mag mount antenna for base station question

[slickpenguin]

Hey guys, I was wanting to know, until I save up enough money for a good base station antenna, Im using my mag mount car antenna as a temporary antenna. I think its a K40 but Im not sure, its been so long since I bought it and it has no markings. Im wondering about grounding issues - Ive been told you need to have a ground on them, but when I look at the bottom, all thats there is is a clear plastic layer, under that is a black heavy plastic layer, and then the magnet, there arent any metal peices or anything I can find to try and hook some wire up to ground or whatever I can to ground them.



So If you can help, does this need to be grounded (I know some dont), and if so are there any possible ways of doing it? My SWR is fine with the setup it is, around a 1.3


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[Moleculo]

I think you're confusing electrical ground with "ground plane" or counterpoise. The magnet in the base creates capacitance with the metal object it's attached to and creates the counterpoise for the antenna. That's why the plastic on the bottom doesn't affect anything....it's only there so as to not scratch the car, anyway. As far as attaching wires, I don't think that's going to buy you anything on that antenna, since that's not how it's designed to work. A cheap base antenna is under $100, and well worth the investement for the difference it will make.





Moleculo


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[hossless]

Slickpenguin, you really don't need a tower. Depending on how high you want to go, 36' one wavelength would be sufficient. Of course higher is always better. You can pick up a Radio Shack push up pole 36', for about $80. You can also check out the Spectrum 1600 base antenna for around $60 found at HY electronics. I think the Spectrum 1600 is a much better antenna than the Antron99. But the 99 is a good antenna.



Good luck, Hossless






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[hossless]

Give that thar RatShack a landline, if'n they don't have 'em in stock, by golly they can order one fer ya' feller!!<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=""> <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol">



I'll be 10-10 on the side, we gone bye bye<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/tired.gif ALT="|I">


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