antenna help

[959]

I just put a new antenna on my car a 2003 ford Taurus on the trunk the mount is a Wilson gumdrop antenna mount with 18 feet low loss rg8x coax the antenna is a Wilson 2k antenna a trucker style put a ground strap 1inch by 2 feet from the trunk lid to the rear deck for a good ground my radio is a uniden pc 78 xl on 40 my match is flat on 1 its 1.5 cant tune the antenna any better for channel 1 I run out of whip why ?? it all works fine and what would be a better antenna for a trunk mount ?? I got the Wilson 2k for free so I guess its all good

 

[hotrod]

2 things
1/the coil must be above roofline accoding to wilson website you may wanna
try a longer shaft.
2/ is the trunk lid metal?? and is where ya got the ground straps metal???
id try #1 then if that doesnt help or help much find a longer whip then you,ll
probaly have to cut it.
a swr of 1.5 isnt bad . if a ya gota mag mount you could put it on roof just to see
if swr lowers any

 

[959]

reply

yes the trunk lid is all metal and the ground strap goes to a good metal ground too it grounds to the speaker deck and the antenna coil is about roof hight too the set up talks fine I just wanted a lower swr befor I pun in my mosfet amp I don't think it will hurt the amp at 1.5 swr what would be a better antenna too use I have a Wilson 1k mag mount for the roof but I don't like how it looks on the car

 

[hotrod]

just get a longer bottom shaft for your antenna . get it above the roofline
claysradioshop.com has them without buying a new antenna.
the wilson 1k mag mounted on the trunk is usually a bad idea from a swr point.
on the roof they do great.

 

[Robb]

yes the trunk lid is all metal and the ground strap goes to a good metal ground too it grounds to the speaker deck and the antenna coil is about roof hight too the set up talks fine I just wanted a lower swr befor I pun in my mosfet amp I don't think it will hurt the amp at 1.5 swr what would be a better antenna too use I have a Wilson 1k mag mount for the roof but I don't like how it looks on the car

MOSFET amps are a bit more sensitive to SWR than bipolar amps.

So what if it looks unappealing?!? If you get a usable SWR when the antenna is on the roof, then go with it. It will work far better than an antenna that is mounted on the trunk anyway. Go with it.

 

[W5LZ]

The best advice I can think of is to leave the @#$ thing alone, there's nothing wrong with a 1.5:1 SWR! There is no practical difference between a 1.5:1 and a 1:1 SWR. Lot of 'ado' about nothing.
- 'Doc

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

For those who stick mainly on one frequency tune it for that and enjoy.
A1:5:1 ain't gonna hurt.
For 11 meters a Sirio Performer PL5000 is pretty wide banded and can be used to cover two bands.

 

[959]

re antenna

ok fine I am just going to run the Wilson 1k magmount on the roof I got the swr below 1.5 on all 40 thanks everybody for the help