Have you heard of a 10 meter mobile antenna??

Hamstix, Hustler, et al make them. Lot easier than trying to cut steel.

Merlin-7 KI4ILB wrote:

I just bought a 10 meter mobile rig (25 watt old radio shack rig).

I was planing on cutting down a 102" CB whip to 10 meter band.

Anyone know of any type of antenna that would work better?

Thanks
Joe
KI4ILB

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Have you heard of a 10 meter mobile antenna??

Hamstix, Hustler, et al make them. Lot easier than trying to cut steel.

Yeah, that should take all of a couple of minutes.
W4OP

Dale Parfitt wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
...
Have you heard of a 10 meter mobile antenna??

Hamstix, Hustler, et al make them. Lot easier than trying to cut steel.

Yeah, that should take all of a couple of minutes.
W4OP

I could probably torch that bugger off in about 15 seconds.. :/
Might look kinda funky on the tip though. I agree. What is
has is about as good as he's going to get. As long as it's
grounded to the car well, preferably on the body somewhere,
it's going to work great. Any other whip is probably going to
be inferior as far as a 1/4 design. But it is possible for a roof
mounted half size whip to equal a full 1/4 wave with a lower
or poor ground. I'd use a bumper mount as a last resort.
A side body mount with a ball mount, or even trunk mount
would work a lot better. That whip on a roof would brown the
food. Not very practical though as far as trees and drive thru's.
A trunk mount is possible though. Heck, my mobile antenna
is way tall. But I don't really care about looks much.. I recently
bought a third small car to save gas when I don't need to drive
the trucks. I put it's antenna mount on the trunk lid with reinforced
plating underneath to keep from ripping the trunk lid apart.
Hondas have thin sheet metal... :/ My 11 foot antenna would flex
that thing like crazy with no plating underneath. Wouldn't last
3 hours before I ripped a hole in the trunk. I had to do the same
with a monte carlo I once drove.
MK

All those commercial antennas will work better at thinning your wallet.
But not at getting your signal out. The only way you'd improve over the
signal from a cut-down CB whip (2 minutes work with a hacksaw) is to
either make the antenna directional in azimuth which would decrease the
signal in other directions, or try making a collinear array. And I
seriously doubt that you could get any noticeable gain from a collinear
without making it too tall to be practical.

I'm glad that some hams are still willing to reach for the hacksaw
instead of the wallet. Go for it!

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Dave wrote:
Have you heard of a 10 meter mobile antenna??

Hamstix, Hustler, et al make them. Lot easier than trying to cut steel.

Merlin-7 KI4ILB wrote:

I just bought a 10 meter mobile rig (25 watt old radio shack rig).

I was planing on cutting down a 102" CB whip to 10 meter band.

Anyone know of any type of antenna that would work better?

Thanks
Joe
KI4ILB

Thanks everyone

It will be mounted to the side rail of my Dodge 1500 4 door along with the
6 foot coliner for 2m and the 11 meter whip.
Yes it has a CB in it. I need the CB for talking to truckers when I go into
hurricane hit areas a day or two after the hurricane. Finding out what roads
are open, last place to get fuel etc...

Now all I need to figure out is how to keep the 10 meter and 11 meter
antennas from interacting too bad or place them in such a way that the
interaction does something that is usefull...

Joe

Merlin-7 KI4ILB wrote:
Now all I need to figure out is how to keep the 10 meter and 11 meter
antennas from interacting too bad or place them in such a way that the
interaction does something that is usefull...

Here's an idea. Use the 11 meter antenna for 10 meter
operation by switching in a series capacitor. All you
need to do is to neutralize the small amount of inductive
reactance on 10m caused by the antenna being a tad too
long. The capacitor could be switched in and out by a relay.
I get a value of ~330 pf to perform that function. The
SWR on 10m will actually be better than it is on 11m.

Or you could use the capacitor with the second 102 inch
vertical without having to cut it.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com

In message , Cecil
Moore writes
Merlin-7 KI4ILB wrote:
Now all I need to figure out is how to keep the 10 meter and 11 meter
antennas from interacting too bad or place them in such a way that the
interaction does something that is usefull...

Here's an idea. Use the 11 meter antenna for 10 meter
operation by switching in a series capacitor. All you
need to do is to neutralize the small amount of inductive
reactance on 10m caused by the antenna being a tad too
long. The capacitor could be switched in and out by a relay.
I get a value of ~330 pf to perform that function. The
SWR on 10m will actually be better than it is on 11m.

Or you could use the capacitor with the second 102 inch
vertical without having to cut it.

I did exactly this (20 years ago). I used a variable compression trimmer
capacitor to check that I could actually get a low SWR, measured it, and
fitted the nearest value disc ceramic (rated at 500VDC). I think it was
330pF. No problems with 40W.
Ian.
--

OK where can I buy a 330pf cap? Its only a 25 watt rig but I would like a
bit of overkill.
****es me off that Radio Shack is a cell phone store now. I used to be able
to walk into Radio Shack and the person there would understand what you
needed. Now if it does not have to do with cell phones or car audio they
just give you this dumb look..

Thanks
Joe

vertical without having to cut it.

I did exactly this (20 years ago). I used a variable compression trimmer
capacitor to check that I could actually get a low SWR, measured it, and
fitted the nearest value disc ceramic (rated at 500VDC). I think it was
330pF. No problems with 40W.
Ian.
--

Merlin-7 KI4ILB wrote:
OK where can I buy a 330pf cap?

Make it a silver mica or doorknob. I get mine at an
electronics supply store in Bryan, TX, close to
Texas A&M. Where are you located?
--
73, Cecil, http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

"Now if it does not have to do with cell phones or car audio they
just give you this dumb look.. "

Heh.. went into my local Radio Shack and asked if they had any antenna
masts in stock. Guy goes and looks on the shelves. I say "I'd like a
TV mast, it's in the back if you have it, it's ten feet long" Guy
looks on the shelves some more, points to the mast brackets.

I'm like, "It's a ten feet long piece of steel pipe it wouldn't be out
here, it isn't out here, it wouldn't fit out here, it's in the BACK."
I look it up on the internet on the computer in the store and show them
that yes, they do have them in stock.

Of course, he doesn't think they've got any. Twenty minutes after I
walk in, I'm finally leaving with a five foot and a ten foot mast
section which they, of course, had. Guy is just incredulous that I'm
going to walk out of the store with a ten foot piece of pipe. They
then ask me if I need a cell phone ;-)

Dan