Maybe I should have explained my setup a little better. My radio is tuned to a 5 watt dead key. I rarely run my box except for certain situations. Only thing I'm trying to say is that some of us don't go out and waste money just to be some truck stop gangster. I'm looking at getting distance rather being able to "key" on someone so to speak. My setup does that for me and I'm always willing to try new things. You seem to know alot about antennas. Something I'd like to learn more about. I have just tried about every different setup and right now I'm happy with it but I also like to learn.
Well kc0rey will back me up on this. We as hams (well most of us) are taught to use the least amout of power as needed to make the contact.. Like he said alot of the CB crowd would be very supprised on what you can do with 5-10 watts . But then again I like to keep my ticket that I worked for.. I love being a Ham.. I did the CB stuff when I drove truck.. I tell you know If I would have been a Ham then I would have hucked my CB out the window..
Just hook it up to a meter and set it right then tell us the same thing... You have a ton to learn....with out the right/proper SWR your throwing your power out the door.. I would say my SWR meter is one of the most important tools you can use.. I would never just hook something up and just talk on it..
He was saying that because I told him that SWR was not all that important. Unless there is a problem. After all antenna efficiency is what we are after. A dummy load has a perfect SWR but we all know how well it resonates.
An old timer once put it to me this away."you can tune a sewing machine but it still want be resonate". it must be resonate to resenate and that what you want is one that will radiate at that freq. thus the simple rules of 1/4's. 1/4 wave is about the best you can get on a mobile on any band except the VHF and UHF. after that its all loading coils and tuneing stubs. try a couple of the antenna theroy books and you will learn a ton about how to make an antenna work it best and like it has been said before a well designed and well resonate antenna will make the simpelest radion sound and perform better all the way around.
Putting my Kenwood TS-480HX in my truck... well after I pick up my cdl this week. 200 watts of pure over the road hamming enjoyment. Now that is what I call a great job! I cant wait. And I may leave the chicken bander in the truck for nostalgic purposes. 73, K7AAB *ps.. is there a ham freq that ham truckers stay around?
It used to be 14.302.5 years ago. I haven't had HF in the truck fora few years now. You can also try ECARS on 7.255 and MIDCARS 7.258. There were always a few big rig hams there. you can also look at www.qsl.net/143025. The message board isn't active but the stations list is still up. Has a list of APRS active truckers there as well
