Hello, long time away from here. I'm back.

[walterjn]

Here is how I mocked it up for the pic. I just tightened the mount onto the edge, like I said in my last post, the final location will be a few inches behind this one. That way the mount is centered on that 1/8" steel behind the cab. No, there is no way in hell that I'm willing to punch a hole in the cab itself, so please don't bother trying to talk me into that idea others already have and I shoot that idea down as fast as they bring it up.

 

[Holydvr]

Yeah, I will never punch a hole in any roof I have that has not been done by someone else before I bought the vehicle. I do not blame you one bit there!

 

[Riverman]

I’m not a hole puncher either.

 

[Crawdad]

LOL, I can't really tell how you feel about punching a hole in your truck roof Walter.

 

[walterjn]

Ok, I got the antenna mounted, coax has been run to it, and it looks like I'm going to have to double check my grounds. On 1 my swr is 1:1.2. on 40 it is 1:1.8 it there abouts. It doesn't matter if I raise the antenna, it trim 1/8" off... I was able to make contact with a buddy of mine who lives 6 miles and a few hills and canyons away as the crow flies. He said it sounded good. I was also picking up all sorts of skip right around sundown. Good to hear New Zealand and Tasmania in my receive. I'll be posting pics when I can take a few good ones for you all to pick apart for me .

 

[loosecannon]

you probably have a very broadbanded antenna which makes it harder to find the SWR curve and where you are in it.

if you have a radio that goes further than channels 1 through 40 this would be a big help.

you need to find your 2 to 1 SWR end points and then find the center dip of that curve to know where your antenna works best.
LC

 

[walterjn]

you probably have a very broadbanded antenna which makes it harder to find the SWR curve and where you are in it.

if you have a radio that goes further than channels 1 through 40 this would be a big help.

you need to find your 2 to 1 SWR end points and then find the center dip of that curve to know where your antenna works best.
LC

I do have a radio that goes further than 1-40. I just want to make sure my grounds are good before I start trimming too much. I know I need to work on the ground issue as I hooked up to a steel horse trailer and the match dropped on 40.

 

[walterjn]

Match on 27.995

 

[walterjn]

Match on 27.405

 

[walterjn]

26.965

 

[walterjn]

26.815

 

[BJ radionut]

Antenna to LONG

 

[walterjn]

Antenna to LONG

Agreed. However, the match dropped when hooked up to the steel horse trailer last night. I checked it on 38, and it dropped to about what it was on 26.815.
I will say that the jumper is an unknown quality, it might be on its way out.
Last time I was checking my match with the old antenna I checked with both external meter and internal meter, both have the same readings. So I checked it with the internal meter and got lower readings. Will post this pics shortly.

 

[walterjn]

27.995

 

[walterjn]

27.405