| Author |
Message |
    
phineas
| | Posted on Friday, October 19, 2001 - 11:24 pm: | 
|
Ok here is my problem.
I like talking wide band. I have 2 antenna on mag mounts that I alternate in between. They are both Wilson Antenna.
One is a 5000, and the other is and FGT. The 5000 matches good over a wide band(SWR) but I get the usual transmit and receive noise, and it is very directional. Half of the people I hear I cant talk to. However arond buildings, it rocks. I have to use more power also.
The other is the FGT Silver load. It is a great antenna but I am running into problems with it. The Antenna works great. I get better send and recive with a lot less power. The receive is very clean, and just about anyone I hear in any direction, I can talk to. The problem is the band width is only half of the 5000. I can live with the lack of performance in the city, but it is a headache trying to broadband tune this thing.
My question is, is there a brand and type of antenna I can buy that will give me a happy medium between these 2 antenna? or is there something I can do to get better bandwidth out of the FGT? |
phineas
| | Posted on Saturday, October 20, 2001 - 10:17 pm: |
|
Yeah Ham, you are right about it being ugly , but I ordered it anyway...lol I dont think I will drive around with it on the top of my van though...lol Plus, I was driving along and found this weird Antenna at a truck stop called a BullDog II Triband. I bought the 2 foot, and the 4 foot model to try it out. They look like that are made in the same city as Wilson Antenna. I must say that what ever they did, it really works!!! The 4 foot fiberglass performs better and has a wider range than the 2 foot, but the 2 footer is no dog either. As advertised, at least match wise, I got 1.5.1 or less over 2.6 Mhz. We are talking almost all of the phone part of 10 meter, all the way down to C band (26Mhz). Even though I thing it is a coil trick, at least until I get the other antenna in the mail I wont have to worry about frying my radio, and having to listen to a noisy whip. I even get a super clear weather band....go figure.
Thanks for your help HAM |
Taz
| | Posted on Saturday, October 20, 2001 - 11:40 pm: |
|
that link just goes to text that says golden rod 45 spyder A+ |
Taz
| | Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2001 - 8:14 pm: |
|
I realized that link was in frames, my moniter is plenty big, (19'')
Taz |
GEORGEKENNEDY
| | Posted on Friday, November 16, 2001 - 5:08 pm: |
|
TO 307 HI I HAVE DOUBLE STACKING V-QUADS AND MY PROBLEM IS THAT ON ONE SIDE MY S.W.R IS FLAT AND THE OTHER SIDE IS 1.2 BUT WHEN I CHECK BOTH AT THE SAME TIME MY S.W.R GO IN THE RED AND I CAN'T GET THEM DOWN OUT OF THE RED WHAT SHOULD I DO? |
Marconi
| | Posted on Saturday, November 17, 2001 - 11:29 am: |
|
GK, how do you have the antennas co-phase connected?
I assume you have two v-Quads stacked side by side. When you say "one side" do you mean the vertical/horizontal side or does it mean the left/right antenna? Please explain a little better what you are trying to do.
Marconi |
GEORGEKENNEDY
| | Posted on Sunday, November 25, 2001 - 10:19 pm: |
|
to macoroni from george k a little more info on my v-quads . the left side s.w.r reading is flat .the right side antenna reading 1.1 these are seperate readings .now when i connect the co-phase harnes to both at the same time my s.w.r reading gose off the scale . these are stacked side byside.DO YOU RECEMEND A ANTENNA MATCHER IF SO WHERE CAN I FIND ONE RATED AT 1.000WATTS |
Marconi
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 9:25 am: |
|
No George, at this point a tuner is not the answer. You need to find out what is wrong with the setup first.
The co-phase harness is apparently involved with the problem. Please describe what you have done regarding the harness itself.
Did you buy a stacking kit for the Quads?
A single V-quad is normally a dual polarity beam. I believe they use two gammas at two feed points and use two feed lines. How does the stacking kit handle this aspect, or do you just set them up with only one polarity when stacking? |
GEORGEKENNEDY
| | Posted on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 4:59 pm: |
|
OK I HAVE DONE NOTHING WITH THE HARNESS . I ALSO I DID BUY THE KIT FOR THE QUADS.THEY ALSO HAVE ONE GAMMA FOR EACH QUAD .ON THE HARNESS IT IS A CO-PHASE SET UP I ONLY USE ONE COAX AT ONE END OF THE HARNESS AND THEN CONNECT OTHER END TO THE RIGHT SIDE AND THEN THE LEFT SIDE FROM THE HARNESS. THERE ARE ONE GAMMA FOR THE RIGHT AND ONE FOR THE LEFT ALSO THE BEAMS ARE SET UP FOR VERTICAL AND HORIZOTAL ON EACH SET OF QUADSI ONLY USE ONE FEED LINE TO THE HARNESS |
Sparky
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - 9:12 am: |
|
George,
If I understood you correctly you are just removing one of the harness cables from the "T" connection point when tuning...this is not the way to tune the array. The phasing harness usually uses special cables (that are not 50 ohm) to create a match. If you use this special cable inline with your feedline cable to tune each antenna individually it will severely throw off the final result.
To tune the antennas correctly:
1. connect the coax from your radio directly to one antenna. (no harness)
2. Tune for best VSWR
3. Repeat Steps 1 & 2 for the other antenna
4. Now install the harness and re-check the VSWR
If the VSWR increases more than 1.5 to 1, then suspect a bad or incorrectly manufactured harness.
If the VSWR is less than 1.5 to 1 you can attempt to reduce it by adjusting the gamma of one antenna 1/2" in and out, then repeat the same for the other antenna. This should put you in the ballpark.
Good Luck,
Sparky |
Marconi
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2001 - 12:53 pm: |
|
George, I think I mispoke in assuming the V-Quads are dual polarity. I think you can only install them one way or the other and then work either vertical or horizontal. But that should make little difference. I think Sparky makes some excellent points.
You state the following, "...ON THE HARNESS IT IS A CO-PHASE SET UP I ONLY USE ONE COAX AT ONE END OF THE HARNESS AND THEN CONNECT OTHER END TO THE RIGHT SIDE AND THEN THE LEFT SIDE FROM THE HARNESS. THERE ARE ONE GAMMA FOR THE RIGHT AND ONE FOR THE LEFT ALSO THE BEAMS ARE SET UP FOR VERTICAL AND HORIZOTAL ON EACH SET OF QUADSI ONLY USE ONE FEED LINE TO THE HARNESS." I find this to be a little confusing so I will not attempt to paraphrase your installation of the harness.
I assume you can tell which end of the harness is the actual feed end. I am a little surprised that they use a T-connector in this device. However, the input side of the T should be the singular port in the T section of the harness and this is where the feed line should attach as it comes from you rig.
You need to check the harness for continuity to insure there are no shorts. I would also check the length of each side, they should be exactly the same and I expect they should, individually, each fall short of being a true physical 1/4 wave lenght length of about 9 feet for 11 meters.
It seems from you words that you are tuninging the individual antennas using your feed line only, bypassing the harness altogether, as Sparky notes. This is correct and should produce a good starting point for further fine tuning if necessary. Sounds like a phasing harness problem.
I have another tip, but I will leave that for another post.
Marconi |
Warchild
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 16, 2002 - 5:49 pm: |
|
i am new cb,r i just got a cobra-2000 base what wood be the beast antenna & coax for this...... thanks doug |
Marconi
| | Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2002 - 7:35 am: |
|
Your selection of an A99 is just fine and should work local and DX just fine.
Marconi |
|
