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2019 Herd of Broncos in Baja Adventure

markw

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
2,047
I've always dreamed of camping on the beach there for a few days at least. Be even better if I had a Hobie 16 to sail!
On the antennae topic. I have a roof rack NGP antennae on my chase truck. Never been happy with the performance. I'm thinking of a corner plate with for some GP affect and to get it out of the way. My Y2980 just arrived today, now to buy some cable from AS and build a mount. If the antennae is on top and not obstructed then I don't have to tune is that correct?
 

ntsqd

heratic car camper
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,229
Loc.
Upper SoKA
Always need to tune a new antenna install. They come too long for most all uses.

For a GP you'll need a radial distance of about 19.7" (~1/4 wave) worth of reflective material. If you have only part of that I don't know enough to know how much you'd gain. Theoretically the shape of the ground plane affects where your signal is strong and where your signal is weak. I'm not sure just how much this is noticeable in reality.

The observation that I find interesting is that there are "Ground Plane" kits made to use a mobile antenna in a stationary application. I bought one to put on the top of a painter's extendable pole where we're needing better comms in a remote pit. I tested it at Inner Hodge at Barstool one year. Inner Hodge can be a bear to reach main because nearby high voltage trans mission lines. It worked pretty well for that, better than just the same antenna on the center of the vehicle roof. The kit consists of a brass base that threads onto a PL-259 bulkhead union that the mobile antenna then threads onto. There are 4 holes, radially spaced around the bottom of the brass part. The actual ground plane is 4 ~3/32" wires that fit into those holes. So "plane" is kind of a misnomer.
 

markw

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Messages
2,047
Okay that makes sense, pretty much at least to my ignorant self. Not so much the actual "plane" as the amount of reflective surface. I couldn't do that on the corner of my rack and get enough reflection. So I'm back to NGP in a better location than I have now, tuned and with new coax. I had terrible comms in the airplane despite a very expensive new antennae till we changed out the cable. Then, crystal clear. No visible damage or corrosion on the connectors.
 
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