Hello everyone this will be my first post on forum and looking forward to your answers. I’m in the process of setting up my mobile and had a few questions about wavelength. Most of these calculators online give you a coax length of either quarter or half and I’m not sure what value to use. My antenna is going to be a quarter wave whip with hustler spring and fatboy mount. I’m have a custom stainless rod threaded and cut 2 inches to make a full 108 inch antenna. Not sure if that’s necessary but I would rather do it right the first time. I’m running a galaxy 44hp and Carl built 6 pill. I have grounded everything and upgraded wire from alternator to battery. Before I started cutting coax for jumpers and to antenna I was hoping to get some input from you guys. So is it quarter or half wave? Thanks Moose
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Setting up Mobile
- Thread starter Moose39465
- Start date
Welcome. Coax length makes no difference. Tune for lowest swr and you are good. For what it's worth, my whip is tuned almost perfectly with no spring or spacer, it is 102-1/4" long.
I mean that what ever length is long enough to reach is perfect. It does not need to be any specific multiple of any wavelength.
I have always been under the impression that coax length mattered due to coax loss and velocity factors?
Coax loss remains constant per foot. The more coax, the more loss.
Use as much or a little coax you need. When I ran HF in the car I used an Icom 706 with a head unit on the dash and the transceiver in the trunk. My coax run was 4 feet.