Hi all,

I find myself in need of a 6 meter mobile antenna. I intend to
use it for SSB at the low end of the band. I have no interest
in 6m FM or repeaters. It must be a whip antenna rather than a
loop for aesthetic reasons (XYL would kill me if I installed a
Squalo on the truck!). I don't care about cost. I'm flexible
on what type of mount is required. I presently have a 3/8"-24
mount installed, but it's easy to change to NMO, UHF, etc. My
previous 6m antenna was a helically-wound piece of junk from
Iron Horse, which literally fell apart. I want something that
is built well and will last. My mounting location will be the
right rear corner of the aluminum toolbox on my F-150 pickup.

I'm interested in hearing about YOUR personal experiences with
6 meter mobile antennas: what worked well for you, and what did
not. I am not interested in "My buddy says..." or "I think I
read somewhere...", 'cuz that's worthless hearsay. I wanna know
what worked for YOU.

Thanks and 73,
Dean K5DH

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:35:07 GMT, (-=H=-) wrote:

Hi all,

I find myself in need of a 6 meter mobile antenna. I intend to
use it for SSB at the low end of the band. I have no interest
in 6m FM or repeaters. It must be a whip antenna rather than a
loop for aesthetic reasons (XYL would kill me if I installed a
Squalo on the truck!). I don't care about cost. I'm flexible
on what type of mount is required. I presently have a 3/8"-24
mount installed, but it's easy to change to NMO, UHF, etc. My
previous 6m antenna was a helically-wound piece of junk from
Iron Horse, which literally fell apart. I want something that
is built well and will last. My mounting location will be the
right rear corner of the aluminum toolbox on my F-150 pickup.

I'm interested in hearing about YOUR personal experiences with
6 meter mobile antennas: what worked well for you, and what did
not. I am not interested in "My buddy says..." or "I think I
read somewhere...", 'cuz that's worthless hearsay. I wanna know
what worked for YOU.

Thanks and 73,
Dean K5DH

The only thing I have ever used for 6-meter mobile is a full-size
(54") whip. I have tried loaded antennas, but you just can't beat a
full-size whip. For many years, 6-meters was my only mobile band. We
also had weekly transmitter hunts on 6-meters. With that said, most
SSB work is going to be horizontally polarized, so you would be better
off with a Squalo.

Dick - W6CCD

-=H=- wrote:
Hi all,

I find myself in need of a 6 meter mobile antenna. I intend to
use it for SSB at the low end of the band. I have no interest
in 6m FM or repeaters. It must be a whip antenna rather than a
loop for aesthetic reasons (XYL would kill me if I installed a
Squalo on the truck!). I don't care about cost. I'm flexible
on what type of mount is required. I presently have a 3/8"-24
mount installed, but it's easy to change to NMO, UHF, etc. My
previous 6m antenna was a helically-wound piece of junk from
Iron Horse, which literally fell apart. I want something that
is built well and will last. My mounting location will be the
right rear corner of the aluminum toolbox on my F-150 pickup.

I'm interested in hearing about YOUR personal experiences with
6 meter mobile antennas: what worked well for you, and what did
not. I am not interested in "My buddy says..." or "I think I
read somewhere...", 'cuz that's worthless hearsay. I wanna know
what worked for YOU.

Thanks and 73,
Dean K5DH


I am using an Antenna Specialist "disguise" type cowl mount whip that I
cut for 6 meter FM. These antennas were quite popular in the 70's when
police agencies used the VHF low band frequencies. I use a Standard
tri-band (6m, 2m, 70cm) in the car which runs 45w,50w,30w out
respectively. I have a single coax connection on the back of the radio
which goes to a diplexer that sends the 6m transmit to the cowl mount
antenna and the 2meter and 70cm, signal to a dual band antenna on the
roof. The dual band antenna is a low profile cellular look-a-like
antenna, so at first glance it appears I have an AM/FM antenna and a
cell phone antenna mounted on the car. The 6 mtr antenna works fine and
the performance is what you would expect from a 1/4 wave whip.

I know you didn't want any second hand stories but I have friends who
have successfully used Larsen 2 meter 3db base loaded antennas on 6
meters. Interstingly enough they turn out to be resonant on 6 meters as
well as 2 meters. If you are looking for an NMO antenna, that would be
the way I would go. You could essentially be getting a "dual band"
antenna for the price of a 2 meter base loaded antenna.

Andy
WD4KDN

"-=H=-" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I find myself in need of a 6 meter mobile antenna. I intend to
use it for SSB at the low end of the band. I have no interest
in 6m FM or repeaters. It must be a whip antenna rather than a
loop for aesthetic reasons (XYL would kill me if I installed a
Squalo on the truck!). I don't care about cost. I'm flexible
on what type of mount is required. I presently have a 3/8"-24
mount installed, but it's easy to change to NMO, UHF, etc. My
previous 6m antenna was a helically-wound piece of junk from
Iron Horse, which literally fell apart. I want something that
is built well and will last. My mounting location will be the
right rear corner of the aluminum toolbox on my F-150 pickup.

I'm interested in hearing about YOUR personal experiences with
6 meter mobile antennas: what worked well for you, and what did
not. I am not interested in "My buddy says..." or "I think I
read somewhere...", 'cuz that's worthless hearsay. I wanna know
what worked for YOU.

Thanks and 73,
Dean K5DH

Go down to Rat Shack and get you an 8 ft stainless whip, pop the ferrel of
the end, cut it to the correct length, then silver braze the ferrel back on
it. It worked for me.... now that whip is on top of my Tarheel screwdriver
antenna :-)

"nitespark" wrote in message
news:ynoHg.100356$LF4.98467@dukeread05...

... I know you didn't want any second hand stories but I have friends who
have successfully used Larsen 2 meter 3db base loaded antennas on 6 meters.
Interstingly enough they turn out to be resonant on 6 meters as well as 2
meters. If you are looking for an NMO antenna, that would be the way I
would go. You could essentially be getting a "dual band" antenna for the
price of a 2 meter base loaded antenna.

Andy
WD4KDN

My Larsen 2M 5/8 wave whip has a good SWR in the 6M band. I haven't used it
to operate 6M mobile because I don't have a rig for that in the car.
73,
Bob AD3K