102" whip installation on my car...

A 16 inch rubber duck antenna mounted to the roof will out perform a 102 inch in 10 I put it down by the ground at the bumper been there done that already 30 years ago.
The mounting location has a lot to do with how the antenna performs

QUOTE="California roadrunner, post: 4833429, member: 171756"]Here are some tips for you that i have learned over many years working with antennas. First thing i would like to say is you can NOT buy a better antenna for a car or truck than a 102'' stainless steel whip. The reason is a stainless whip is a 1/4 wave length antenna that doe's not need to be matched like alot of fiberglass antennas. If you need to match the antenna to bring in the SWR of your 102 antenna you DO have a grounding problem.

The reason why i am posting this is because i am currently putting a 102 stainless steel antenna on my car. I have not done this yet because of the problems we are talking about on this site.

102'' inch is to long to put on the top of my van and i know from experience it's going to hit everything, tear up the antenna and maybe the van roof too. I refuse to mount the antenna on the back bumper or the side of the car because, when you do this (like someone said on this site,) your making it directional. For any kind of vertical antenna on a car the antenna will work the best in top center.

After thinking about this problem i have come to the conclusion that the best thing for me is to use a hard mount through the roof and leave the antenna off until i need it. I all so might try bending the antenna backwards and make a hook for it.

Just one more note here about grounding. Your car, van, or truck is going to be the other half of your antenna, so making sure your ground is right can be very important to it,s performance. Use welding wire to the frame and batteries is always a good ideal. Roadrunner[/QUOTE]
A

 

You are right about the 9 foot whip being the most efficient antenna but when you mount it in the least efficient location it sucks compared to a crappy antenna bolted in the most efficient location

 

I call this my uncle Leonard thread...

Your VOLVO wagon for christs sake?? LOL LOL LOL

OK uncle leonard, you get to talk to sam in aregentina again, so what!!!
Like the massive antenna towers at your house aint enough!!

Get a smartphone, download the cb app....Its digital, crystal clear, you set the range...run it thru the trucks stereo, have a normal sounding conversation for once boys!!

The midrange ear piercing stuff you guys listen to all day is nuts

Is there not one of you here who has a HAM set up in the truck? has to be

So many knobs and settings and tunings to achieve a annoying ear piercing chat...LOL

 

I ran a 102 on the top of my pickup that was lifted 7" with 35" tires. Lol, that thing would hit street lights and everything else, it was a good test of durability. You wouldn't think there would be a difference between different brands, a piece of stainless is a piece of stainless right? Some of them are welded at the base and they don't hold up as well. The best one I found was from Radio Shack, but rat shack isn't what it once was.

 

I used to smash fluorescent tubes at gas stations with mine...

 

Don't trash talk people who have 102s on the roof of their Volvo wagons. There's more people in here with that setup than you think.

 

A 102 bolted to the roof is about the most efficient system possible for a mobile.
I would never trash talk an efficient antenna installation.

 

Mine isn't bolted, it's on a tri-mag mount, but it works well.

 

I'm sure that magnet mount works much better than bolted to the back bumper of a car almost dragging on the ground

 

I wondered where all the arrogant hammers went to...................