"Merlin-7 KI4ILB" wrote in message
. ..
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



A 1/8wl antenna mounted in the center of your roof will probably work better
than the 1/4 lambda antenna on the bumper.

It would not be mounted on the bumper.
My thinking is that since the first 1/3 of an antenna does the most
radiating, get it as far away from any metal (broadside) that you can.
It would be mounted in a stake-hole (one of the 4 square holes in each
corner of the truck bed.
Joe

A 1/8wl antenna mounted in the center of your roof will probably work
better
than the 1/4 lambda antenna on the bumper.

"Merlin-7 KI4ILB" wrote in message
news
It would not be mounted on the bumper.
My thinking is that since the first 1/3 of an antenna does the most
radiating, get it as far away from any metal (broadside) that you can.
It would be mounted in a stake-hole (one of the 4 square holes in each
corner of the truck bed.
Joe

A 1/8wl antenna mounted in the center of your roof will probably work
better
than the 1/4 lambda antenna on the bumper.


To each his own, but I don't agree with the "bottom" of the antenna doing
the radiating. The bottom, *if* I understand it correctly--and I am not
here to prove anything or start a flame war (I ain't got time for that
)--is the voltage portion, the top would be the current (RF) portion.
Witness what happens if you grab an antenna (dipole. The current at the
ends can reach levels to produce serious burns! Grab a mobile antenna below
the loading coil while transmitting. You won't feel a thing! Grab it at or
above the coil, it will burn the hell out of you ( X-numbers of milliamps of
RF current). The next thing is, IMHO, if your antenna is radiating from the
bottom, WHY would you even NEED the rest of the antenna? LOL! Next there's
those pesky ground proximities that tend to "grab" a signal and just spoil
everything.

Now I am not trying to start a war, prove anyone wrong, annoy anyone, or
engage in a "I'm-smarter-than-you-and-I'm-not-gonna-yield" etc, etc. I'll
yield because it is 1) not important to me) and 2) cuz I ain't got time to
get into a theory war today! But, I am just of the opinion that the RF
is where the thing will burn the crap out of you if you grab it!!! I've been
burnt plenty of times, and it ain't pleasant!!!

73

Jerry

Jerry wrote:
The bottom, *if* I understand it correctly--is the voltage portion,
the top would be the current (RF) portion.

Nope, for a 1/4WL mobile antenna, the feedpoint is the
high current, low voltage point. The tip top is the
low current, high voltage point. The thing that tends
to bite us is the high voltage.

Consider that the top portion of a mobile antenna can
be a low-radiation top hat while the bottom of the
antenna (high current section) is radiating very well.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com

The current at the
ends can reach levels to produce serious burns! Grab a mobile antenna below
the loading coil while transmitting. You won't feel a thing! Grab it at or
above the coil, it will burn the hell out of you ( X-numbers of milliamps of
RF current).

Jerry,

It's the high-voltage bits that bite you because your skin resistance
is so high it takes some substantial voltage to drive a noticable
current through you, but it doesn't take much current to give you a
nasty burn. The high-current parts of the antenna don't have enough
voltage to burn you.

Dan