18" each and then mount a sirio 5000 would that give a decent/better ground plane? Just a thought, probably been tried.

Don't waste your time with ground radials on a car. Focus on the rf grounds.

 

[Sarasota Slim]

@Limeybastard:

I would recommend going to the ARRL website, and ordering a couple of books on antenna basics.

http://www.arrl.org/shop/Antennas/

Antenna theory is far more complex than I had ever thought, unless you happen to be a mathematical wizard. But, it's useful to get into.

Also, invest in good coax. Using cheap coax could be likened to plumbing your house with soaker hoses.

 

[Limeybastard]

@Limeybastard:

I would recommend going to the ARRL website, and ordering a couple of books on antenna basics.

http://www.arrl.org/shop/Antennas/

Antenna theory is far more complex than I had ever thought, unless you happen to be a mathematical wizard. But, it's useful to get into.

Also, invest in good coax. Using cheap coax could be likened to plumbing your house with soaker hoses.

Thanks for the link, will be useful.

 

[Old_Crow]

5/8 wave antenna worked the best for me with a good ground plane to get nice gain, if space is limited a good 1/2 wave will do and you don't need a ground plane but gain will be less.

 

[Mudfoot]

Running a +70w radio with a mag mount seems like it should do well enough all on its own - IMO . . .

I would try it like this first. If you like it, take the money you saved and spend it on a better antenna....something non magnet.

 

[Mudfoot]

Fek, thought didn't think my antenna was that bad. But what do i know, not much hence here.at your mercy lol.

I couldn't give a toss about drilling a hole in the roof, but by how much would that improve performance compared to similar mag mount install? Dont need to be exact, a rough figure would suffice. 10% better, 20...%? I was under the impression that a good mag mount was good. Failing that a 102" ball mounted whip as high as possible , for practical reasons perhaps back of bed near cab as high as possible to reduce reflection.

Surely then adding an amp would allow me to "touch" further after mastering the antenna projects ?

I hear folks from alabama, Oklahoma, trinidad and Tobago , Louisiana, Massachusetts but can't talk to any of the closer ones to me. Im in central Florida Hernando county.

Start drilling and never look back. Just need to observe your roof situation, though. Sometimes, you may need to add some thickness or bracing, especially when using some of the Sirio mobile antennas. They can be stout/heavy and flex the roof panel. Darn good antennas.

 

[bassman21]

Regardless what the people that don't want you running an amp will tell you, an amp will make a big difference, but it's true antenna is most important. Sirio 5000, Predator Coil or Wilson 5000 are your best bet for an antenna. The Wilson 1000 is fine, but I would upgrade the coax. I wouldn't mess with anything from Xforce due to the PP100s being crap. Get you a real amp. If you're going to be doing SSB get it biased. I wouldn't mess with anything that does less than 300 watt, I spent so much time and money trying to get off cheap and following the ideology of "you have to triple your wattage to get one S unit, 100 watts is all you need", wish I would have went with a 2x8 Dave Made from the start with Toshiba's. I would get a Texas Star DX with DEI's over an RM amp, you can turn it down if you want less watts. Just my opinion.

 

[radioreddz]

Refine your antenna system hard mount the antenna if you can do some bonding get your radio properly tuned if it's not then after that if you still want more performance try a Xforce TNT 350 works great with my 955 in the mobile and My 955 as my bedroom radio.