I wonder if you could run that antenna either right on the outside, or inside a Safari Snorkel?? I doubt you would get much loss through the thin abs plastic.
I have seen GPS antenna's mounted on the top of the snorkel, and was thinking of putting my sirius antenna up there as well...
Chiming in on the fuse. I smelled "something burning" on the way to school in my 4-runner. Was just starting across a long f-ing bridge(over a mile) and couldnt stop to check. radio died halfway across. pulled over, popped the hood, burnt the crap out of my hand pulling the red-hot direct wire to the radio. Now I fuse everything.
Another unfused wire story. Jeff Kauffman "Slo60" was coming down Cadillac Hill at Rubicon. He had his CB wired with no fuse. There was a burning smell, then a spark, then a fire that he was able to get out. We had to rewire part of his truck in Rubicon Springs. All of this is avoidable with a fuse at the battery.
Here is my solution, there are others. I mount a small fuse panel right at the battery. All the accessories run from that. That way no wire goes anywhere with an unfused portion, especailly an unfused part crossing the firewall. The panel itself is fed by an 8 ga jumper from the battery. I use a similar set up in my 80 series.
Ya, that's very clean...I like.
Today I went to Vato Zone and got a single in-line fuse holder. It holds the standard ATO fuses in a little closing rubber pouch and it was like $2. I think this should do the trick...
Edit: the fuse is 10 amps
Btw, what is y'all's take on springs? I'd like to take some of the stress off of the mount, and I don't really wheel at events with spectators, so I'm thinking I'd like a spring on there.
With a rigid mount like a firestick, the spring is mandatory if you get in branches and other things. They snap right off, as I found out on Dusy-Ershim 2 years ago. The problem is the spring changes the SWR and you will need to re-tune.
You may want to eventually want to consider a base loaded steel whip. They are not as fragile as a fiberglass stick. There is a version of the Wilson 5000 and a short coiled whip that fit on your mount and solve all your issues for about $80.
Can we get more info on this spring? I have gone through some tight trails and the firestick held up fine. (But this was tona alot of time maybe 1 or 2 hours.) I was going slow and didnt hit much in the way of large branches.
This spring (SS3H) is meant for normal firestik antennas 3' to 5'.
There is another one (SS3M) that is meant for 2' antennas or the thinner 3' ones ("Firefly" or "Roadpal").
This spring (SS3H) is meant for normal firestik antennas 3' to 5'.
There is another one (SS3M) that is meant for 2' antennas or the thinner 3' ones ("Firefly" or "Roadpal").
Funny-I'm running CBs in 2 of my trucks that I got 2 for $22. THey were reconditioned Midlands but for now they work great. The key is a good antenna and paying attention to how the cable routes and tuning the antenna itself.
Now I fuse everything.
