HF mobile operation

[mrkane1952]

Thanks for the replies.

Attended the Plano hamfest yesterday---won a 2008 ARRL Handbook as
door prize---and was able to talk to the fellow from Tarheel Antennas.
He said the bottom of the exposed coil section should be above the
roof line for best function on a metal-bodied vehicle. That rules out
mobile operations from a BB due to the resulting excessive overall
height. He had scrapbooks picturing customers' installations, which
included a late-80's FC in Tennesee. It was using a motorized tip-up
mount inside the goat rail on the street side near the back.

Most of the places my travels have taken me in the coach have no trees
suitable for a long wire antenna--lots of mesquite in TX and NM, but
they only get about shoulder high. Up 'til now, I've been using a
Buddipole on a tripod or push-pole with my Ten-Tec Jupiter, in
combination with an amplified vertical receiving antenna with my Drake
R8B. I could search for signals with the R8 omni-directional
vertical, then hand orient the Buddipole for the transceiver.

Set-up with the Buddipole was tiresome when I was driving more often,
and susceptible to misadventure from winds and neighbors. Seems a
roof-mount tilting vertical or a push-up mast make the most sense.
Portable (stationary) operation eliminates issues with engine noise
and rf interference with onboard systems, I guess, although a purely
mechanical non-DDEC DD ought to be just about bullet proof.



M.R.Kane
KB1JTB
1985 PT40
currently Sanger, TX