Francis Antennas

[Secret Squirrel]

Has anyone had good experiences with Francis Antennas? Do they transmit and receive well with a barefoot radio? I am putting a radio on my wife's Nissan Frontier. I will probably use a surface mount drilled through the top of the bumper. She has a habit of running things over, repeatedly hitting the same huge pot hole and smacking low tree limbs. I wanted to buy an antenna I can easily replace. Every truck stop around me carries Francis Antennas. I was planning on using a four foot whip. My over concern for transmit and receive is 4 to 5 miles open road. I would rather use the CB than a Nextel. My wife works as an emergency medical dispatcher for a level 1 trauma hospital. She has no problem using the radio. Her handle is Pus' in Boots.

Secret Squirrel

[BigBopper]

not a bad antenna, lots of better, probably one of the most popular in the late 70's and 80's, a lot of truckers use them, cheap to replace and I ran one in the the late 70's

[Secret Squirrel]

I was considering the Francis Antenna mainly on the cost. I was thinking about using the Francis stud mount or a Skythumper Grizzly stud at drill through the top of the rear bumper by a tail light and then ground the rear bumper to the frame on both sides with straps. I can just picture my wife snapping an antenna and I want a strong mount. I can replace a 4 foot Francis for 14.00 locally.

Secret Squirrel

[gun slinger]

I am just curious as to why you would go with such a short one off the bumper ? Personally if part of my concern was breaking antennas and the location you have chosen to mount i would consider maybe even the infamous 102 . Now I'm not familiar with the chassis of that model but if it's a full chassis design you might consider maybe coming from underneath with a piece of iron off the chassis bent correctly to clear the body and put you mount there instead i did that once and had it tack welded in place and it was still there when we separated (the reason for that location her nice shiny car lol) and i got a tennis ball and put it right where the 102 wanted to smack the side of here beloved car .

[Secret Squirrel]

I forgot to include a parking garage height restriction of 6'7" for clearance. That is the reason I was choosing the rear bumper for the location and a 4 foot whip. If height was not a consideration the 102 incher with a 6 inch SS Hustler spring would be the way I would go. The height restriction is the reason I use a 2 foot Wilson FGT and Firestick SS spring with a hood channel mount on my Ford Explorer.

Secret Squirrel

[fireball894]

With a 4 ft antenna on the bumper you may run into reflectivity problems. You could always give it a try though. It should be good for the 4 miles, and if the swr is ok youd be in business, i guess.

Having a 6'7" clearance requirement makes it just about impossible to have any kind of effective antenna.

[chrisbama351]

I love the Francis Amazer and would Love to get my hands on several.
ala"Bama" 351 Colorado