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Reasonable transportable static mobile antenna?

338_MtRushmore

Sr. Member
Jun 17, 2012
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The Dakotas
My experience with base type antennas is limited to fiberglass verticals, dipoles, and endfeds. I have a steel extendable mast I can mount on my truck to get 30' easily, and I could probably do 40'.

I have an a99, but it seems kinda pointless. I considered making a horizontal dipole so I could get some rejection on the sides to maybe quite some stations a bit. There are plenty of beams obviously, but I don't know that any of them can be broken down or put together in 10 or 15 minutes. A moxon could probably be pretty easy after the initial tuning.

Anyone have any great ideas?
 

My experience with base type antennas is limited to fiberglass verticals, dipoles, and endfeds. I have a steel extendable mast I can mount on my truck to get 30' easily, and I could probably do 40'.

I have an a99, but it seems kinda pointless. I considered making a horizontal dipole so I could get some rejection on the sides to maybe quite some stations a bit. There are plenty of beams obviously, but I don't know that any of them can be broken down or put together in 10 or 15 minutes. A moxon could probably be pretty easy after the initial tuning.

Anyone have any great ideas?
90d Inverted Vee. A fat loaf of French bread radiation signature; quite directional in nature. Very cheep, easy to transport, and very lightweight. I get 1:1 hoisted up and fed at maybe 13'. I hear a lot of traffic but TX is quite limited at 13'. The few reports I have gotten are "sounds good". Neighbor sez I can utilize his pine tree, on property line, but don't have aim and swing perfected to get the 6" rubber doggy donut and line over the lowest 30' limb.

Used 12AWG magnet copper. Bare wire except for thin lacquer coating. 14AWG could have sufficed.

Used 1/2" schedule 40 PVC and joint connector in center as my 11M Vee leg spreader, length 16.58'/2. I figured it'll stick out from 6' truck bed maybe 2'. And I could break the spreader into more section using more joint connectors; perhaps fitting into something resembling long skinny 4.5' duffle bag. I sanded the ends of the PVC that are stuffed into joint connector, for ease of break down. I use paracord to attach antenna legs to spreader.

Insofar as Isolators, unnecessary using paracord and PVC spreader. But should I opt for 1/16" wire rope for longevity:

Fashioned 3/8"W 2"D donuts from ABS sheeting for leg isolator and currently paracord attachment. The 1/4"D x 3/8"W donut through hole is my tuning point/port. The middle disk of three is actually 1.75"D which makes a 1/8" trough around the center of the donut for the paracord, or wire rope, to wrap. All 3 disks are hot-melt glued together. Perhaps later today I'll take a couple pictures of the connection head and balun.

I've a pair of 1.5" U-clamps rigged to support the center, over the center joint connector, should I choose to stabilize it on a mast; though not absolutely necessary unless it's intended for permanent placement and stationary directionality. I was thinking a pair of these antennas, one above the other, I'd have the full horizon nearly covered; and, use an antenna switch, E-W / N-S.

The distance from the feed point and spreader, about 5', is maintained by the coax with lightweight wire ties at the spreader joint connector. Otherwise the 16' PVC pipe spreader will droop. Directionality is maintained by 550 paracord drop lines from the ends of the PVC spreader to ground, straight down if that's all that needed or spread the lines against the winds. I use a pair of the smallest worn out brake disks as anchors. A little unnecessary on the weight, but available when nothing else is.

The length of my spreader is a little longer than necessary for a 90d Vee, if I were motivated towards a 105d Vee, a fatter French loaf; with not quite so focused max power point. Predrilled > attach legs > retune as necessary. The extra length antenna wire is available, with excess wrapped back on itself.

<10 minutes and it's up, likely includes raising the mast.
 
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I went ahead and ordered a 3 element sirio. I just can't see the point in an omni. My biggest problem making contacts is too many stations in my receive.

A few days ago I had the entire great lakes region, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, and Alberta. Skip rolling almost 360 degrees around me. If I can get the yagi tuned up ok, I think it will make a significant difference. We shall see.
 
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I can modify my existing mast fairly easily to get 23 feet above the cab, but I'm thinking that is too low? If I made a new mast it would be a 2 piece crank up with a 22' bottom section that could be cranked up anywhere from 20' to 37' above the cab.


Is 23' above the cab too low?
 
I can modify my existing mast fairly easily to get 23 feet above the cab, but I'm thinking that is too low? If I made a new mast it would be a 2 piece crank up with a 22' bottom section that could be cranked up anywhere from 20' to 37' above the cab.


Is 23' above the cab too low?
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How stupid of me. I had the impression you were looking for a quick 10-15 minute setup. Surely the Sirio Sy-3 was what you had in mind from the start. I can tell you from experience you're not going to meet that goal.
Wouldn't add another 5 minutes to add a 4th, the SY4. and DBd 10 DBi 13 and only 3# more.

And then there's all that care in handling the SY-3; a couple outings and those 8- 9' 1/4λ aluminum element sections will appear as though Peyronies Disease has set in. Unless of course they're stowed in a compatible PVC tube. And that Driven element with Gamma Matching device, that'll be a PITA concern. Or have negligible concern with the I-Vee. And no rotor, et al, needed with the I-V, simply shift your direction of interest by shifting the ground anchors Good luck.
 
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I've chucked an Imax 2000 in the car before, found a quiet spot, tied it to a fence post with bungie cords, thrown a few 9ft radials out and it's worked great for DX.
If I were doing a beam it'd be a Moxon. I've got one with a center pole where the spreaders form an X and are telescoping. It can be left fully assembled, the legs shortened then spun in line with each other for easy transit. It's light enough to be supported on a push up mast.
Talking of masts...here in the UK we have ex-military Clarke pneumatic masts that can also have a base with four legs so they can be completely free standing.
 
I've chucked an Imax 2000 in the car before, found a quiet spot, tied it to a fence post with bungie cords, thrown a few 9ft radials out and it's worked great for DX.
I follow a few of the UK 11m groups on FB and I have to tip my hat to those who go out driving up a hill or mountain and with extended masts and tall antennas for their weekly Net Nights in all sorts of weather, (and enjoy some of the photos of a tiny car with a mighty tall mast/antenna). Occasionally I'll listen in via a UK SDR site and some of those that start @ 7pm go on past midnight making long distance ground wave work. I didn't mean to go on about it so much, it's just refreshing to see the ingenuity and listen to a bunch of folks having fun on 11m. (y)
 
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I would run it vertical. More people have vertical capability both mobile and base than have combination of vertical and horizontal. You lose a lot of signal when the receiving station has the opposite polarity.

Now if you are trying to eliminate those people running vertical polarity that would be a good way to reduce your ability to hear them. More hams run dipoles than CB'er do and no true mobile while mobile will be running a dipole.

I think all of us hardcore 2 way radio fans that have owned a truck have done the Antron 99/kind of mobil setup.

So I think an Antron is a huge upgrade for any mobile application.

I liked a towing hit and home made adapter best. It handles wind well and is fast and easy!
 
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I would run it vertical. More people have vertical capability both mobile and base than have combination of vertical and horizontal. You lose a lot of signal when the receiving station has the opposite polarity.

Now if you are trying to eliminate those people running vertical polarity that would be a good way to reduce your ability to hear them. More hams run dipoles than CB'er do and no true mobile while mobile will be running a dipole.

I think all of us hardcore 2 way radio fans that have owned a truck have done the Antron 99/kind of mobil setup.

So I think an Antron is a huge upgrade for any mobile application.

I liked a towing hit and home made adapter best. It handles wind well and is fast and easy!
Even if a vertical signal doesn't flip after a bounce, the typically quoted 6db loss is still less than the beams gain. I'm not certain it would be worth the fuss to mount it vertically, but it could be done. Maybe I've just heard so many flat beams on my verticals that I just kinda discounted the polarization issue.
 
I got the 3 element yagi today, and I think it will work pretty well. It's actually much easier to assemble than I expected. I'm thinking I need to find some tubes or something to keep the setscrews from falling out during transport. It had a great match sitting on a picnic table lol.
 

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