2 meter antenna

[linx]

Hi

I need a new antenna. I've got a Comet CSB-770A and it's a hunk of garbage. Not only does it not function well, but it's build like some Chinese junk. This thing has broken dozens of times, and now it's finally to the point where it's not worth fixing anymore. So, while I was strolling through a hamfest today and looking in catalogs all afternoon, I think I've come up with 2 viable options. I could hard mount an antenna behind the cab, but why bother when you can trimag one on the roof! My radio is only a 45 watt radio (Yaesu FT-7800R) so the way I see it, is improve the antenna and coax to make up for what the radio is lacking.

Option #1 - 1 wavelength on 2m should be around 80 inches. Simple math should figure that out. This option would include taking a 102" whip, cutting it down to 80 inches or so and putting it on a tri mag. If needed, I could add a spring to counter act hitting low lying objects. While I am a fan of 102's, I think it can be done better.

Option #2 - Hamstick Collinear 2m hamstick. This thing is shy under 8 ft tall, and I am assuming is made similar to a CB fiberglass whip and with a steel stinger. As with the previous option, I would install it on a trimag and possibly put a spring in line so I could still enjoy my favorite fast food drive thru's.

What do you think about these options? I like the little tiny 2m antennas, but where I live is around 35 miles from my everyday repeater, and it's all up/down hill all the way. My 2m beam has no problem getting 60db on the receive meter, but that's a much larger beast than what I can do mobile.

Any other options anyone recommends? I'm used to running a 27" pred 10k, so height really isn't a problem. Am I calculating my measurements right with the steel whip as well?

Rob - linx

[Peanut]

Go with the hamstick, you wont regret it, I have one for 2 meter that I put on every now and then. You said you dont mind the height issue which is good because the roof is best place to put it.

[PONY EXPRESS]

Well if your looking at a 2 meter antenna only take a serious look at this one.

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I know a bunch of guys who swear by this 2 meter antenna
HUSTLER CG-144 .It uses 3/8 x 24 thread mounts

This dealer is 1 day away shipping from you

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CG144 $29.95
CG144
2m MOBILE COLLINEAR FITS 3/8 X 24 THD 5.2dB
3/8"x 24 THREAD BASE FOR BALL MTS
WEIGHT: 1.84 LBS.
SUPPLIED IN RESONANT LENGTH
LENGTH: 7'1"

[linx]

I've heard of the Hustler Collinear but have never seen one, or heard one used. The reviews look great on it. One thing I am possibly interested this time around is a spring if it wouldn't dupe my SWR readings. What do you think about using a spring on an antenna like this? My pred was 8 ft above the cab, so 7ft would be OK..I know it would be OK during the winter time as the trees around here don't sag as much without leaves.

[copyguy]

I run the Hustler CG-144 Collinear antenna, and it is a great antenna! I have it mounted to the drivers side of the hood with a trunk mount, with a barrel spring on it. It has some nice gain to it, I even ran it with an HT before I got my mobile rig and it helped tremendously.

Cutting a 102" whip down, you would end up somewhere around 19" long to find the resonant point @ 50ohm, unless you start looking into a balun, which is something I still want to experiment with myself. I need to research it more, but a 4:1 balun should let you run a full wave antenna, but I could be wrong, so research it yourself. lol Maybe I'll get out my books later and read some.

Good luck!

73

[linx]

Well if your looking at a 2 meter antenna only

Yeah, I don't really use 440 as much as I thought I would. All I do is listen to the police bands, and any antenna that works on 2m should be able to listen to the police bands. I understand it won't be able to transmit at 440, but I'm ok with that. The ARRL repeater directory for 440 is so outdated that about 90% of the stations listed are not even around any longer. I have a dual band base beam that is 2m and 70cm, and yet, I still don't use 70cm. At this point, buying a new mobile radio isn't really an option I want to persue, but improving my coax to something like LMR and improving the antenna is an option. When ya can't make the radio better, then make the entire setup work better with the radio. From my home QTH to the repeater I doubt an extra 5-10 watts would make much difference anyway with my current antenna. I'm looking for some full size pictures of these antennas to compare "looks" and "quality" but am not finding anything unfortunatly.

[PONY EXPRESS]

Well if your looking at a 2 meter antenna only

Yeah, I don't really use 440 as much as I thought I would. All I do is listen to the police bands, and any antenna that works on 2m should be able to listen to the police bands. I understand it won't be able to transmit at 440, but I'm ok with that. The ARRL repeater directory for 440 is so outdated that about 90% of the stations listed are not even around any longer. I have a dual band base beam that is 2m and 70cm, and yet, I still don't use 70cm. At this point, buying a new mobile radio isn't really an option I want to persue, but improving my coax to something like LMR and improving the antenna is an option. When ya can't make the radio better, then make the entire setup work better with the radio. From my home QTH to the repeater I doubt an extra 5-10 watts would make much difference anyway with my current antenna. I'm looking for some full size pictures of these antennas to compare "looks" and "quality" but am not finding anything unfortunatly.

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[PONY EXPRESS]

Well if your looking at a 2 meter antenna only

Yeah, I don't really use 440 as much as I thought I would. All I do is listen to the police bands, and any antenna that works on 2m should be able to listen to the police bands. I understand it won't be able to transmit at 440, but I'm ok with that. The ARRL repeater directory for 440 is so outdated that about 90% of the stations listed are not even around any longer. I have a dual band base beam that is 2m and 70cm, and yet, I still don't use 70cm. At this point, buying a new mobile radio isn't really an option I want to persue, but improving my coax to something like LMR and improving the antenna is an option. When ya can't make the radio better, then make the entire setup work better with the radio. From my home QTH to the repeater I doubt an extra 5-10 watts would make much difference anyway with my current antenna. I'm looking for some full size pictures of these antennas to compare "looks" and "quality" but am not finding anything unfortunatly.

Phased 5/8 wave over 1/4 wave. Adding a spring at base does change the antenna physical length on the 1/4 section .

[Circuit Breaker]

One of the best tried and true 2M antennas is the Larsen NMO 150B or 150C. I've used these for years. One time, I had a Diamond SG7900 2M/70cm antenna on the roof of my truck and my friend just had a Larsen NMO 02/70 and he was hearing things my antenna wasn't.

[drdx]

Do the hustler, it is a fantastic antenna for 2m, and if you're into 440 too, just use a 2nd dedicated antenna for that with a duplexer if needed. Long ago, I ran a very tall diamond 7900(i think that was the model) and it was a dual band antenna that worked well, but did not perform as well as that hustler 144 on 2m. To me, it is the 102 inch whip of the 2m world. The only reason you don't see more of them is their size, and the fact that some hams are the plug and play type and want that instant dual/multi band capability and are willing to sacrifice maximum performance, so they can talk to "herb and bob" on the local repeater, as they drive in and become "destinated" at their "work qth"( their version of 10-20 good buddy).

By the way, you may also find that a CB 102 inch whip works on 2m as well in some cases. I ran one and they best I could figure it was about 5 1/4 wavelengths long, but it still had good swr on 2m, so i would use it now and then as I only had one 3/8 mount on the vehicle. I can't speak for it's radiation pattern but it worked fine for local repeater work.

That's all for now W4LNX, 73's for now and say to Carol and the kids, HI HI, this is K5drdx and I'm SK. -drdx

[linx]

That's all for now W4LNX, 73's for now and say to Carol and the kids, HI HI, this is K5drdx and I'm SK. -drdx

ROFL, close but not that close. You did get 3 of the letters right in my call The XYL's name is not Carol by the way, but I will pass the message along nonetheless.

[drdx]

I was just throwing a stereotypical transmission heard on a repeater, and Carol is a traditional wife name for the typical repeater operator repeating the same thing he says everyday as he drives into work, sipping coffee from the same coffee cup, riding down the road in his volvo wagon. It would be cheaper to just get an old police scanner, record an hour of morning repeater activity, and just put it on cd to listen to on the way to work. The repeater talk show is the same everyday. -drdx

[linx]

I was just throwing a stereotypical transmission heard on a repeater, and Carol is a traditional wife name for the typical repeater operator repeating the same thing he says everyday as he drives into work, sipping coffee from the same coffee cup, riding down the road in his volvo wagon. It would be cheaper to just get an old police scanner, record an hour of morning repeater activity, and just put it on cd to listen to on the way to work. The repeater talk show is the same everyday. -drdx

True, it is a bit boring, but having 2 kids, I can't monitor any CB channel with them in the pickup due to the vulgar language they are subject to. It's either listen to the FM Stereo or listen to the 2m FM repeaters. I say 2m repeaters as I can at least get a word in edgewise, start an argument, and not have to worry about being belittled for being smarter than the average channel 19 surfer.

Now back to our regularly scheduled conversation...."The biggest and baddest 2m mobile antenna available.."

[drdx]

Well, true on the quality, that's why I'm getting the hf rig for the house. My oldest is 6, starting scouts soon, and I want him to be at least a general class in the next year as he is reading now. On the 2 meter deal, if the repeater is not to garbaged up with sedative level conversation, you can get a small crew on there going and try to evolve it to more stimulating and fun conversation. Just because it is ham, it doesn't have to sound like airport control tower conversation. Laughter is allowed, and even the regulars on there like to spice it up a little. Now on HF, I must say I am very casual.

-drdx

[Night Crawler]

The ARRL repeater directory for 440 is so outdated that about 90% of the stations listed are not even around any longer.

Try using this directory it's fairly up to date at least in this area. The arrl directory had a repeater listed on 440 that I sold 10 years ago still with my call and site location in their latest edition.
Nothing like being up to date :D
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[linx]

I was going to buy my trimag back from the guy I sold it to and put the big boy antenna on the roof, but I'm second guessing myself now, wondering if I want the hassle of having an antenna that big again. Will a big collinear deal work decent behind the cab of the truck hard mounted?

Thanks for the info Night Crawler. I'll check that one out!

[Peanut]

I couldnt get mine to tune behind the cab but you may have better luck than I did.

[drdx]

Awe come on. Last year you were a big antenna toting maul dropper, now you're concerned what the fellow motorists think. Seriously though, how close are your repeaters. If you operate close ones and don't need to maximize, you can do a hustler or a larsen fender mount 1/4 wave 2m one, that will work as a 3/4 on 440, and be done. Simple, 19 inches, maybe on the opposite side from your FM antenna, and be done. Get the collinear and have it on a roof mag deal for the serious operating/storm chasing/event volunteering. I used to do that when I was planning on a lot of parking garage parking to avoid big antenna removal hassel, and it worked fine. Sure, I'd have to use 25 or 50 watts sometimes insted of the 5 watts the collinear could do it with, but no big deal. -drdx

[linx]

I've just gotten use to not swirving on the road to miss stuff, lol.

[PONY EXPRESS]

Someone can correct me if Im wrong but you can always not Io believe without the top portion it might be a 1/4 wave on 2 meters .Someone got the measurements on the cg 144 bottom section? Is it 19 inches long ?

Myself I like the old 5/8 wave antennas on 2 but I know people who swear by the cg 144

[linx]

I wonder if you can cut out part on that Huslter collinear to install a spring. I know you can do that on the hamstick, and it will work great. I got a email back from the Lakeview folks that said that is a possiblity and lots of folks do it!

[Hookie]

I just got a Collinear RX-2 antenna and it works great with my yaesu 2800m. I just received it all today and just got it all working about an hour ago and I am happy with it so far. It is mounted on the top of my cab mag mount.

[PONY EXPRESS]

I just got a Collinear RX-2 antenna and it works great with my yaesu 2800m. I just received it all today and just got it all working about an hour ago and I am happy with it so far. It is mounted on the top of my cab mag mount.

You are referring to HUSTLER RX2 which is a 5/8 wave system 2 meter antenna mobile .
That will do a good job for you Hookie. 3 db gain doubling your power basically

[Hookie]

You are referring to HUSTLER RX2 which is a 5/8 wave system 2 meter antenna mobile .
That will do a good job for you Hookie. 3 db gain doubling your power basically

Yes I am referring to the hustler RX2. I am loving it so far but haven't driven around with it at all but so far I am loving it. My first ham mobile and just love the idea of a ham mobile :D

[drdx]

I've never tried that, but I did make the white part black via spray paint and a little scotchbrite for roughing up the surface for a different look. I would think you could add the spring and shorten the bottom part about the same length for starters and go from there, if you need it sprung. -drdx