On my RWD 2500, that position is at 50” in height. Would put me at 13.1’. That height clearance sound similar?
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Which mobile antenna would you choose for distance?
- Thread starter Capt Crunch
- Start date
On my RWD 2500, that position is at 50” in height. Would put me at 13.1’. That height clearance sound similar?
From the ground to the top of the bedrail is 59".
2019 F-350 Super Cab 4 X 4
You mean to tell me they make another antenna besides a Predator?
Ha! ha! You are funny.
You should not place the Predator in the bed of the truck when not in use unless you have a piece of PVC pipe with a 3-1/4" or 3-1/2" inside diameter to store the antenna to protect the coil from distorting and prevent the weld joint on each end of the coil from cracking.
108" SS steel whip.
Correct me if I am wrong.
The stand-alone length of a stainless steel whip is 102".
Attaching the whip to a 6-inch spring = 108".
Attaching the whip and spring to a ball-mount, stake-pocket mount, etc. etc. will increase the total length / height to above 108". Can we assume the excess of 108" will have a negative affect on the SWR?
I read somewhere that the length of the antenna starts where the coax connector attaches to the antenna connector.
I conducted a "science fair / experiment" with my whip antenna installation using a 102" stainless steel whip, a 4-1/4" heavy duty stainless steel spring and a Breedlove Stake Pocket Mount with quick-disconnect fitting.
Total length of the stake-pocket mount w/quick-disconnect = 4.970" + 4.250" (spring) + 102" whip = 111.220". I removed the whip from the base by removing the two set-screws and trimmed-off the bottom of the whip to obtain a total length of 108" and the SWR is great!
Any antenna that tunes to a decent SWR, and I can make contacts with, except the phugly old too long and gangly 102"+ SS whip. Can't stand the banging nor how it looks.
Lol...lol..lol. Yeah, those tall whips are ugly, but they do the job well.
Remember the song by Jimmy Soul? "If You Want To Be Happy"
Say man!
Hey baby!
I saw your wife the other day!
Yeah?
Yeah, an' she's ug-leeee!
Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby!
Yeah, alright!
Remember the song by Jimmy Soul? "If You Want To Be Happy"
Say man!
Hey baby!
I saw your wife the other day!
Yeah?
Yeah, an' she's ug-leeee!
Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby!
Yeah, alright!
The answer is "yes but". If an antenna is to long electrically, you will see SWR go back up. However, most 102" whip installs are so wide banded that it takes quite a bit of length to get SWR to go up to the point of being dangerous.
This is half true. If you just looking at the whip length you are only looking at half of the mobile antenna system. The chassis of the vehicle plays a big part in this as well. Smaller vehicles need a slightly longer whip to tune to the lowest SWR point, while larger vehicles need a slightly shorter whip length. Further, where the antenna is on the vehicle makes a difference as well as simply moving an antenna may require retuning it to maintain the lowest SWR point.
That being said, a 1/4 wavelength whip is naturally very wide banded, so it wouldn't surprise me if both the 102" and 108" lengths both give an acceptable SWR, and I have seen this happen before. In this case, based on field strength measurements, you will tend to get better performance if the antenna is a little long as opposed to being a little short, so I would error on being slightly long.
The DB
Concerning 102” total length:
Bumped thread, Adjustments for Resonance, as OP (Nick Hatz) had a long “whip adjuster” under a 102” in a pickup stake-pocket mount. AA used to tune.
Bumped thread, Adjustments for Resonance, as OP (Nick Hatz) had a long “whip adjuster” under a 102” in a pickup stake-pocket mount. AA used to tune.
Cale doesn't weld the 10K coils to the shaft.
The only real problem I have ever had with his antennas is the set screw that holds the whip in can become stuck and required heat to get it out without destroying the threads.
I did some on the air testing years ago with a 22 inch shaft, a 27 inch shaft , both single coils, and a 96 inch fiberglass whip.
There was not that much difference.
And this was done mobile to base, @100 miles plus and on 10, 11, and 12 meters.
73
Jeff
I would expect that someone of your experience could McGyver something, especially on the 11 meters band... Wait, those words together sound familiar for some reason...
For those that can't do such things, luckily their isn't to much of a cost in being "close enough", (yep, that is definitely a technical term) at least not so much that they will notice the difference when actually using the equipment.
What was it that always shows up in Marconi's signature?
If someone who doesn't have the knowledge wants to do this, then they have two options.
- Get someone who has the knowledge and equipment to do it for them
- Buy the equipment and study to the point that they can do it themselves.
The DB