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Cheap alternative to Gunny riser

IDIeselman

Active Member
Oct 20, 2010
260
38
38
53
Lake Michigan
Finally decided to give the 102" a try, I used a wilson 5000 5" mast and a couple connectors. For a adjustable 108" It seems to work quite well, SWR is 1.2 on 1 and just moves the needle on the Vanco enough to say it moved but not enough for a reading on 40. Made a few local contacts but have not had the chance to see if there is an improvement over the P10k. I stole the idea from a local radio head friend and thought it was worth sharing. I will be moving it the the inside right rear bed rail but it will do for now where it is.

wilson-ant-riser-001.jpg
 

ive suggested trying that to several folks ..... good to see it tuned so well for you :)
be sure to update us on its tx and rx after youve had more time to evaluate it .
 
I did the same thing with a 12'' piece of all threaded rod and those wilson nuts on a 96'' fiberglass whip from an old shakespear bigstick and it worked fine as well.
 
Thanks guys, I can get almost 2" of adjustment from the wilson shaft but after messing with it a little I can't say it does much for tuning. Will I see an improvement moving it to the inside rear corner of the box or should I leave it as is?

Thanks
Tim
 
Thanks guys, I can get almost 2" of adjustment from the wilson shaft but after messing with it a little I can't say it does much for tuning. Will I see an improvement moving it to the inside rear corner of the box or should I leave it as is?

Thanks
Tim

I'd say if you have it mounted solid and you're seeing a good tune why mess with it unless you need the bed space?
 
I think youʻll get better SWR on the rear corner of the bed cause where you have it now, the cab is in the way. But a 1.2:1 SWR is good. Good luck, aloha, James....

Picture1.png



Thanks guys, I can get almost 2" of adjustment from the wilson shaft but after messing with it a little I can't say it does much for tuning. Will I see an improvement moving it to the inside rear corner of the box or should I leave it as is?

Thanks
Tim
 
I built one out of a piece of 1/2" copper pipe. Use two copper caps and drill holes in each cap and solder bolts in them then solder the caps to the piece of pipe then use 2 unions and there you go. You can put it together first and adjust accordingly.
 
I built one out of a piece of 1/2" copper pipe. Use two copper caps and drill holes in each cap and solder bolts in them then solder the caps to the piece of pipe then use 2 unions and there you go. You can put it together first and adjust accordingly.

is this what you did ?
The $5 Hustler Mast

those wilson trucker shafts use 3/8 x 24 threads .
 
Here is the break down pic I mentioned. As far as rx-tx I can't honestly say I notice a difference between the P10K and the 102" Besides the 102" is much easier to tune (bolting it on is pretty easy) and I have no worrys about bumping a tree or the drive thru height bar. I do like the looks of it where it is mounted. The 10K made my truck look like a platform for an antenna where the 102" looks like a simple and effective antenna mounted on a truck. It's a keeper(y)

antenna-pieces-001.jpg
 
I've done a very similar thing with my 102'' on a hand fabed bracket off a bolt on the bottom driver side of the rear bumper I bought a 3' piece of all thread with a coupling nut and a jam nut cut a 6'' piece off of the 3' piece screwed the antenna into one end then screwed both onto the 6'' althread with the jam nut on screwed all of it onto the mount then tightened the jam nut down to the mount now have a full 1/4 wave antenna and love the tx but my ears are not as good as I would have thought. Ok now that I've rambled on for ever now thant's my 2 cent's and my antenna set up.
 
Had an interesting experience with the GP riser...
First let me say , I run a DX979 well tuned and no mods, 18' of RG8, a 3/16" steel mount bracket with HD stainless stud, stainless barrel spring and 102" whip. Zero impedance to ground both at the antenna base and radio, 1:1 swr.
I installed the riser in place of the spring and swr went to 2.7:1 with no ground issues to the stud but as soon as I checked antenna to coax I discovered 27 ohms of resistance. Checked stud to coax and zero. Removed the riser and checked just the riser and found 26 ohms resistance. Reinstalled the spring and I'm back to 1:1 swr.
Wouldn't think that 6" of stainless would cause so much resistance. So i did some research and found that the higher the nickel content the higher the resistance.
Just some info to pass along.
 
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Had an interesting experience with the GP riser...
First let me say , I run a DX979 well tuned and no mods, 18' of RG8, a 3/16" steel mount bracket with HD stainless stud, stainless barrel spring and 102" whip. Zero impedance to ground both at the antenna base and radio, 0.5:1 swr.
I installed the riser in place of the spring and swr went to 2.7:1 with no ground issues to the stud but as soon as I checked antenna to coax I discovered 27 ohms of resistance. Checked stud to coax and zero. Removed the riser and checked just the riser and found 26 ohms resistance. Reinstalled the spring and I'm back to 0.5:1 swr.
Wouldn't think that 6" of stainless would cause so much resistance. So i did some research and found that the higher the nickel content the higher the resistance.
Just some info to pass along.


Two things, how did you get an SWR of less than 1:1 when it is impossible? I assume you meant 1.5:1 perhaps? Yeah I know picky but correct nevertheless. Secondly something was wrong somewhere. There is no way a few inches of stainless would show that much resistance regardless of the nickel content. Think about how lossy the entire antenna would be if the resistance of it was hundreds of ohms from being almost 9 FEET long. Perhaps there was corrosion inside where the ferrules were attached to the ends of the riser because the stainless itself would NEVER have that much resistance. I have seen crap like that on antenna connections happen many times before especially in areas where road salt is used in the winter.
 

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