102 whip

I think Bruce is just saying that an antenna with two coils is going to be more lossy(is that even a word?) than an antenna with one coil of the same length.

 

I concur on most of the above. The problem with bending a 102'' (or any whip) down so the end is adjacent to the metal body is that the "far end" of a quarter-wave antenna (or equivalent, i.e., nearly any mobile antenna) has a voltage peak at the tip, and a current null. So the tip of the antenna isn't radiating as much power, but the huge RF voltage at the tip will make the end of the antenna and the roof (or stack, or opposite side mirror mount) into a capacitor and detune the antenna, putting much of your signal into said metal surface.
When I was in high school in the late 60s, I had the requisite tube powered Ameco VHF converter for the AM radio hooked to the regular antenna's antenna, and a 102" with spring on the left rear bumper, with a plastic gutter clip above the driver's head on the rain gutter (remember rain gutters, and the antennas that could clip onto them?) More than a few times I'd come out of the garage and, while merrily transmitting to my buddies on CB Ch 7 that I was headed to the Rescue Squad, would reach up and unclip the antenna to let it sproing! back up into vertical position.
It took four or five times of getting little RF burn craters on my fingertips to learn not to do that.
If you do decide to go for the two-coil Predator 10K, go in with the knowledge that since one of the two coils is actually resonant at 27 MHz, it will directly absorb a huge portion of your signal and make it unavailable for transmitting or receiving with.
If you don't have a decent ground plane to start with, no amount of antenna is going to make up for it. I do have another thread in here somewhere, marked with a little screwdriver icon, about "idea for trucks with poor ground planes" or similar, that shows how to use a second, compact whip to make a vertical dipole. Remember that simply getting a low SWR is not the same as having an efficient antenna system; a dummy load sitting on the roof would have a 1.0:1 SWR, but.... well, you know.
Might be worth a read.

 

UNDERSTAND it is a trade off you cant have a wip 22 foot off the ground

 

I’ve seen it done a few times over the past 20 years, but IMO that it isn’t practical and the gains you would get from a perfectly mounted whip (center & on top of the vehicle) would be negated by the compromises in mounting locations on you tractor. I’ve seen them mounted low on the sleeper and on the running boards/steps, both with grounding straps tied to the frame, neither ideal locations. BTW, mounting them low tends to beat the hell out of your paint…

 

Very poor advise,(Grade A-BS actually)most get what they pay for with the better quality antenna's
The Predator 10K's are some of this decades best over all performing sticks.There is a reason Kayle has been doing steady business the last 20+ years,his product is very solid.

Properly tuned a 10K will out transmit and receive anything in the current "BARJAN" made Wilson* line,the quality is well worth the $25 extra coins. Beats paying twice the amount for half the performance of the old Wilson 2K's

 

I had to raise this stinger nearly all the way up to get the best swr on my fgt-4. Are you saying removing it altogether will give me better swr? How is that so? Wouldn't I have to make up for the loss in height?

 

I had the 5 1/2 footers.

 

i know two guys running the big whips. they have them mounted at the bottom back corner of the sleeper. i guess its plastic or rubber isolators every couple feet keep it from twanging around

 

And your point is...? Only take the tip out if you have 5 1/2 footers?