Eliminator89
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Winona, Mn
Also, don't coil up excess coax into a nice, neat coil. Coils introduce inductance into your antenna system and can make a good match almost impossible to achieve. Just bundle it up randomly and stuff it somewhere out of harms way. Proper grounding is a MUST. At the antenna (and whatever its mounted to) and at the radio. Antennas on a hatch, trunk lid or hood generally have poor grounding due to the hinges. A flexible ground strap from hatch to body is cheap insurance (I saw one in the pics). Base loaded antennas mounted below the rooftop can be shielded by the body. Bumper mounts can be rugged but are a poor choice for a wagon type body. But, compromises must be made in mobile installations. Reality sucks. Not many could live with a 9' whip in the middle of the roof.
Short antennas usually are "narrow banded". Meaning they often don't provide a good match over the entire 40 channels. If you use a short antenna, be sure to check the SWR at 1 and 40. If you must use a short, narrow banded antenna on the trail, simply adjust the antenna for a good match at the channels you plan to be operating on. Off the trail, you can screw on a better, longer antenna for general use.
Please avoid CB amps. They are crap. No matter what the sellers tell you. Splatter, harmonics, fuzzy audio...they're just not very good. A properly designed and built amp is a spendy affair. Besides being illegal, they just....well....suck, for lack of a better term.
Sideband radios can be a lot more fun to use but there is a bit of a learning curve due to the fine tunning required. Voices can sound very odd at first. Once you get the hang of it, its great! I won't buy a CB without sideband (not that I buy many CBs these days).
Ham is great fun also. So much to do, so many frequencies to use. But you will also need a CB for your trail rides as most others won't be hams. I run a Yaesu FT-2800 in my '90 Cherokee. Been thinking of going HF also.
BTW, my call sign is N4ZYV.
Short antennas usually are "narrow banded". Meaning they often don't provide a good match over the entire 40 channels. If you use a short antenna, be sure to check the SWR at 1 and 40. If you must use a short, narrow banded antenna on the trail, simply adjust the antenna for a good match at the channels you plan to be operating on. Off the trail, you can screw on a better, longer antenna for general use.
Please avoid CB amps. They are crap. No matter what the sellers tell you. Splatter, harmonics, fuzzy audio...they're just not very good. A properly designed and built amp is a spendy affair. Besides being illegal, they just....well....suck, for lack of a better term.
Sideband radios can be a lot more fun to use but there is a bit of a learning curve due to the fine tunning required. Voices can sound very odd at first. Once you get the hang of it, its great! I won't buy a CB without sideband (not that I buy many CBs these days).
Ham is great fun also. So much to do, so many frequencies to use. But you will also need a CB for your trail rides as most others won't be hams. I run a Yaesu FT-2800 in my '90 Cherokee. Been thinking of going HF also.
BTW, my call sign is N4ZYV.
!
