• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
  • Click here to find out how to win free radios from Retevis!

102" ss whip. is it still the best

there is always loss , minimizing it is the game . splitting hairs can be fun for one and frustrating for another . BTW , most antennas will be 50 ohms at some frequency , but it may not be at the frequency needed .
 
  • Like
Reactions: midnight special
Actually it does. It works with the same principles of an off center fed dipole. As long as both sides add up to equal and electrical 1/2 wavelength, the antenna will function.



What I was talking about was the electrical length presented by said vehicle chassis. I've actually taken a 1/4 wavelength whip tuned for one place on one vehicle and on a different vehicle I had to retune it. I've seen some that you have to tune a little longer than the mathmatical resonant 1/4 wavelength, and others that you have to tune shorter, hence why I specifically honed in on your words, namely "ball park". I have seen this personally multiple times.

If you want to say that their is capacitive coupling between the chassis of a vehicle and the earth (or in most cases street) below, that is fine, I would agree with that, the chassis of the vehicle does act much like a "capacitive ground" system, which used to be used on old AM broadcast towers. This type of ground system is well studied and experimented with, and how well it works is directly related to the conductivity of the earth below the said capacitive ground system. The conductivity of street pavement is terrible to even worse. While their are currents that will flow on the earth below and around the vehicle (aka the street), they will be very minimal, especially compared to the currents flowing in the chassis of the vehicle itself.

Seriously, look at a ground mounted 1/4 wavelength vertical antenna. Why does it work better if you use actual radials on (or buried just below the) earth as opposed to a ground rod for an earth connection? The reason for this is the exact same as the reason I am saying the above currents flowing in the "street" will have no noticeable effect compared to the currents flowing in the chassis of the vehicle.



As I said above, from experience, their isn't one length of whip that will tune to resonance on every vehicle. As the electrical length presented by a vehicle will changes from one vehicle to another, if you are tuning specifically for resonance you will have to make an adjustment to compensate, and the easiest place to do that is the length of the whip in question.

I wasn't disagreeing with what you said, in fact, I was simply restating what you said from a different point of view. What I said was, in fact, dependent on what you said being true.


The DB
If mounted properly any vehicle made mostly out of some metal should present more than enough conductive counterpoise for good performance. When we get into vehicles with a lot of plastic, fiberglass, carbon fiber etc....it is anyone's guess if they have enough metal that is where the groundless antenna's come into play. I think the biggest issue comes from poor coax, poorly done connectors, and really poor installation. Combine that with trying to get an accurate swr reading the above-done haphazardly a lot of misconceptions are born! If you can not make a 1/4 wave homogeneous piece of steel work than what makes you think you can make a lesser antenna like a FIrstick work? Just because it is easy to tune does not mean you are really seeing what the real swr is not with the above things gone wrong.

It is kind of like loudspeakers! If you can not make 1 speaker sound good than adding many speakers no matter how expensive is just a waste. It is the idea or principals at work that people fail to understand. I moved in to Michigan in 1993 and in all that time I have not once seen a hard mount antenna on a vechile in a parking lot that was done worth a poop! I have seen every sin of bad antenna mounting!

It all starts with the coax conectors and the surface prep after you drill the proper sized hole. Most people can not even get the drill bit size right or hold it square to the metal surface to produce a nice clean round hole. Get either of those wrong and nothing else matters.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Old_Crow
Back in the when cars were made of metal the 102" worked wonders.
This is not a single situation on a car where a magnet mount or open capacitor antenna works where a 102" would not work as well or better. If you are driving a Corvette than have fun getting a magnet mount to work.
 
In fact, I even come full circle. I figure if people can run insanely hideous screwdriver antennas or have antennas for 6 different bands on their car and open capacitor antenna's than a 102 or 108 inch whip is ok. I used to care about what people thought when they saw my car which is funny since outside of my car I could not give a hoot what people think of me in any other area of my life. LOL, In fact, I have been known to tell men and women on the clothe "No" on occasions and say "oh hell" in conversations in the church parking lot! LOL Same person on Sunday that I am on Monday! LOL So I recently decided that performance is more important to me with rf than looks. So I just purchased some 108 inch whips from MFJ. When you look ar power handling, rx and tx performance, bandwidth, and durability it is hard to beat a 102" to 108" SS whip over all.
 
I seem to be in the minority on this but I've always thought that the 102-108" whips tended to be some of the best looking installations out there, sure they're tall but that long thin line has a way of blending into the background that is much less conspicuous than most of the coils and assorted blobs of plastic that are commonly used to shorten an antenna.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BammBamm and 2RT307
This is not a single situation on a car where a magnet mount or open capacitor antenna works where a 102" would not work as well or better. If you are driving a Corvette than have fun getting a magnet mount to work.


OK dumb question but I am not familiar with some CB terms but what is an open capacitor antenna? :confused: Got an example? (n)
 
I seem to be in the minority on this but I've always thought that the 102-108" whips tended to be some of the best looking installations out there, sure they're tall but that long thin line has a way of blending into the background that is much less conspicuous than most of the coils and assorted blobs of plastic that are commonly used to shorten an antenna.

I have been running a 102" for a couple of years now. Recently let my neighbor drive my pickup truck, and he told me he had never noticed the antenna until he drove my truck!

73,
Brett
 
OK but that would be a large open COIL type antenna not a capacitor. I was trying to think of every antenna that used a capacitor in it and was coming up with nothing.
I get the wrong terminology, but those things do look a lot like a big honkin' capacitor. Supposed to be great high Q antennas, but man are they Texas large.

73,
Brett
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.