Hello,
I have a FJ40 that I would like to mount / removeable (mobile) HF-Ham 160-30 .
With your background / years of work with ant. what 2-3 would you have me look into.
Thank you for your time and help.
NGP?
- Thread starter ntsqd
- Start date
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I have a FJ40 that I would like to mount / removeable (mobile) HF-Ham 160-30 .
With your background / years of work with ant. what 2-3 would you have me look into.
Thank you for your time and help.
Mobile HF is going to be a whole different animal than 2m/70cm, especially with an easily removeable antenna. Here's another recent thread showing a few setups:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/electronic-toys/683102-mobile-hf-rigs.html
There a at least a few manufacturers that make slightly compact mobile HF antennas I've seen with (often) a motorized whip that raises and lowers to tune.
Search around, there should be some other good threads on the topic.
Well said on that! Mobile HF is an altogether different beast. Diamond and Hustler are two names that come to mind in the Mobile HF market that are some of the better. Also have a look at MFJ.
- Thread starter
- #24
Finally hooked up the Firestik antenna. No continuity between the coax center pin and the PL-259's body, so I must have done something right. Set up my SWR meter and got a 5. No time to tune it before this trip, so I put the mag base antenna back in the truck. Perhaps next week sometime.
- Thread starter
- #25
Pulled the cap off while on the trip and discovered that it's a "grind to tune", no adjuster screw. rats.
- Thread starter
- #26
So I've got the Firestik 2M antenna and truck specific mount. SWR meters at 5. I've trimmed 1/2" off the antenna (use is upper end of 2M anyway) with no change in SWR. I hooked up my mag base antenna just to see what the meter did with it and it is 2.6-ish on the same freq.
Clearly there is some other problem. I'm going to have a good look at the grounding of the bracket. I appears to be well grounded now, but my next best step seems to be to revisit this and make sure of it.
Other ideas?
Clearly there is some other problem. I'm going to have a good look at the grounding of the bracket. I appears to be well grounded now, but my next best step seems to be to revisit this and make sure of it.
Other ideas?
- Thread starter
- #27
I'm calling the Firestik parts a failure. Ordered a 1/2 wave NGP Larsen. I'll open up the hole in the Firestik bracket for the NMO base that the Larsen uses.
- Thread starter
- #28
So the Larsen is here, the bracket is modified, and the whip is trimmed down to their spec for the 'center freq'. SWR is all the way down to 3:1.
Happened to take the truck to Toroweep and gave out my HT's to the friends coming with. I could hear them fine, but they couldn't understand me, so out came the mag base antenna assembly and then things were good.
We also needed an working mobile base station while there. Hose clamped an MJF "Base Station Converter" (NMO base with 19" radials) to my 20' telescoping mast and screwed the 1/2 wave Larsen to the converter and hoisted it aloft. SWR, even with ~30' of cables and one butt connector, was 1.5:1 This is the same antenna that on the modified Firestick mount gives me 3:1. (BTW it worked awesome up on the mast for what we needed it to do.)
So the Firestick mount is suspect. I'm reading that high SWR can be grounding. Even though it measures good with an Ohmmeter I know that HF behaves differently than does power. So I drilled thru one of the holes provided in the mount and tapped the fender & its mount bracket. Installed a 10-32 screw with copper anti-seize in the hole. No difference. I guess that I'll have to continue using the mag base on the cab roof or build something to put the antenna on the camper roof and have roughly 30'-35' of coax between it and the radio.
Neither of which is something that I want to do, so I'm open to any suggestions.
Happened to take the truck to Toroweep and gave out my HT's to the friends coming with. I could hear them fine, but they couldn't understand me, so out came the mag base antenna assembly and then things were good.
We also needed an working mobile base station while there. Hose clamped an MJF "Base Station Converter" (NMO base with 19" radials) to my 20' telescoping mast and screwed the 1/2 wave Larsen to the converter and hoisted it aloft. SWR, even with ~30' of cables and one butt connector, was 1.5:1 This is the same antenna that on the modified Firestick mount gives me 3:1. (BTW it worked awesome up on the mast for what we needed it to do.)
So the Firestick mount is suspect. I'm reading that high SWR can be grounding. Even though it measures good with an Ohmmeter I know that HF behaves differently than does power. So I drilled thru one of the holes provided in the mount and tapped the fender & its mount bracket. Installed a 10-32 screw with copper anti-seize in the hole. No difference. I guess that I'll have to continue using the mag base on the cab roof or build something to put the antenna on the camper roof and have roughly 30'-35' of coax between it and the radio.
Neither of which is something that I want to do, so I'm open to any suggestions.