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HF + tuner + Wilson Antenna
- Thread starter Se7en
- Start date
It will probably show a low SWR on 20m and up but even on 20m it will be a poor performer. Forget about 40m and down. I ran a 10 foot antenna with an FC-40 auto-tuner right at the feedpoint (no feedline losses due to extreme SWR) and even it was a poor performer on 40m. I suggest you use the Wilson for 10/11m and look at something else for HF. Hamsticks are what they are,lossy, but better than what you propose with the Wilson. Screwdriver antennas are the way to go if you don`t mind the co$t and a bit of regular maintenance.
So ur saying it will tune 40m- 10m ( tho 40m will be lossy) what about 6m ? a SK antennae is so expenzive. Maintenance is no issue here. Only problem is salt in the air.
According to icom and ldg there automatic tuners will tune what....1.5 - 54mhz Or some shiet what antenna are the using ? Magic invisible antennes ?
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The tuners usually have a minimum antenna requirement to tune the entire range. My Yaesu FC-40 will tune 80m-6m but only if the antenna is 21 feet long to begin with. It will tune 40m and up with an 8 foot whip easily but the performance is crappy on 40m. Given the choice I would get a handful of Hamsticks for 10,15,17, and 20m and manually swap them out.
is there a good strong adapter i can buy to go from so239 to 3/8 24thread "standard" ? unless the sticks have pl259's on the bottom?
Those tuner claims aren't really 'shyt', but just because a tuner will match impedances certainly doesn't mean that a wrong 'sized' antenna is going to perform well. A rubber-duck antenna will certainly produce a signal, but that signal is very seldom going to be anything you can brag about.
Most common mobile antennas are at least 'adequate' for the higher HF bands because of their relative lengths in relation to wave length. Once you get to some where around 20 meters or so, the produced signal is fairly 'usable'. From about 20 meters down, the efficiency of a 'shorter in relation to wave length' antenna gets really lousy. By the time you get to about 80 meters you're talking about efficiency in the single digit numbers. That goes for those screwdriver/bugcatcher antennas too. They will certainly 'load', a tuner may be able to make it usable, but it really isn't very 'usable'. You can't squish a 66 foot antenna into less than 12 tall and expect much, you know? Using a typical 11 or 10 meter sized antenna on the (lower) HF bands is like a large rubber-duck, it doesn't make any difference what tuner is used to get a low SWR.
- 'Doc
Most common mobile antennas are at least 'adequate' for the higher HF bands because of their relative lengths in relation to wave length. Once you get to some where around 20 meters or so, the produced signal is fairly 'usable'. From about 20 meters down, the efficiency of a 'shorter in relation to wave length' antenna gets really lousy. By the time you get to about 80 meters you're talking about efficiency in the single digit numbers. That goes for those screwdriver/bugcatcher antennas too. They will certainly 'load', a tuner may be able to make it usable, but it really isn't very 'usable'. You can't squish a 66 foot antenna into less than 12 tall and expect much, you know? Using a typical 11 or 10 meter sized antenna on the (lower) HF bands is like a large rubber-duck, it doesn't make any difference what tuner is used to get a low SWR.
- 'Doc
i looked for this one time, can't remember what i was working on, but i did not order it...any way i believe mfj may have one.
MFJ Enterprises Inc.
is that what u after?
You want a PL-259 to female 3/8 24 thread adaptor. Most will not hold up to the stress of the ham stick.
For 40m, I was planning to make a screw-in 5 or 6" air coil around PVC pipe, to screw in between the whip and the ball.
Same idea though, auto-tuner at the base. Seems a LOT more durable than screwdriver type antennas.
I'm not interested with 75/80m on the go. Loss is too high.
I might carry a piece of longwire with a 3/8x24 lug on the end though in case I decide to set up somewhere.
One note about using auto-tuners in a mobile application. You should mount the tuner as close as possible to the antenna feedpoint and do NOT use coax cable between the tuner and the antenna. Even one foot of coax can look like a dead short. The best way to do it is to use a piece of heavy coax cable braid well insulated with heat shrink. My tuner had a piece of coax braid about 8 inches long to the feedpoint.
Well since my antenna is mounted at the center of the roof should I drill a small in the roof liner and use a 12" jumper from antenna to tuner then 14' coax to base of ur radio ?
Also mount the tuner between the roof and liner or mount it on the inside roof sorta like a DVD player ?
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If you are still talking about the Wilson 5000 I vote none of the above. In no way would i run a Wilson 5000 with a tuner for all band HF operation. The base loading coil will overheat due to very high RF current on the lower bands and may even arc between turns on some bands if the RF voltage gets too high. In general, roof mounted antennas are not the way to go when using a tuner for the manner the you want to use it.
Search Google for HF mobile operation and see what people are using and check what they have to say about it.
Search Google for HF mobile operation and see what people are using and check what they have to say about it.
Guess the 5000 has to go in the dump.
i did find this seems accessible/acceptable.
http://www.radioworld.co.uk/catalog/src_8010_hf_mobile-p-7797.html
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