Icom AH-4 mobile users:

I recently installed an AH-4 antenna tuner in my mobile
station, connected to my IC-706Mk2G. I'm using a 9 foot
stainless steel CB whip as my radiating element, fed by
about 2 feet of wire from the tuner to the base of the
whip. What kind of radiating element are you using, and
what kind of success do you have with it on 40m and 75m?
I also have an Outbacker Perth antenna that I've used
for many years, but I got tired of being unable to jump
from band to band easily. I've thought about using the
Outbacker with the AH-4, and just omitting the Wander
Lead and matching transformer connection (in other words,
use the Outbacker in its "raw" 75m state). I'm a bit
concerned that the AH-4 won't handle this on 40m because
the AH-4 manual says to avoid odd multiples of 1/2 wave,
and that would be the case using the 75m antenna on 40m.

Let's hear your thoughts and experiences!

73,
Dean K5DH

=K=5=D=H= wrote:

Icom AH-4 mobile users:

I recently installed an AH-4 antenna tuner in my mobile
station, connected to my IC-706Mk2G. I'm using a 9 foot
stainless steel CB whip as my radiating element, fed by
about 2 feet of wire from the tuner to the base of the
whip. What kind of radiating element are you using, and
what kind of success do you have with it on 40m and 75m?
I also have an Outbacker Perth antenna that I've used
for many years, but I got tired of being unable to jump
from band to band easily. I've thought about using the
Outbacker with the AH-4, and just omitting the Wander
Lead and matching transformer connection (in other words,
use the Outbacker in its "raw" 75m state). I'm a bit
concerned that the AH-4 won't handle this on 40m because
the AH-4 manual says to avoid odd multiples of 1/2 wave,
and that would be the case using the 75m antenna on 40m.

Let's hear your thoughts and experiences!

73,
Dean K5DH


I was using a similar setup as yours. IC706MKII and the AH-4 tuner on a
9ft whip. I went back to my Webster Bandspanner and got consistently
better results. While it was convenient when changing bands, it does
little good if you cannot make the contact.

This setup might be good at the peak of a solar cycle when you can make
the communications trip with lower power, but in average or below
average conditions I think you are losing too much using the tuner and a
whip.

73
Andy
WD4KDN


--
I have never met a liberal street cop.

"nitespark" wrote in message
news:LY6Rd.42306$EG1.39447@lakeread04...


=K=5=D=H= wrote:

Icom AH-4 mobile users:

I recently installed an AH-4 antenna tuner in my mobile
station, connected to my IC-706Mk2G. I'm using a 9 foot
stainless steel CB whip as my radiating element, fed by
about 2 feet of wire from the tuner to the base of the
whip. What kind of radiating element are you using, and
what kind of success do you have with it on 40m and 75m?
I also have an Outbacker Perth antenna that I've used
for many years, but I got tired of being unable to jump
from band to band easily. I've thought about using the
Outbacker with the AH-4, and just omitting the Wander
Lead and matching transformer connection (in other words,
use the Outbacker in its "raw" 75m state). I'm a bit
concerned that the AH-4 won't handle this on 40m because
the AH-4 manual says to avoid odd multiples of 1/2 wave,
and that would be the case using the 75m antenna on 40m.

Let's hear your thoughts and experiences!

73,
Dean K5DH

I have run a similar set up with the SGC - the 2 foot bit in the car is a
serious
bad point, to the extent that SGC actually make a "bracket" that enables the
box to be clamped to the outside of the car and the whip is mounted on part of
this bracket,
right up very close to the output terminal - the aerial on these boxes starts
and is very "active" at the output terminal.

You HAVE to understand and appreciate that to make them work at all, if not
particularly spectacularly - they are primarily a "convenience box" over a
"performance box", so do have their place, but are quite a compromise.


Nick

nick smith wrote:
You HAVE to understand and appreciate that to make them work at all, if not
particularly spectacularly - they are primarily a "convenience box" over a
"performance box", so do have their place, but are quite a compromise.

With a 13 ft. whip and SG-230, it made a pretty good
20m-10m mobile antenna for me.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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"Cecil Moore" wrote in message

With a 13 ft. whip and SG-230, it made a pretty good
20m-10m mobile antenna for me.

Hi Cecil,

I have one too - and I am sure it does make an excellent mobile antenna
system with 13 feet on its output.

I use mine for "hotel room use" mainly, or any quick lash up in available
space.
I am constantly amazed by the results I get and wouldn't part with it.

On the car I use a resonant whip about 3 feet long on the gutter for 40M and
equally that works well....

For a permanent fixed sytem though its an expensive convenience over other
systems
based on e.g. wire dipoles.

It is a great box though !

Nick

I guess I should clarify that the 2 foot piece of lead
wire is all outside the vehicle except for 4 inches.

I overheard a station the other day saying that he was
using an AH-4 to load a 17m HamStick on all bands from
75m through 10m. I was thinking of doing the same but
using a 30m HamStick (not resonant on any ham band that
allows SSB operation). Anyone tried this?

73,
Dean K5DH


In article , says...

Icom AH-4 mobile users:

I recently installed an AH-4 antenna tuner in my mobile
station, connected to my IC-706Mk2G. I'm using a 9 foot
stainless steel CB whip as my radiating element, fed by
about 2 feet of wire from the tuner to the base of the
whip. What kind of radiating element are you using, and
what kind of success do you have with it on 40m and 75m?
I also have an Outbacker Perth antenna that I've used
for many years, but I got tired of being unable to jump
from band to band easily. I've thought about using the
Outbacker with the AH-4, and just omitting the Wander
Lead and matching transformer connection (in other words,
use the Outbacker in its "raw" 75m state). I'm a bit
concerned that the AH-4 won't handle this on 40m because
the AH-4 manual says to avoid odd multiples of 1/2 wave,
and that would be the case using the 75m antenna on 40m.

Let's hear your thoughts and experiences!

73,
Dean K5DH

I overheard a station the other day saying that he was
using an AH-4 to load a 17m HamStick on all bands from
75m through 10m. I was thinking of doing the same but
using a 30m HamStick (not resonant on any ham band that
allows SSB operation). Anyone tried this? .......

It's pretty mediocre...It would be much better to actually tune
the hamstick to the different bands by changing the stinger
length.
But it would take a long stinger to tune 75m, with no loading
coil. A 10 meter hamstick can tune 20m by adding appx 2 ft
longer a stinger. A 20m stick can tune 40m by adding about 4-5
ft of stinger. I did that for a while, and it works much
better than you might think.
Myself, I always tune the antenna to resonance by using a hi-Q
loading coil. There is less coil losses, but also the current
distribution is much better, which raises the efficiency
quite a bit.
I just mounted my antenna on my #2 truck. It's even
higher than my other truck. I installed a ball mount on
the cab, about 6 inches below the roofline, on the pillar
between the back window, and my side window. The base of the
antenna is 64 inches off the ground. My antenna is 11 ft
total height, and is center loaded in the driving mode.
That puts my loading coil at about 124+ inches off the ground.
The stinger is 5 ft...Yep, it's tall, and I whack trees
o-plenty. But it works very well. I also have a 3 ft mast,
that I can add to the antenna, and have the coil 8 ft from
the base. The total height is about 19 ft.... Naturally,
I don't drive with it that tall, but use it stationary...
That antenna compared to a tuner loaded whip?
Ain't none... I'd probably be 2-4 S units louder than you
on 75m to the average person...
A friend of mine wants to run a tuner loaded whip...I can't
talk him out of it...Oh well...I'll catch him some day after
he installs it, and do a side by side comparison with my
antenna. It's gonna be ugly the way I spank his heiney on
75m....:/ 40m too, to a slightly lesser extent...
BTW, I also have a shorter 10 ft antenna , with the coil at
about 2.5 ft off the base...It's my old antenna...But I'm
gonna use it on this truck for a "heavy tree" antenna when
I'm in town...With the coil lower, it will take trees better.
But I'll use the other anytime I'm on the road. This
is the highest I've mounted a mobile so far...I'm over the
legal limit of 13.6 a bit, being mine is about 16 ft tall
total..But it sways back, so when moving I can clear stuff
lower than that. A tuner loaded whip is ok on 20-10, but
even still, the hi-q coil antenna is still that much better.
On 20m, my antenna is like being at home...I don't use many
turns of coil on 20m...The efficiency is pretty high.
MK

=K=5=D=H= wrote:
I guess I should clarify that the 2 foot piece of lead
wire is all outside the vehicle except for 4 inches.

Copper is better than lead. :-)

I overheard a station the other day saying that he was
using an AH-4 to load a 17m HamStick on all bands from
75m through 10m. I was thinking of doing the same but
using a 30m HamStick (not resonant on any ham band that
allows SSB operation). Anyone tried this?

Hamsticks have a nasty characteristic. A 75m Hamstick is
self-resonant before it gets to 40m. A 40m Hamstick is
self-resonant (~9 MHz) before it gets to 30m. Self-resonance
is the frequency at which the inductive reactance equals the
stray capacitive reactance and results in heavy losses. I
don't know the self-resonant frequency for a 30m Hamstick
but I'll bet it's lower than 14 MHz.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp


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=K=5=D=H= wrote:
Icom AH-4 mobile users:

I recently installed an AH-4 antenna tuner in my mobile
station, connected to my IC-706Mk2G. I'm using a 9 foot
stainless steel CB whip as my radiating element, fed by
about 2 feet of wire from the tuner to the base of the
whip. What kind of radiating element are you using, and
what kind of success do you have with it on 40m and 75m?
I also have an Outbacker Perth antenna that I've used
for many years, but I got tired of being unable to jump
from band to band easily. I've thought about using the
Outbacker with the AH-4, and just omitting the Wander
Lead and matching transformer connection (in other words,
use the Outbacker in its "raw" 75m state). I'm a bit
concerned that the AH-4 won't handle this on 40m because
the AH-4 manual says to avoid odd multiples of 1/2 wave,
and that would be the case using the 75m antenna on 40m.

Let's hear your thoughts and experiences!

73,
Dean K5DH


http://www.ai8w.dyndns.org/~ai8w/

Click the TruckPics link.. says it all.

Hamsticks have a nasty characteristic. A 75m Hamstick is
self-resonant before it gets to 40m. A 40m Hamstick is
self-resonant (~9 MHz) before it gets to 30m. Self-resonance
is the frequency at which the inductive reactance equals the
stray capacitive reactance and results in heavy losses. I
don't know the self-resonant frequency for a 30m Hamstick
but I'll bet it's lower than 14 MHz. .......


Yea, you never want to use a low band stick, for upper
bands...Those sticks *must* have a decent stinger whip
to do any good. No capacitance, no worky....
But using a upper band stick on lower bands, by adding
more stinger works great. The antenna gets better and
better, as you drop bands, and add stinger length...
IE: a 10m stick tuned to 20m, by adding 2 more ft of
stinger works very well. Better on 20, than 10, if the
stinger on 10m, is a short stub..
Ditto for 20 to 40, etc...
When I ran a 6 ft 20m stick on 40m, using a 5 ft
stinger, that antenna was nearly as good as the
*average* bugcatcher. No joke. It kicked butt...
But that stick had the coil windings at the top, and
not evenly wound over the whole height, so current
distribution was real good. Much like a lumped coil
antenna. Just a thinner coil....MK