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President Antenna's
- Thread starter RoadRanger
- Start date
Going to try my president Texas this week with the adapter on top of my F 150...
My Texas came today. No time to play around in the daylight, but I got it mounted and did a quick SWR check. Very flat, as in it doesn’t move the reflected power needle on my Daiwa across an entire MHz.
Pics of coil:
Worst part of the whole ordeal was getting the damn plastic off. I’d have never been able to do it. Fortunately I married a woman with long nails and patience:
Hope to play some more tomorrow.
Seems to be 3-4 inches longer than a 17” 10K.
Pics of coil:
Worst part of the whole ordeal was getting the damn plastic off. I’d have never been able to do it. Fortunately I married a woman with long nails and patience:
Hope to play some more tomorrow.
Seems to be 3-4 inches longer than a 17” 10K.
Played with the Texas some more today. Compared it to a full 1/4 wave, Predator 10k (17”), and a Wilson 5000.
Talking back to the house and recorded the signal strength. The differences are small and can’t possibly be measured be measured in S-units...but you can see them.
The Texas was right there with a 1/4 wave. Slightly lower was the 10k, and then the Wilson.
Predictably, the longest wins and shortest loses, and the 10k falls somewhere in between.
Talking back to the house and recorded the signal strength. The differences are small and can’t possibly be measured be measured in S-units...but you can see them.
The Texas was right there with a 1/4 wave. Slightly lower was the 10k, and then the Wilson.
Predictably, the longest wins and shortest loses, and the 10k falls somewhere in between.
I wanted an antenna for our church group that occasionally travels using several vehicles. The President New York IMO fits that bill perfectly. It's also great for a rental car usage. For all those that use stock 4 watt CB’s there’s something to be said for using the smaller RG316 or RG174 coax. NO PINCH and the loss is negligible when you consider the short length being used. Like the New York, I repaired a few of my old damaged mag mount antennas with RG174 to be used by others in the convoy. The New York has a nice relatively flat SWR and preforms great within our convoy's maximum 2 mile radius.
Thanks Sunbulls.
Both you and dledinger reports show us you guys had a plan, did some work, got your results, reported them straight forward, and making good sense. IMO, this is a lot more informative that just making a claim. Thanks!
X2.
Thanks Sunbulls.
Both you and dledinger reports show us you guys had a plan, did some work, got your results, reported them straight forward, and making good sense. IMO, this is a lot more informative that just making a claim. Thanks!
5’ was always my magic number for mobile antenna, anything less and performance seems to drop off sharply. My first decent antenna was a mag mount Hustler that probably cost me $20. It worked great at about 5’ long, and helped me catch the DX bug.
Anyway, a five footer obviously gives up performance over a full whip, but sometimes you give up a hair to gain a more favorable mounting location.
In my testing yesterday I also went to the max range...the distance where I showed zero signal strength but could still copy the 1/4 wave with readability of 5. The Texas hung right with it having no perceptible difference. The10k was still a 5 with a bit of noise, and the Wilson could still be heard and understood, but more noise yet and the volume dropped off noticeably.
The difference between all four is remarkably small as far as I am concerned.
[ I was laid up with stomach bug over the weekend but got to play radio yesterday].
I was comparing the "Texas" 3/8 mount which came in last week to the Sirio 5000 PL, 4000PL, and even my old-but-trusty Valor "Big Bubba" (what a stupid name). Copper had sent this to me to test/review over 20 years ago..I peeled most of the label off the base as soon as I got it, and it's been on 4 different vehicles during that time period.
This was the first antenna (that I'd seen) that had a coil, was relatively long, and had a PL mount that started trend of this type antenna with generally flat SWR across 10/11 meters. Big Bubba's grand kids (the Sirio 4000 and 5000) are basically the same.
The longest antenna is the "Texas", followed by the 4000PL. The 5000PL and the Bubba are neck-and-neck with each other.
I wasn't expecting any great epiphany's thus I was not disappointed. This local test consisted of myself (10 miles from the QTH) sorely testing my wife's patience while I changed antennas as she recorded the info. The antenna at home is my Chameleon P-Loop, which I pre-positioned to face the general direction I planned to be at.
The 4000, 5000, and Bubba were pretty much the same. The signal from the Texas was also about the same only she said that I "sounded" louder. I suppose I'll have to setup a voice activated recorder some time to see what she meant by "louder".
So while I really like the look and overall length of the President "Texas" I wish I could have got it in the PL mount like all of the others. At some point when conditions are good I would like to try this with some in another state just to see if there's any noticeable winner.
The "Bubba" is now my designated Pinch Hitter, destined to lurk in the garage until it's called back to active duty.
I think I’m going to like this one, Woody. I’ll have to see how badly the trees batter it, but I suspect that the soft whip will be forgiving.
Woody, I have had customers here and there over the years swear up and down that a particular antenna had "More Audio" than other antennas.
Always chalked it up to sloppy observation, preconceived notions or just plain BS. My reply was always to shrug and say that I wasn't there to hear the difference he thought he heard. Can't prove him wrong, so there's no point to disputing his beliefs, er, observations.
Sure would love to see some sort of actual measurement that serves to prove or disprove this kind of difference between antennas.
A difference that shouldn't be there, any way I know how to explain.
73
Always chalked it up to sloppy observation, preconceived notions or just plain BS. My reply was always to shrug and say that I wasn't there to hear the difference he thought he heard. Can't prove him wrong, so there's no point to disputing his beliefs, er, observations.
Sure would love to see some sort of actual measurement that serves to prove or disprove this kind of difference between antennas.
A difference that shouldn't be there, any way I know how to explain.
73