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Antenna Quick Disconnect

riverrat373

riverrat373

Member
Aug 2, 2012
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I just finished mounting my 5' Firestik antenna on the toolbox in the bed of my 2009 F-150. I run my truck through the local automated car wash instead of washing it myself and the antenna must be disconnected before going through the wash. My question is:Would adding a quick disconnect to the system adversely effect the efficiency of the antenna? Is the electrical connection of the antenna as good as just screwing it into the stud? :unsure:
 

It is just as good. I hook these up to expensive radios and have never had a problem.


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ShadeTreeMechanic said:
What kind of antenna is that in the tube?
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MFJ ham stiks. They are kick ass for mobile use. Tunes up easy and transmit well.
Best used with a radio with an auto tuner, ICOM 746 or the Kenwood 440.
A simple push down and twist and take one off and replace with the next antenna. In the pvc tube I have 6,10, 15, 17, 20, 40, and 80 meter antennas and they all tune flat on swr. I also have a 11 meter fire stik in there too.
 
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How good are those ham sticks on 80m, I'd think they would be very very narrow on that band 75/80m
 
Captain Kilowatt said:
I can get about 15-20 KHz on mine before the SWR gets too high. The efficiency is about as good as the bandwidth down there.
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My swr is flat since I use radios that have the auto tuners installed. When I run my Yaesu FT-857 or IC-7100 I hook up my MFJ945 and MFJ-259 through coax switches and tune up with that before the radios are keyed up. Good I get results that way.
I am looking for auto tuners for those too by the way.
 
Tallman said:
My swr is flat since I use radios that have the auto tuners installed. When I run my Yaesu FT-857 or IC-7100 I hook up my MFJ945 and MFJ-259 through coax switches and tune up with that before the radios are keyed up. Good I get results that way.
I am looking for auto tuners for those too by the way.
Click to expand...

Well the SWR is not really flat you are just compensating with a tuner. I ran all sorts of HF mobile antennas with a Yaesu FC-40 auto tuner even with the 80m Hamstick but the truth is the SWR bandwidth on 80m was VERY narrow without the tuner. A wet string will show a flat SWR with a good tuner but won't get out worth a damn.
 
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Captain Kilowatt said:
Well the SWR is not really flat you are just compensating with a tuner. I ran all sorts of HF mobile antennas with a Yaesu FC-40 auto tuner even with the 80m Hamstick but the truth is the SWR bandwidth on 80m was VERY narrow without the tuner. A wet string will show a flat SWR with a good tuner but won't get out worth a damn.
Click to expand...
And we both know that low SWR does not mean resonant either. I have one tuner that I hooked up an old set of bed springs and tuned those up. I heard it could be done and just had to try it. I have no idea if it was getting out or not. But it got the SWR down to 1.5 on multiple frequencies.
 

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