I finally got around to fabbing a bracket and mounting my antenna correctly over the weekend. Yes, Mr. Jakebrake, this time I used stainless bolts, nuts, and washers.....

 

looks good i need to get a better antenna like yours now. Is that a ground wire to?

 

It's crooked !!!!!







just kidding ..... looks good

 

What kind of swr do you get with that setup? I have a Wilson 5000 on the roof and my swr is about .8. I'd love to lower my antenna but I think it would be near impossible to get a number that good anywhere except the roof.

 

I hate to admit it, but I've yet to SWR my antenna. It too is on the roof. I'd LOVE to have it tuned in though.

 

Looks nice, is that a 4' whip?

I just hooked up my dual 4' fiberglass whips on my tool box. The difference was night and day! As soon as I turned it on I heard people talking on a bunch of channels when I never heard anybody talking before, could be coincidence I know. The weather was also loud and clear, I love it already!

 

The ground wire goes from the antenna bracket to the truck frame. The toolbox is sitting on foam - so I wanted to ensure a good ground. Do this if you mount any antenna to a toolbox, rollbar, etc. The better the ground - the better the performance.

The whip is a standard K-40, which measures about 4'8". I like the K-40 for it's performance - but also because the antenna coil is a "twist lock" so you can easily remove it and cap the base to go through the car wash or in a parking garage...

The last time I had the swr's checked was with it mounted the other way where the antenna coil was next to the toolbox. It was 1.1 then - so I imagine it is around .8 or so now. I don't have a swr meter now, mine broke so I can't tell you for sure. The swr meter in the radio will barely move when I try it though. I was conversing with a guy yesterday in the rush hour traffic and such that was about 5 miles away.....

The roof is probably the best place for maximum performance, but you can do fine on the toolbox, bed side, etc as long as you ground the antenna base properly. It is also best to put a single antenna on the passenger side.....

 

This is a picture in post test......
The thing does look crooked in this pic - but that is an illusion created by the angle of my driveway and the camera...It is straight

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Lookin good. Luckily my galaxy radio self adjust swr. I'm pullin a 0.25 with the dual 4ft firesticks. 5 miles is about the max here in western washington. I know when I was in wyoming I got people out to 30miles. hard to carry a conversation that far away with the static though.

 

So your saying that dual sticks mounted low like that are better than one on the roof ?