Um... yeah. I think I have too much antenna.

[wolfwings]

I... thought my SWR meter was broken at first. I was getting a 1.3 SWR with the naked antenna no matter what I did.

Then I hooked up the AM/FM/CB splitter, and re-tested. THAT let me throw the SWR all the way over to 3.0, so at least I know the meter works. But I ended up being able to get a 1.1 SWR on channels 1 and 40 equally, and it actually dipped lower (though I couldn't measure accurately below 1.1) towards the middle-channels. I think I can safely go buy a smaller antenna. =O.o=

And the 'quick fold over' is worthless. I'm going to delete it, and put the potbelly spring in with a shorter antenna I think, rush home, take a shower, then head to work. Ah well, anyone out there want a screwed-in-once 102" stainless-steel whip antenna in the KCMO area? Free?

And just to prove I did it:

Comments

Re: Antenna stuff

[uplinktruck.livejournal.com]

You are right to be worried about the roof stress. Sheet metal was never meant to support something with that much leverage in the wind.

Re: Antenna stuff

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. It's sheet metal on a curve so it has a lot more rigidity than it might otherwise, but I'll switch it to a shorter antenna until I get my cell-phone booster kit, then I'll re-purpose the 'stock' antenna mount position for that, and likely re-mount the CB antenna to a mount I'll fabricate off either (or possibly both) ends of the rear bumper, which'll also drop the antenna about 4 feet in the process.