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Firestik Fire-Up 99 Has anyone tried one.?

hotrod said:
i wouldnt mount ny antenna to a fiberglass pole .id stick w/ what ya got
Click to expand...

But I thought that's the correct way to mount one.
By the way,for time being , I hooked up my Radio Shack omnidirectional FM outdoor mast mount antenna and hung it sideways in front of my window with the top facing Charlotte. I'm picking up four tv channels including the one I want. Cool!
I based my antenna's orientation on this.

http://youtu.be/BJknAxsr77I
http://youtu.be/BqYmfT3Kfuo
I thought I'd raise the antenna another 3' and make a rf choke.
 

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I can't say from experience, so I won't say about fiberglass poles at all. Best thing I can think of is to try it. If it does 'better' then leave it. If it doesn't, or if it's worse, then change it back. Then what'a'ya do with the fiberglass pole, right? Oh well...
- 'Doc
 
The A99 top element just so happens to be 6' long. The GPK-1's ground radials that I substituted with the 4 101.5" SS whips are 6' long as well. So Solarcon uses their A99 top section and ground radials interchangeably. They'll come in handy for another project.

On the subject of the omni fm antenna being used for a tv(uhf) antenna,I'll just mount that on a independent mast turned sideways and a rabbit or horse wire fence as a reflector. :LOL:
 
W5LZ said:
I can't say from experience, so I won't say about fiberglass poles at all. Best thing I can think of is to try it. If it does 'better' then leave it. If it doesn't, or if it's worse, then change it back. Then what'a'ya do with the fiberglass pole, right? Oh well...
- 'Doc
Click to expand...

I'm trying to get it to function like a dipole and isolated from the mast however that won't be the best for lightning protection and maybe static noise build up.
I guess my question is will it still work properly being grounded to the mast and having a ground plane ?
 
Lil'Yeshua said:
But I thought that's the correct way to mount one.
By the way,for time being , I hooked up my Radio Shack omnidirectional FM outdoor mast mount antenna and hung it sideways in front of my window with the top facing Charlotte. I'm picking up four tv channels including the one I want. Cool!
I based my antenna's orientation on this.

Homemade HDTV Antenna (UHF & VHF) - YouTube
Installing an Antennacraft FMSS Omni-directional FM Antenna - YouTube
I thought I'd raise the antenna another 3' and make a rf choke.
Click to expand...

i always thought metal to metal was considered grounded . much like a roof mount ant.
on a mobile
 
Lil'Yeshua said:
I'm trying to get it to function like a dipole and isolated from the mast however that won't be the best for lightning protection and maybe static noise build up.
I guess my question is will it still work properly being grounded to the mast and having a ground plane ?
Click to expand...

a a99 is already techianlly a dipole
 
hotrod said:
a a99 is already techianlly a dipole
Click to expand...

Yeah. That's why I want to isolate it from the mast pole but with it set up with a small air gap for lightning to jump across on. I think it performs better with a better swr curve than just letting the mast and coax be the other half but actually using the ground plane I have on it. I plan the make a rf choke with eight turns,8" dia.
 
hotrod said:
i think putting the gpk and rf choke should help most issues that antenna has
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I still want to raise the A99 up another ten feet. I have rolling hill terrain in my area. There's one hill at the NC state line that I can see 8 miles to the next highest hill at Mt. view. I live near an airport which has good elevation
 
Talked to another base station 42 miles away last night after conditions quieted down. I didn't ask for a S-unit report but the guy on the other end and other base stations that he was talking to were surprised that I was running barefoot. I told them that I was running a 959,a Road Devil,and a A99. I figure that I have 2db loss running 110' of RG8X but with the gain figures that Marconi gave me,I was putting out around eighty watts pep in radiated antenna gain. Cool!
 
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sounds decent.i think i would shorten my coax run to as short as possible
mount antenna so its right outside where equiment is setup inside house
ive never had to use anything over 75 feet
 
Thanks. The 9000 lb block of concrete the tower is attached to might be a little hard to move. :D
I could either put up with what I got,get some RG-213U,or just wait til after I move to the mountains to set it up with the tower next to the radio room.
 
Lil'Yeshua said:
Thanks.
I still want to raise the A99 up another ten feet. I have rolling hill terrain in my area. There's one hill at the NC state line that I can see 8 miles to the next highest hill at Mt. view. I live near an airport which has good elevation
Click to expand...
you and me have about the same terrain. i live near the airport here 3-4 miles probaly
and it has decent height. unfourntately for me i am at the very bottom of that hill
with antother hill to my other side, much like a horseshoe shape cause towards the west
of me is pretty flat. that guy with the utube video only shows me he had great conditions
that day. you can do samething with a 1/4 w gp and sears road talker if conditions are right
 

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