Yea i will update my system for better distance at a later point in time when money isnt so tight and i finish some of my other projects. for now its just something to toy with.

 

Just a little whip.

 

This is the way to go. This is the same mast I have on mine also. Are you still clearing gas station canopies? Mine Is mounted lower and has cleared everything so far.


Correction, is that a full wave Fiberglass Mast? If so then I am mistaken about it being the same. Mine is a Stainless Mast.

 

Cute whip haha

 

With the whip at the corner of your Jeep, don't you guys miss out on having a ground plane? Or is that just an FM thing and you're all running AM?

 

Some fender washers on the inside to distribute the load.
T Ball to dampen the rebound.
Rear wiper was pooche, used the hole for wire feed.
Wilson no ground arial

 

Yea, just cant transmit as far.
Mine is mounted to the corner of the stock bumper. I am waiting to build a rack, when I do I am going to relocate it to the rack.

 

The radiation pattern can be affected by it’s height above the Earth. There isn’t a physical ground plane, but the Earth acts as an RF ground. If we hang the antenna lower, the earth interacts with the antenna and causes the RF energy to be radiated more vertically. Going above the optimum height gives diminishing returns in angle of radiation, so it isn’t too advantageous to go beyond the ideal height.


I like to skip when I can so I keep mine a little closer to earth as a reflective ground. When you start to move a verticle antenna higher from the earth the need for an artificial ground plane increases. Verticle antennas radiate horizontally and being a little closer to the earth as an RF ground tends to reflect it up at a better angle for using skip. A 102" antenna works best when it is in proximity to a matching 102" reflective ground plane. This size ground plane is pretty hard to duplicate artificially on a vehicle


My 1/4 wave whip doesn't like FM too well so I have a properly tuned and designed magnetic FM antenna that I do stick in the middle of the roof and just switch cables at the radio when I want to do FM.

 

You have that a little wrong about "earth ground" it is really very poor that is why the roof is considered the best reflector on the XJ with the hood being next. Actual height of the antenna is very important the higher the better for my "CB" use I use an 102" SS Whip with a SS spring with 18' of antenna coax this is important also as its what makes it a 1/4 WL antenna. I use this antenna on my Cobra CB in the XJ, I also have a Yaesu 10/6/2/440 quad band FM transceiver and use a fiberglass quad band antenna mounted on my roof rack. This one does require a roof for the ground plane for it, its mounted on a motorized mount so I can raise and lower it easily for tree limbs. Most all antennas require a ground for mobile use a "Metal One" not earth.


There are really only 3 good places to mount a 102" whip on either bumper or on a receiver hitch (that is where mine is located on my WJ).


At home I have a 10-160m vertical Hi-Gain Hy-Tower free standing 67' tall antenna. It requires ground wires ran out from the base cut to length for each band 120 of them total for it to work properly.


When I run HF in the XJ it is all QRP under 5 watts and I use wire antennas I throw up like in a tree then a ground wire attached to the ground cut to length for the band being worked for highest performance or a multi-band that covers 3-4 bands and a tuner.


Or in my WJ I run a 200w radio and what they call a "Screwdriver" antenna that tunes itself using motors.


FYI I am an Amateur Extra class ham operator my call is N0AZZ

 

CB here is AM, and some SSB. And I haven't had any issues with the antenna where it is other than it being somewhat directional. 10 miles range in the country on 2.5 watts, I'm alright with that.

 

I am less than a foot from the legal height limit. I come closer to taking out stop lights than I do gas station canopies. After the lift and tires I am going to be about 6" closer to those street lights.

Yes it is fiberglass, got it about 15 years ago from Radio Shack for $0.01. (yes... ONE cent). They were clearing stock. None of the stores here had them so a buddy in Texas cleared out his local store and sent me one. It held up well as I live in the country it was constantly getting smacked on trees. Unfortunately it walked away recently so I plan to replace it with a 102" Stainless whip.

 

What about this type of mount? Yes, No, Maybe?

 

Ball mounts are fine, they personally stick out too far for my liking.

 

Im stuck holding off on a mount for my zj because i just destroyed my hatch while out wheeling. so new hatch then cb mount

 

Honored to have you take the time to jump in here Fred! When I first joined the Cherokee Forums I searched around for threads related to 2 way coms and after reading a bit realized you are indeed the resident experienced expert on the subject!


I have had the luck to have some very knowledgeable mentors though the years about this subject but I am still learning. You are correct and my use of the term "Ground plane" when addressing the earth as a reflector is misleading.


I may be wrong about this, but it has come to my understanding over the years that in frequencies up to 30 MHz it can indeed be a good reflector to help change the "Angle of Incidence" (For skip) depending on the conductivity of the soil type. It was explained to me one time that our Silicon-Quartz soils in the Southwest can actually do a fair job of this even when using an ungrounded monopole?


It was also explained to me that having a monopole the proper distance from the earth (About bumper height for a 1/4 wave) can reflect a mirror image but at a 180 degree reverse polarity from the original image resulting in better reception on the other end and can even create gains of 6 db because of our soil type?


I am currently playing around with a single element full wave quad parked at about 30 ft. I made it so that I can spin it 90 degrees on a center pin and change the polarity from vertical to horizontal. I park the Jeep under it and hook the Ranger to it. This has been fun with great results depending on the receiving party, Mobile or Stationary


I am dependent on your expertise and thoughts about this Fred, I do know for sure that if an antenna cannot be mounted on a good ground plane like a roof as you say, the height from the earth does indeed make a difference in how well I can send and receive when using skip. I don't know if it helped much but I did incorporate somewhat of a directional ground plane when I built my mount?