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| Which antenna mount | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Monday, 21. September 2015, 08:00 (615 Views) | |
| tinman | Monday, 21. September 2015, 08:00 Post #1 |
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26 Charlie Tango 1770
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I've just recently purchased myself a Land Rover Freelander which I'm picking up later in the week and I'm currently looking for an antenna mount to replace my mag mount as I don't fancy trying to struggle getting the mag mount on and off of the roof with the Freelander being somewhat higher than my old car. At the moment its a choice between 2 mounts and I wondered if anyone could offer any suggestions as to which would be better. I'm trying to decide between using a mirror/roof bar mount fastened to the roof bars or using one of these link here. It basically fastens on to the spare wheel mount. Thanks Dave
Edited by tinman, Monday, 21. September 2015, 08:01.
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26-CT-1770 / 26-TM-256 Mobile Mobile Setup : President Lincoln, Les Wallen Modulator, Stryker SR-2K (static use only) HF RX Setup : --Under construction due to changing location-- Funcube Dongle Pro + | |
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| Northern Crusader | Tuesday, 22. September 2015, 15:21 Post #2 |
26 Charlie Tango 1760
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Neither mounting points. Both provide a really poor RF ground, effectively having no ground at all as there's no metal under the antenna. If you want the best performance and are willing to drill holes then look at these from Breedlove Antenna Mounts in the USA: Puck mounts for the roof or Ball mounts for vertical bodywork. They'll outlive the vehicle and are infinitely better than anything you can buy in this country which you usually find ends up needing changing every 6 months or a year at best if you put a decent antenna on. |
| 26CT1760 / M0GVZ | |
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| Nubster | Tuesday, 22. September 2015, 18:27 Post #3 |
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26 Charlie Tango 050
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Doug (Hillwalker) 26CT594 has a Freelander P.M him see what he has done cos he has his 11m and Amature antennas on his tell him I said to ask ,his one of our North London net from old, we all know each other |
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Life is too short, so ave a laugh now n then never know you might like it | |
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| HillWalker | Tuesday, 22. September 2015, 19:07 Post #4 |
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26 Charlie Tango 594
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I've got a Freelander 2 and I use a 5" mag mount in the middle of the roof for my 2 metre antenna. At 144 Mhz the antenna needs less of a groundplane to work well compared with 27Mhz.It is easy to put on and take off just open a rear door and stand on the sill, mine has a convenient grab handle to hold on to. For 27Mhz I use an original 1980,s Les Whallen Modulator on a hatchback mount. To be sure of a good ground run a separate ground wire to an earth point on the bodywork.On mine I found a good one behind a rear light cluster. Edited by HillWalker, Tuesday, 22. September 2015, 19:10.
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Is that radio supposed to have smoke coming out of it?
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| tinman | Tuesday, 22. September 2015, 20:27 Post #5 |
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26 Charlie Tango 1770
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Cheers for the info. Not in any rush at the moment as I have my mag mount which I can use for now. I was just looking for something that would save me messing about climbing about trying to get the mag mount on and off of the car. If I used a mirror/bar mount I already assumed that I would have to run an earth wire of some sort. I don't really want to start drilling holes in the car hence the 2 mounts I was looking at. Just out of interest where abouts do you have the hatchback mount fitted on the rear door? Hopefully I can have a better look tomorrow as I'll be picking the car up as I have been waiting for the garage it's coming from to put an MOT on it. Dave
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26-CT-1770 / 26-TM-256 Mobile Mobile Setup : President Lincoln, Les Wallen Modulator, Stryker SR-2K (static use only) HF RX Setup : --Under construction due to changing location-- Funcube Dongle Pro + | |
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| HillWalker | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 07:59 Post #6 |
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26 Charlie Tango 594
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My hatchback mount is mounted on the top centerline of the hatch.I installed the whole system without drilling a hole using cable ties and sticky backed velcro.I will try to link to some photos if I can work out how to do it.
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Is that radio supposed to have smoke coming out of it?
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| Northern Crusader | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 13:24 Post #7 |
26 Charlie Tango 1760
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That wire does absolutely nothing. Might as well not be there. |
| 26CT1760 / M0GVZ | |
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| HillWalker | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 15:53 Post #8 |
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26 Charlie Tango 594
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Is that radio supposed to have smoke coming out of it?
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| HillWalker | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 16:51 Post #9 |
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26 Charlie Tango 594
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A hatchback mount is attached with grub screws onto a painted surface ,these may not make a good ground point. Hinges of the hatch are often partly made of plastic, these may not make a good electrical contact. Running a thickish guage wire from the ground side of the antenna mount to a good earth point on the main body of the car will compensate for this.It may not be necessary but will do no harm. You might want to follow Conor's advice, looking through his various posts leads me to believe he knows it all.
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Is that radio supposed to have smoke coming out of it?
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| Nubster | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 17:31 Post #10 |
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26 Charlie Tango 050
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Its no good trying to exsplaine Doug , to someone who thinks they know everything your wasting ya time typing it mate |
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Life is too short, so ave a laugh now n then never know you might like it | |
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| Sam WD40 | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 18:30 Post #11 |
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26 Charlie Tango 747
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How can you honestly say that without testing it ! |
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[marq=Left]STOP READING MY CRAP GO GET SOME DX DONE ![/marq] M0SRW 26-CT-747 IF YA NEIGHBOURS STILL TALK TO YOU GET A BIGGER ANTENNA ! Failure is not an option! BUT smashing it with a BIG hammer is ![]() | |
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| Sam WD40 | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 18:34 Post #12 |
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26 Charlie Tango 747
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Yep any idiot can read a books look stuff up on google it's not hard even I can do that ! The tried and tested way is to do what you can and if it works for you that's bang on |
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[marq=Left]STOP READING MY CRAP GO GET SOME DX DONE ![/marq] M0SRW 26-CT-747 IF YA NEIGHBOURS STILL TALK TO YOU GET A BIGGER ANTENNA ! Failure is not an option! BUT smashing it with a BIG hammer is ![]() | |
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| Sam WD40 | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 18:38 Post #13 |
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26 Charlie Tango 747
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I have done the same on fibreglass cabbed trucks (ERF/FODEN's) in the past and got it to work this way nothing wrong with it if it works ok it might not be the most efficient way of doing things but if it works for ye bang on brother
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[marq=Left]STOP READING MY CRAP GO GET SOME DX DONE ![/marq] M0SRW 26-CT-747 IF YA NEIGHBOURS STILL TALK TO YOU GET A BIGGER ANTENNA ! Failure is not an option! BUT smashing it with a BIG hammer is ![]() | |
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| Nubster | Wednesday, 23. September 2015, 18:59 Post #14 |
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26 Charlie Tango 050
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Doug (Hillwalker) has been making antennas for as long as I've known him , but the Google warriors all know better dont they Sam LOL |
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Life is too short, so ave a laugh now n then never know you might like it | |
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| Gunrunner | Thursday, 24. September 2015, 09:44 Post #15 |
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exactly its all the magic of the antenna the way they work and if it works good
Edited by Gunrunner, Thursday, 24. September 2015, 09:45.
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| Never go faster then your guardian angel can fly | |
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| Northern Crusader | Thursday, 24. September 2015, 14:20 Post #16 |
26 Charlie Tango 1760
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Because I have tested and properly by using an antenna analyser and measuring the feedpoint impedance at resonance and the frequency change as the strap was added. My car has a 4mm hole in it with a self tapper screw in as proof of the test. Wire is no good. RF flows over the surface of a conductor, not through it like DC. So you want something with a large surface area like flattened braid. To get the same surface area as flattened RG213 with wire and therefore provide as good a path for the RF you'd need to use wire the same size as battery jumper cables and not the cheap ones. And how many people do you see using that thickness of wire from their mount to the body? None. How we can see its effect in the real world is that as you improve the flow of RF on the ground side, without altering the length of the antenna the resonant frequency where X=0 drops and the feedpoint impedance at resonance comes closer to the ideal of 36.8 ohms. Its a shame you guys aren't closer because I'd come round with my antenna analyser and prove it to you but you should be able to see it for yourself if you do the following with your SWR meter. What DID work was bonding straps across the hinges to the main body. That provided real measurable proof. This is what I did on my car, its done on both sides of the hatchback. The first are made from flattened RG213 braid with crimp ring connectors crimped and soldered with serrated washers underneath to cut through the paint. The second are just flat 30mm wide braid with serrated washers underneath to cut through the paint - once you get above a few inches log you need to use wider braid. You use serrated washers rather than sanding back the paint. When you sand back the paint you remove the rustproof zinc coating. This is what you should be doing. When you've done that to the hatchback/boot lid/rear door and the bonnet you'll find you need to retune your antenna and it'll need to be shortened and it may need to be shortened a lot. This is actual real world proof its working. When I did my experimenting I used a whip out of a Sirio 5000 screwed into a 3/8 mount on a Diamond K400 lip mount and its resonant around 32MHz OTTOMH. Doing the bonding below on the hatchback hinges dropped the resonant point around 100kHz. By the time I'd finished doing the bonding the overall drop was over 300kHz. What that means is if your CB antenna is currently tuned for lowest SWR for say 27.555 then by the time you're all done then in an ideal world it should end up somewhere around 27.200 so you'd need to shorten your antenna to bring it back up. In the bottom picture you'll also see the ground wire for the radio negative feed. [imgw=800]http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn9/computershack/Amateur%20stuff/Icom%207000%20install/4Uu89.jpg[/imgw] ![]() Edited by Northern Crusader, Thursday, 24. September 2015, 14:39.
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| 26CT1760 / M0GVZ | |
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| Northern Crusader | Thursday, 24. September 2015, 14:43 Post #17 |
26 Charlie Tango 1760
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We all have different definitions of "works" which is why antenna manufacturers like Comet get away with selling dummy loads like the CHA-250B. Personally my definition of work is "the best possible" and using a bit of speaker wire is not the best possible or even close to it. Its a placebo for all the good it does. I'm sorry, I know I bang on and on about it but the antenna is the most important part of a CB/amateur setup and it pains me to see so much potential for better transmit and receive being lost for the sake of making simple changes. I can never understand why someone will spend the thick end of £50 on a decent mobile antenna like a Sirio 5000 because they want the best performance they can get for their money then install it in the worst way possible wiping out a large chunk of its performance. An analogy is the "dim bulb". You buy a 250W bulb for your house, plug it in, turn it on and its nice and bright. Disconnect the negative wires in the light fitting and it'll still light up but it'll be very dim. When you do a poor antenna install on a vehicle you're basically doing the RF equivalent of running that bulb with one wire. The SWR will be low, your radio will kick out 4W but the signal it puts out will be so much weaker as will the signals you receive. Edited by Northern Crusader, Thursday, 24. September 2015, 14:54.
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| 26CT1760 / M0GVZ | |
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Dave



Is that radio supposed to have smoke coming out of it?






8:14 AM Jul 11