WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Ok, maybe a sticky would be appropriate.
Basically after, what antenna's you're using/used including bands, and how they rate. That way you don't have to find a thread on each different antenna.

I've got a mobileone M270 on my car for 2m and 70cm. Get's out well and picks up well too. Location is the one that seems to be the issue if there's ever a problem has a slight bit of moment and I'll come through well, as was done last night. Good antenna to start out with!

That almost sounds like a candidate for the reviews section perhaps? Why restrict ourselves just to radios, I'm sure that people can post reviews on antennas as well - are they nice and sturdy, easy to assemble if it comes in parts, what's the performance like, that sort of thing...

Yeah i thought about it, but then sifting through pages of reviews (once that section has got fully under way) to compare would be a pain. But I suppose it'd be the same here. Fair call, I leave it to Robbage and ZMS to decide.

Well I wasn't sure either - I mean if it's specific just to AR, then in here would be better.

Oh the luxury of being spoilt for choice!

Tyranus wrote:Ok, maybe a sticky would be appropriate.

I've got a mobileone M270 on my car for 2m and 70cm. Get's out well and picks up well too. Location is the one that seems to be the issue if there's ever a problem has a slight bit of moment and I'll come through well, as was done last night. Good antenna to start out with!

The M270 is a dud, no gain on 2 meters bad performance on 70cm. Go for a Diamond Super Gainer.

Zebedee wrote:Well I wasn't sure either - I mean if it's specific just to AR, then in here would be better.

Sounds good to me.. I can't imagine people with scanners caring how well a 80m half wave dipole performs

VK6ZMS wrote:The M270 is a dud, no gain on 2 meters bad performance on 70cm. Go for a Diamond Super Gainer.

I'm pretty sure this came up before but I've gotta go with Martin on this... A 2m ¼ wave performed better for me on both bands. I stripped it, extended it and rewound it as a 5/8 wave and now it works OK on 2m.

Well I had a bit of a win and a loss over the past two days.

After getting the FT-100D installed in my new vehicle, I tried getting my Sidekick antenna to work, with no success. Everything seemed to be in the right spot and all looked good. That was, however, until I connected the rig to it. As soon as I tightened the, umm, ferrule thingy of the PL259 the signals would drop right out. I changed the plugs, checked and rechecked with a multimeter to ensure that there was no connection of the braid to the centre conductor of the coax... all good. No signals though.

Took the car up to a fellow ham today. He was puzzled too.

I took the antenna off the mounting bracket. He was quite perplexed and surprised to see that the connector of the antenna to SO239 adapter was very close to the mounting bracket. (A couple of mm distance at most.) He surmised (correctly) that might be the problem.

After a cuppa and the trip home I had a look in the box of bits that I took out of my old car. Sure enough, at the bottom of the box, there was the little plastic piece that was missing. About the size of a 20 cent piece with another section about ½ in diameter on top, both with a hole through the middle.

I put it in place, reconnected the antenna and checked it with the SWR meter. Hmmm... lowest SWR was 2.2:1. Forgot to connect the whip! That done the signals came up and it tuned up ok! Now for the Antenna Boss. I tried using one yesterday but one of the ICs inside released its magic white smoke... Fortunately I had a second one. This worked perfectly. (Only problem is that I have to jury-rig a fix for tuning at 80m - the Antenna Boss only goes to 40m.)

Losses - one Antenna Boss unit....
Wins - one working mobile antenna system for HF. =D>

Moral of the story - check everything twice before doing anything... then check again!

hehe whoops, thanks for sharing the story Wes I'll remember that when I'm setting up a HF or any other mobile antenna system for that matter.