Sometime ago I recall seeing an article about a mobile antenna where the ham
had a variable capacitor in the trunk with a flexible cable routed so the
driver could adjust it. There was a picture of it and IIRC it was a 50s
car. The same article was reprinted in another issue and I can;'t find
either. Does anyone recall this who can help me with the date and issue?
tnx
hank wd5jfr

"Henry Kolesnik" wrote in message ...
Sometime ago I recall seeing an article about a mobile antenna where the ham
had a variable capacitor in the trunk with a flexible cable routed so the
driver could adjust it. There was a picture of it and IIRC it was a 50s
car. The same article was reprinted in another issue and I can;'t find
either. Does anyone recall this who can help me with the date and issue?
tnx
hank wd5jfr

I haven't seen it, but the location of the cap isn't very critical. In
fact, it's my opinion it can even be up at the rig, in the drivers
reach. I've done this before and noted little excess loss. My feedline
was short though. I now have it at the antenna base though to minimise
even those small losses. But in practice, I hardly notice a difference
in performance. Usually when you use a cap alone as the matching
device, you are using a few turns of the loading coil as the
inductance. This extra inductance is just tacked on to what the
antenna requires to tune out the reactance. I don't really think it
matters where the cap is. It can be nearly anywhere. But the purists
will insist it being at the base of the antenna. I guess that is true
for least losses, but the difference between there, and up at the rig
, was hardly noticable in the real world. As far as a cap drive, maybe
an old speedometer cable? MK

Found it, Ham Radio June 1981...
A bit newer than I recalled!
hank
"Henry Kolesnik" wrote in message
...
Sometime ago I recall seeing an article about a mobile antenna where the
ham
had a variable capacitor in the trunk with a flexible cable routed so the
driver could adjust it. There was a picture of it and IIRC it was a 50s
car. The same article was reprinted in another issue and I can;'t find
either. Does anyone recall this who can help me with the date and issue?
tnx
hank wd5jfr