Hello everyone, I am new to the forum but have read many posts prior to joining. I haven't been active on the radio for a while now and recently I have found many hours of free time on the weekends in the evenings so I figured I would try and get back in it. I just bought a new Superstar 158 EDX which should be here Monday and just got my power supply (12 amp Pyramid) and magnet mount base in today, which is going to have a 108" steel whip put on. I have a roll of 2 X 4 fence wire and I was going to cut and tie sections together to make an 18' X 18' square and set the antenna in the center. My question is will this be a suitable set up or is this just going to be a disaster? I know what seems to make perfect common sense might be completely wrong and not as simple as it may seem. Also please don't call me stupid or lazy I did a search for magnet mounts and ground planes together but couldn't seem to find anything.
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counterpoise/ground plane
- Thread starter tonka
- Start date
Your radio and power supply will work just fine.
You are going to need to buy an SWR meter; that is a necessary piece to own for any radio operator. Even a cheap one is better than no meter.
Not sure if I understand what you are trying to do with the antenna. Don't think that mag mount is going to work with that 1/4 wave steel whip though. They need to be insulated from the car body and the shield grounded to the sheet metal/frame. If you are going to use the whip as a base antenna, it will need to have 4 radial wires from the base of the antenna set at a 45 degree down angle to get the best SWR/match.
You are going to need to buy an SWR meter; that is a necessary piece to own for any radio operator. Even a cheap one is better than no meter.
Not sure if I understand what you are trying to do with the antenna. Don't think that mag mount is going to work with that 1/4 wave steel whip though. They need to be insulated from the car body and the shield grounded to the sheet metal/frame. If you are going to use the whip as a base antenna, it will need to have 4 radial wires from the base of the antenna set at a 45 degree down angle to get the best SWR/match.
Aw crap, that's what I get for trying. I was under the impression that the magnet mount grounded to the vehicle through the magnet and the center of the coax went to the whip. So when I put the magnet on the fence (which is just laying on the ground) it would act as the vehicle body a.k.a counterpoise. The mount said it would work with a fiberglass antenna so I just figure since it would work with that it would also work with the 1/4 wave whip. See what I mean, it seemed so easy when in fact it is quite difficult.
To mount a quarter wave whip with a magnet mount you want at least a tri-magnet mount. Nothing short of that will hold the whip up even with just a moderate breeze. That quarter wave whip is heavy compared to a smaller fiberglass whip and will catch at least as much wind when it blows. If you are going through that trouble for a base setup take the extra time and get/make a permanent mount for it. It shouldn't be that much more expensive if at all, and it will perform better.
The DB
The DB
Also not questioning you authority on the matter, rather just trying to learn the error in this set up, but how does this differ from sticking the mag mount on a vehicle? And how is a steel whip different from a fiberglass? I have ran both on a mirror bracket and unless I did it wrong both times, both antenna mounted the same way with the washer on top of the mount between the antenna and mount. Never used a meter, just used the meter on the radio (Cobra 29). No way implying I don't believe what your saying, it's so hard to express emotion in text.
B
BOOTY MONSTER
Guest
you need more mass than the wires have for the capacitive grounding effect to happen with the mag-mount ..... i think .
if it's a base install use a mirror mount on top of a mast with the mobile antenna on top and run four 108 inch wires down to a 60 x60 X below it . one 10 ft piece of PVC cut into four 30 inch pieces connected to the PVC 4-way .
if it's a base install use a mirror mount on top of a mast with the mobile antenna on top and run four 108 inch wires down to a 60 x60 X below it . one 10 ft piece of PVC cut into four 30 inch pieces connected to the PVC 4-way .
You are correct. it is call 'capacitive ground coupling'.
Correct again. It might work on the fence so long as you can keep it all mechanically workable ('stable').
My experience with the 1/4 wave whip was that I tried to use a tri-magnet mount with it. It didn't work with just magnet mounting; I had to run a ground wire from the mag mount to the frame before it would get a usable SWR. Still don't know why; except for the fact that wire acted as a counterpoise. Now, if I used a 5 ft Hustler 'Firestik', a 4 ft Wilson 'SilverLoad', or a 5 ft 'truck stop special' center load coil - that mag mount works just fine.
Just keep on asking honest questions; to answer right - keeps us on our toes . . .
Bootymonster said I need more mass than the wires have for the capacitive grounding effect to happen with the mag-mount. I forgot to mention that I was going to take a piece of 1/8 steel plate and tack weld the fence to it, sorry about that. The magnet I bought is a 3" mount with 12' of coax. I mounted the mount with the spring and antenna to the plate and to my surprise, I had to bend the antenna over nearly 60 degrees before the mount gave way, strong little stinker. The DB said something about that in an earlier post. Could I make guy strings from nylon string line to stabilize the antenna if this is a problem? The reason I am going through all the trouble is because I had the whip laying around and it was the cheapest way. I wanted to put up a mast but just don't have the money right now. And I know, don't cheap out on the antenna and coax, I HAM operator told me one time if you spend 300 for a radio, spend 600 on the antenna setup. Sure he didn't mean it literally but just saying to invest in a good setup because the best radio is only as good as the antenna. Another question is why do you recommend angling the radials 45 degrees away from the antenna, is it b/c it will reflect to much back in the antenna causing a high swr reading?
Tonka:
There are LOTS of threads on this forum on how to build low-cost base station type antennas. Use the 'Search' feature.
A loop antenna is one of the very best - IMO. So is a dipole. Both cost so little and are so easy to build that it will surprise you. Pick either antenna to build and put it up as high as you can safely do. 30 ft up to the base of the antenna will work quite well. I would get about 50 ft of decent coax and work with that. The results will far exceed your expectations.
I would use the mag mount for your vehicle radio - if/when you get one.
There are LOTS of threads on this forum on how to build low-cost base station type antennas. Use the 'Search' feature.
A loop antenna is one of the very best - IMO. So is a dipole. Both cost so little and are so easy to build that it will surprise you. Pick either antenna to build and put it up as high as you can safely do. 30 ft up to the base of the antenna will work quite well. I would get about 50 ft of decent coax and work with that. The results will far exceed your expectations.
I would use the mag mount for your vehicle radio - if/when you get one.
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Have a look at this thread to give you an idea of what you can build with common materials.
http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-antennas/59608-ground-plane-contest.html
73
Jeff
http://www.worldwidedx.com/cb-antennas/59608-ground-plane-contest.html
73
Jeff