" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks, Greg.

I've printed out their catalog and noted the products you suggested.


As an aside, this particular company appears to make little if any
investment in their people. The manager here must get prior approval
from the regional manager to purchase string for the weed-eater. This
may well help explain why there has been no service contract in place,
nor has there been any attempt to fix the problem(s) with the radios.
This makes me think that other than our remounting the antennas
properly and cleaning connections there may be little we can do.
Perhaps that will be enough to get our communications to a point of
being adequate for our needs.

Sounds like one fo the Supreme Communication offices in western Illinois,

greg


Anyway, thanks for the information. I'll let you know what we find.

Mike

gb wrote:
Sounds like one fo the Supreme Communication offices in western Illinois,

Greg,

I have no delusions about a long-term relationship here, and certainly
not in terms of my being able to effect meaningful change. Rather, my
concern is strictly a safety issue. There have already been several
minor incidents involving unruly students where a driver may radio in
and we have had difficulty receiving/understanding the message. On
another occasion a driver stumbled upon a crime in progress at the end
of a very rural road. Our driver used her bus to block in a bus driver
from another company/district until the police arrived nearly an hour
later. Adquate communications is vital under such circumstances.

I refuse to attempt to "manage from the bottom" as the results are
unprofitable, counter-productive, and nearly always fatal. I may have
taken this as a stop-gap until something else came along, but I do
believe that this is an issue worth researching in the hope of making a
small but important difference.

PS: Are you hiring?

Mike

So does Larsen-- their "OS" series antennas for vhf (1/2 wavelength,
base loaded), also, radials can be formed from burglar alarm window
tape- stuff is made to stick to surfaces. Rip-Off shack sells the
stuff, among others! (might not want to run a KW useing this tape, but
should be ok for 50 watts, or so) Jim NN7K

wrote:
gb wrote:

Mike -

VERY USEFUL INFORMATION.

Yes, fiberglass is worthless for the required ground plane of a 1/4 wave UHF
antenna - and requires additional materials.
PCTEL based in the Chicago area is a major antenna mfg. and suppliers (e.g.
MAXRAD, Antenna Specialists).

They have 2 suitable products specifically made for fiberglass body vehicles
and antenna mounting (Page 44 of their catalog)
http://www.antenna.com/lm_cat/pdf/lmr_catalog.pdf
Ground Plane Kit Model K-67

Ground plane kit for fiberglass-bodied vehicles. Complete with instructions
and sufficient adhesive backed foil for one low-band/high-band or six UHF
ground planes (3 inches x 44 ft). Includes metal clips for circuit
continuity.

Ground Plane Disk Model K-332

Provides ground plane for fiberglass-bodied vehicles.

THIS NEEDS TO BE ADDED TO THE "BILL of MATERIALS that you are ordering from
the "local company" supplying the radio and antenna materials

" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you again for your replies.

In the course of conversation with our mechanic this morning on the
matter, I learned that he has mounted a number of the antennas on a
part of the bus that is fiberglass. I tried to explain a bit about
ground-plane to him and the need for the antennas to be mounted on a
metal part of the bus. I' am having him take one of the "worst"
communicating busses and move the antenna to a metal part of the bus. I
am also having him go through all the contacts and connections and
cleaning them. I'll post what was done and what the results have been.

One other point Mike.

After this mechanic installs the COAX and ANTENNA - he can use his VOM to
assure that the center conductor and shield are NOT shorted
(unless you are using a loading coil or other special purpose antenna).
Every mechanic should be very familiar with this test from vehicle
electrical systems.

Greg
w9gb