"Mad Dog" wrote in message
...
the so-called ground plane that attaches to the base of the antenna IS NOT
a
ground-plane because it's mounted above the insulator.
inexperienced truckers who buy them know absolutely nothing about Rf.
they are simply wasting their money on doo-dads that they think are going
to
make their radio get out farther.

Therein lies the humor The first one that really made me laugh was the
"Zing Ring".
A circular gizmo that you were supposed to clamp around the bottom of the
loading coil on a base-load antenna.

anything that is added to the the antenna above the fiber washer simply
increases the electrical length of the antenna.
Capacitance hats do not add length but they must be mounted above the
loading coil.

Years ago, I ran a firestick (5' or so) with a cap hat that I built for it.
Worked pretty well, in comparison with base stations in the same general
area.
I had an above-average ground plane though, on my chrysler imperial.

as far as tilting the antennas forward are concerned,
there are sevewral possible scenarios involved.
(1) the antenna is taller than 13'6" when mounted veertical
and hits the low bridge when passing under therefore a forward tilt is
mandatory.

Many that I've seen are definitely not in that region.

(2)they no absolutely nothing about RF radiation or
take-off angle and tilt them forward 45 degrees to look cool.

That's what I was mostly thinking.

Of course my 2M antenna is tilted forward a bit, but that's because the only
good mounting point for it has that tilt built in. No practical way to
straighten it out, so I just live with it.

(3)tilting the the antenna forward about 15-20 degrees can increase the
forward range of the signal by angling the signal closer to the horizon
because antennas that are mounted closer to earth ground than 1 wavelength
have a higher take-off angle than those that are mounted at or above 1
wavelength.

Possible. I'm not sure what it would do to polarization.
It would rotate to the sides, but then again, that may not be a bad thing.
A trucker would normally want to talk fore and aft, and not so much to the
sides.
That's why the co-phased verticals always made sense to me, provided they
are mounted at the right distance.

I see co-phased antennas here locally, mounted within 2' of each other..

A truckers CB is his/her pride and joy and the ultimate
tool we use to communicate with each other over long distances.
money is not a object when it comes to building a nice
rig for talking on because we spend hours and hours
communicating with each other on long trips cross-country

I always wondered why so few truckers are hams.
You guys spend as much or more on your rigs, as I do but you get so very
much less in the end.
Now that you don't need CW, anyone who can qualify for a CDL ought to be
able to snag a ham ticket in a week or so of spare time reading.

Of course you'd still have to have the CB along to talk to the other
fellows.

There could be a logical reason for this. Since an antenna is bent
back when moving forward, by tilting it forward, it will compensate
for the "bend", and end up straight when moving.

You could make that case for mine, at about 2-5 degrees, but it was purely
accidental.
In the photos, you can see that it's perfectly vertical, against the edges
of the building in the background. Unfortunately, I'm on a slight up-grade.
Oh well, it dosen't seem to do any harm.

Of course, some people exaggerate the effect for reasons which, as of yet,
are not known.

I've seen them as far as 45 degrees, and that's in motion at 70 MPH.

I've not yet seen one with a bird skewered on it, but that will probably
happen.

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 13:21:18 -0500, "Dave VanHorn"
wrote:

There could be a logical reason for this. Since an antenna is bent
back when moving forward, by tilting it forward, it will compensate
for the "bend", and end up straight when moving.

You could make that case for mine, at about 2-5 degrees, but it was purely
accidental.
In the photos, you can see that it's perfectly vertical, against the edges
of the building in the background. Unfortunately, I'm on a slight up-grade.
Oh well, it dosen't seem to do any harm.

What photos?


Of course, some people exaggerate the effect for reasons which, as of yet,
are not known.

I've seen them as far as 45 degrees, and that's in motion at 70 MPH.

I've not yet seen one with a bird skewered on it, but that will probably
happen.

From: (Dave=A0Hall)
On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 04:37:08 -0800, Frank Gilliland
wrote:
In , "Dave VanHorn"

wrote:
Seen this a lot lately on the road..

There could be a logical reason for this. Since an antenna is bent back
when moving forward, by tilting it forward, it will compensate for the
"bend", and end up straight when moving.

Of course, some people exaggerate the effect for reasons which, as of
yet, are not known.
Dave
"Sandbagger"
http://home.ptd.net/~n3cvj
_
Looks purdy kool?

"Lancer" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 13:21:18 -0500, "Dave VanHorn"
wrote:

There could be a logical reason for this. Since an antenna is bent
back when moving forward, by tilting it forward, it will compensate
for the "bend", and end up straight when moving.

You could make that case for mine, at about 2-5 degrees, but it was
purely
accidental.
In the photos, you can see that it's perfectly vertical, against the
edges
of the building in the background. Unfortunately, I'm on a slight
up-grade.
Oh well, it dosen't seem to do any harm.

What photos?

http://www.inchase.org/outflow/event...2/f5Mount.html

That was before I spent 2 months in the hospital, and another 6 (14 total)
weeks on a backpack at home, eating through an I/V line.

You're all wrong. It makes the rig look like a bull with horns, causing
everyone to think the owner has a large scrotum.
"Dave VanHorn" wrote in message
...
Seen this a lot lately on the road..




--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet?

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 13:21:18 -0500, "Dave VanHorn"
wrote:

There could be a logical reason for this. Since an antenna is bent
back when moving forward, by tilting it forward, it will compensate
for the "bend", and end up straight when moving.

You could make that case for mine, at about 2-5 degrees, but it was purely
accidental.
In the photos, you can see that it's perfectly vertical, against the edges
of the building in the background. Unfortunately, I'm on a slight up-grade.
Oh well, it dosen't seem to do any harm.

Of course, some people exaggerate the effect for reasons which, as of yet,
are not known.

I've seen them as far as 45 degrees, and that's in motion at 70 MPH.

I've not yet seen one with a bird skewered on it, but that will probably
happen.



I remember just how far back a 102" steel whip would bend back at 65
MPH. I guess a shorter and stiffer fiberglass whip bends much less. I
would guess that 45 degrees is a bit extreme to compensate for wind
bend.

I also have trouble buying the "lowering the total height to avoid
hitting bridges" theory as well, since if that were the case, it would
make more sense to bend them BACK, not forward, just in case they do
graze one. If it's bent back, it will deflect downward slightly. If
it's bent forward and it strikes an over head object, it will compress
and likely shatter.

Dave
"Sandbagger"
http://home.ptd.net/~n3cvj

Dave wrote:
I remember just how far back a 102" steel whip would bend back at 65
MPH. I guess a shorter and stiffer fiberglass whip bends much less.

I haven't seen any rig with a 9' whip antenna on it. Most seem about half
that long.
Truckers are smart. Anyone driving for long at all knows that a 9' whip
atop a tractor is sure to hit lots of stuff. So the vast majority - if not
almost all - of whips I see for sale at truckstops are much shorter.
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