Amateur radio aerial.

Andy12 · Post by **Andy12** » Fri May 23, 2014 7:20 am

Just in the process of buying a aft and had a thought of how/where i could fit my ham radio ariel to the top of the Bongo, suppose i could mount it on the side but is anyone else on here a ham radio licensee, if so what's your callsign

. I'm 2E0LRM based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

winchman · Post by **winchman** » Fri May 23, 2014 10:11 am

I have a cb Radio the aerials mounted on my full length roof rack but I have a tin top, would a gutter mount not do as long as any coils are above the vehicle it should be fine?

Diplomat · Post by **Diplomat** » Fri May 23, 2014 10:25 am

Hi Andy.

Yes, several of us on here.

I find that gutter mounts work fine for aerials that are not too massive and the cable can be routed easily to the rear of either of the offside clip opening windows (you can't open the nearside one). I've also made up a mount consisting of a die cast box with U bolts through it for mounting a spring based 28 Mhz quarter wave on a roof bar. My Bongo is tin top. Needless to say this aerial is tied down or removed while travelling.

When parked up, I use a drive on base plate with a sectional mast steadied by an extension to the rear roof bar. This summer I am going to try out a 12m Clark pneumatic mast mounted similarly (not through the roof!)'

Have a look through our radio club facebook page https://www.facebook.com/northkentradio ... tos_stream and you will see the interior and exterior of the Bongo frequently featured. The aforementioned box with the spring mount is also shown being held.

My callsign (in anti-trawl format) is da da dit, di di di da dah, di da dah , da dah, di da dit.

Hi Winchman, I also run dual UK/CEPT CB from time to time either with a magmount plonked on the metal roof or a compatible element screwed into the SO239 gutter mount.

Frank

weebrian · Post by **weebrian** » Fri May 23, 2014 10:43 am

Frank,
I've been off the air for some years now, G0BWP, and just looked at Andy's call sign which I didn't recognise. Didn't realise things had changed. I just wonder if he'll be able to read the morse as as far as I can see it's not required these days as it used to be for a class A licence. Your call sign has been around for a few years, '60s ? As for the antenna, I'd be happy just to use a gutter mount.
Brian

Post by **g8dhe** » Fri May 23, 2014 10:46 am

Here is my 2m/70cms aerial;

dobby · Post by **dobby** » Fri May 23, 2014 6:32 pm

I did consider fitting an aerial on the aft and then an earth back to the metal body, would that be ineffective as a ground plane?

Ps. Anyone bought a baofeng? See http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/ might make me do my foundation licence!

weebrian · Post by **weebrian** » Fri May 23, 2014 6:56 pm

I wouldn't have thought that the extra inches that you'd gain by putting it on the AFT would be worth the trouble, assuming we are talking about a 2m or 70cm whip.
I did look at the handhelds a while back and almost bought one out of interest. At that sort of price I find it difficult to imagine they'd be up to much but £25 I might think about it again.

dobby · Post by **dobby** » Fri May 23, 2014 7:28 pm

weebrian wrote:I wouldn't have thought that the extra inches that you'd gain by putting it on the AFT would be worth the trouble, assuming we are talking about a 2m or 70cm whip.
I did look at the handhelds a while back and almost bought one out of interest. At that sort of price I find it difficult to imagine they'd be up to much but £25 I might think about it again.

Good point cheers, there's a few 2m repeaters near me. Be nice to listen in

Post by **g8dhe** » Fri May 23, 2014 7:49 pm

A groundplane has to be directly underneath the active element it doesn't need to be grounded at all, it acts simply as a Mirror (as its a conductor ) to the aerial (normally a 1/4wave) above it thus making it look like a 1/2 wave dipole. Main problem with mounting it on the AFT is that the angle will changed when the AFT is up! That aerial I use is a Comet SBB-2 http://tinyurl.com/pkrc5x9 with a mount similar to this http://tinyurl.com/otv3qop

dobby · Post by **dobby** » Fri May 23, 2014 8:01 pm

Cheers Geoff, useful links as well

Diplomat · Post by **Diplomat** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:26 pm

weebrian wrote:Frank,
I've been off the air for some years now, G0BWP, and just looked at Andy's call sign which I didn't recognise. Didn't realise things had changed. I just wonder if he'll be able to read the morse as as far as I can see it's not required these days as it used to be for a class A licence. Your call sign has been around for a few years, '60s ? As for the antenna, I'd be happy just to use a gutter mount.
Brian

June !967, Brian. Right in the middle of the best sunspot cycle I will ever experience. All corners of the earth worked with 3 watts (input power, even less output) two valves in the transmitter, EF91s !!! Morse of course, the modulation was added about 1970. Home built, too, as was the norm in those days, only receivers tended to be purchased.

I will leave Andy to answer about his Morse as the earlier 2E0s had to pass the a code test but not for a few years now.

I concur with Geoff's comments about ground planes. One way of reducing the reliance on a lot of metal under the aerial is to use an end fed half wave. However that might be more likely to clobber passing trees than a compact whip like Geoff's. Most of the time I use 19 inches of bendable wire soldered into a PL259 plug. It matches reasonably on both bands even though the signal goes more or less skywards on 70. For Sunday best, I wear a Comet triple 5/8 wave sold for use on 70cm but even though not advertised as such works well as 5/8 on 2 metres and a loaded 1/4 wave on 6 metres. However, that is very much an aerial for the open road and not for overhung leafy lanes. Definitely not for multi-story car parks or seaside height barriers!

Note my evident dislike of using the word 'antenna' when not applied to insects or crustaceans!

Frank

Post by **Bob** » Sat May 24, 2014 11:31 pm

G Zero RMH, haven't used it in ages, and I'm not even sure if a licence is for life now or what the fee is, but I did do the Morse.

Post by **g8dhe** » Sat May 24, 2014 11:41 pm

Provided you occasionally validate the address then its for life https://services.ofcom.org.uk/ once every 5 years as I recall.

mantaJim · Post by **mantaJim** » Sat May 24, 2014 11:56 pm

G1 PBB took the RAE when I was 14 but haven't been on air for about 20 years

reminds me I need to update my address

my dad is G8 OMC and my grandad was G4 VLY

Andy12 · Post by **Andy12** » Sun May 25, 2014 11:05 am

Morning all, sorry it's taken so long to reply but here goes.....

Frank - M3HUB in 2003 and had to do morse at 5 wpm for the Foundation license, current M6 do not have to do morse to gain a license.

Dobby - great area to live for repeaters, one of your busiest should be Great Barr on 145.637 (2m repeater)

G8DHE - you are correct, re-validate your license every 5 years and it is a life long license.

Hope i have all the questions but if not please let me know and hopefully here some of you on the air.

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