"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
et...
wrote:
What we found at the CA shootouts is that when the bottom
section runs closely parallel to the vehicle body, as it
does with a trailer hitch mount on an SUV, the field
strength is much lower than if that bottom section is
in the clear, e.g. mounted on the roof of the SUV.....

I often wonder about this myself, but never get around to trying a
bumper mount. In the past, I've always preferred to have the lower
mast and coil as clear of the body as possible. But on the other
hand, if I mounted the base on the bumper, I could have a longer
mast below the coil.

What worked like a charm for me was using the trailer hitch
hole on my GMC pickup and removing the tailgate. I looked
for a fiberglass aftermarket tailgate but couldn't find one.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

With that in mind, I have a friend who has a Ford Exploder--I mean, EXPLORER
--- with his DK3 mounted on a homebrew mount level with the rear bumper.
The bad part of it (IMHO) is the loading coil is level with the body about
where the rear window is and about 8 inches from the body. I mentioned to
him that it would be better to get the coil up in the clear above the truck,
but he is says he can't get in his carport. Well, what about this: move the
coil UP to clear the body and use a shorter whip? IOW, faced with the
lesser of two evils, which would be better. Left as is with longer whip and
putting up with the loss caused by proximity to body metal, or coil clearing
the top of the truck and a shorter whip--even it it has to be 5 feet instead
of 6 1/2? I voted for the higher coil and shorter whip. What say ye?


73

Jerry
K4KWH