i just received a new in package big momma made by antenna specialists its a model m-510. can anyone tell me anything about these? the packaging looks to be atleast 20 years old! thanks.
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big momma
- Thread starter wirejockey
- Start date
Hello Wirejockey:
I installed a few of those Big Momma Antennas on Vans and Trucks and they worked really well.
Jay in the Mojave
I installed a few of those Big Momma Antennas on Vans and Trucks and they worked really well.
Jay in the Mojave
Hi WJ,
I sold a bunch of the Big Momma antennas 25-plus years back. They did a better job than the cheaper "skinny coil" M-125 Antenna Specialist antennas. The stinger is longer, and the coil will take more power.
They had one fatal flaw that I encountered. The big, chrome-plated cap on the coil has a glue seal to the top edge of the gray plastic coil housing. Once that glue seal starts to come loose, rainwater will "wick" into the small gap, and fill the coil with rainwater.
Sometimes the water would corrode the coil and connections inside. If I caught it early enough and dried it out, a layer of RTV would re-seal the top cap to the cylindrical plastic coil housing, and keep it dry. Again. For a while.
The Big Momma coil would take power better than a K-40. Wasn't any such thing as a "Wilson" mobile antenna back then to compare it to. It was famous for giving you a great impedance match when mounted to a (metal) trunk lid. Not all antennas would do that.
73
I sold a bunch of the Big Momma antennas 25-plus years back. They did a better job than the cheaper "skinny coil" M-125 Antenna Specialist antennas. The stinger is longer, and the coil will take more power.
They had one fatal flaw that I encountered. The big, chrome-plated cap on the coil has a glue seal to the top edge of the gray plastic coil housing. Once that glue seal starts to come loose, rainwater will "wick" into the small gap, and fill the coil with rainwater.
Sometimes the water would corrode the coil and connections inside. If I caught it early enough and dried it out, a layer of RTV would re-seal the top cap to the cylindrical plastic coil housing, and keep it dry. Again. For a while.
The Big Momma coil would take power better than a K-40. Wasn't any such thing as a "Wilson" mobile antenna back then to compare it to. It was famous for giving you a great impedance match when mounted to a (metal) trunk lid. Not all antennas would do that.
73
Back in the 70's the best antenna I ever had on my truck was a Big Mama mounted in the center of the roof on my Astro 95.
Took the power from a Palomar 500 being pushed from a peaked out to 12 watts Pace 2300 no problem.
Here's a great article on Copper Electronics about the 'Big Mama' and also testing between most of the popular current mobile antennas.
