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Old October 14th 03, 11:05 PM
Dave VanHorn
 
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But ok, I'll explain a little further.
I'm installing a cb radio in my jeep, and I will be in very remote areas,
therefore I considered the full quarter length whip.


Your initial question was pretty vague..

The steel whip is pretty robust.
I used to run one, with the spring removed so it was resonant on the ham 10
meter band.
Good results worldwide with 25W on sideband.

As I said, watch the short overhangs!
Otherwise, there isn't much to break on them, and no protruding coils to
hang in the brush.

Now, I run a cobra 6000 centerload, and a Diamond SG7900.
A 102" whip isn't practical, on a roof mount. At least not when your roof is
7' off the pavement.
The cobra is mag mounted, so it fails soft, but still, the fall isn't good
for it, or the car.
The 7900 dosen't bend, it breaks. If it didn't have such great gain, I
wouldn't put up with it.

http://www.inchase.org/outflow/event...2/f5Mount.html
This is the 7900 mount.
I had a bit of a surprise with floopyness of the roof metal, but that was
easily solved, once we found the right bit at the hardware store.

The problem with antennas, is that you can't get high gain, omnidirectional,
and reasonable bandwidth, without also picking "large".

Keep the antenna as clear of the vehicle as possible, and make sure that
what it's mounted to, is really grounded. Bumpers sometimes aren't these
days, and few want to dig the hole in the side panel for the old ball mount.
(Side panels aren't what they used to be either!)