WSGI548

I moved the car, but no difference. So it got me thinking and I moved the antenna around the car. Guess what… different places on the roof, no difference. Hatch top, no difference. Even tried doors and fenders, no difference. But finally, smack dab in the middle of the hood, bam, keyed the repeater with a radio check and got a response. Doesn’t make sense to me, but it worked. Maybe the type of body metal? I am gonna play around with it some more tomorrow, to see if I can figure out if the metals are different.

Steve, Wind is still up a bit, but I took it off the car and threw it on a pizza pan on a 6’ shelf in the garage(only about a 1’ taller than car and 4’ away). Hit the repeater a little unreadable, but got a response to a radio check. Threw it back on the car with all the coax outside the car, nothing. Then threw it on top of a water heater, got a squelch tail from the repeater. Either that extra foot is all the difference, or my car is a radio blackhole. I think I am gonna read up on Kia Souls and ham radio and see if there have been any issues. Thanks everyone for the help. If I find the issue, or a fix for the issue, I will report back.

I guess I should have also asked… Are there any recommended replacements? I would like to stick with something preferably about the same size or not too much bigger, smaller would work as well.

An SW102 to verify the SWR. I will try throwing it back up tomorrow if the wind dies down. I kinda figured I would end up having to replace it. I will start looking for something a little nicer, just figured I could recycle this one. The only adapter is a SO259 to BNC which is what I have been using at my house with it as base antenna. If the wind dies down I will throw it back up on the pizza pan & pole and verify it is still working fine. It is no biggie to replace as it was inexpensive. I am just surprised it was working as a “base” antenna, but won’t work on the car.

Yes. I tried taking an antenna selfie while driving, but it is not as easy as it looks.

So trying to sort out an antenna problem… I have a Nagoya UT72G which I have been using as a home antenna on a paint pole with a pizza pan and it worked great. Using a UV5G Plus I was routinely hitting a repeater 49 miles away on medium or high, no problem. So recently improved the home antenna and recycled the UT72G to the car, 2016 Kia Soul. Nice spot, center of the roof, cable all nicely routed with no pinching or severe bending…. And it doesn’t work worth crap. I can literally stand in my Driveway and hit the 40 mile distant repeater, scratchy but readable, with my HT by itself. Same HT hooked to antenna on car, won’t even trip the repeater. Everything looks fine on a meter, and as I said, same antenna and handheld being used in same location with no problem. I can even barely receive anything while moving or parked, and car on or off. Anybody have any ideas why? I know it is an inexpensive antenna, but it has been working great, until I try to use it on the car. Any guidance on this is welcome.

Regarding this… Is it possible to get a short CAT cable jumper and use it between the radio and the mic? I have read numerous times where people have had problems with those connectors being weak. It seems like that would an easy kind of strain relief as the weight of the heavier mic and mic cable would not be pulling down at 45 degrees(assuming a horizontal-ish mounting), but rather pulling on an inexpensive 1ft jumper cable. edit- NM. It looks like this should work with most radios, at least according to a quick look.

Well, I got up and running with my new antenna, a $40 “uayosek”(whopping 2.5db) off Amazon and 25 ft of DXEng RG8X connected the BF UV5G Plus. At 16’ in the air with my handheld, it got 4.84 watts on high @1.04 swr. Worked well enough I bumped it down to medium and got 3.42w, and 1.62w at low. I was able to hit the big repeater on Sunday full quiet at high, and a little scratchy on medium. Having listened to suggestions made, and the Euro being about even with the dollar, I ordered 25 feet of MP Ultraflex 7 Sahara, which arrived today. Preliminary test shows 7.94w, 4.95w, and 2.61w, a significant improvement. SWR appears a tiny bit higher, but it is coiled and only tested on the antenna down so that will probably change. Price wasn’t too crazy for the Ultraflex, about $65 assembled and shipped. It definitely fits the bill though, lighter than LMR400, only .28 thick, the BNC connectors they put on it look like they were straight up machined out of bar stock, and its db loss is only a touch higher(.1 or .2 db) than LMR400UF. I am gonna try to get it all put up tomorrow night for the local net, but so far it looks like it will work well.

WYRZ, I will check those out at DX Engineering. That’s where I ordered the RG8X from, so I am sure I can send it back for a restock and exchange for something different. Jay

SoCal & Gortex, If that was directed at me… Well I am hitting 3 repeaters, one 40 miles away, and the other two within 10-15 miles with my 5 watt HT, so… it works fine. The one that is 40 miles away people are constantly surprised I am able to hit as it is known for being hard to get into from where I live. And yes, I did start with a cheap mag mount, because I wanted something I could use with my vehicle(Kia Soul) and at my house at first. The cheapy base antenna is actually not for me, eventually, I have a friend who is a little less fortunate who I am helping get a little set up, this will be given to him. But we only talk about 4 miles simplex, so it doesn’t need much. He lives in an HOA area, so has certain rules, hence the desire again for something he can setup and take down. As for why I use the setup, I have overhead high voltage power lines for neighborhood power over my back fence, about 20 feet away from that antenna, and 30 feet in the air. Those power lines also attach to my house, as well as neighboring houses on either side, so there is no where in the the back half of my property or roof where I can put a mast that wouldn’t be within danger distance of those power lines if it went over, hence the reason I need something I can set up and take down. Steve & WYRZ, I am with you on the coax, I didn’t want to do the RG8X. I ordered 25ft of KMR400, but it is way to stiff to take up and down kind regularly. I did limit my run to 25ft, which if I was reading it right will be about 2-3 db loss, making that little antenna an 0 gain. That will be fine for my buddy, after I make sure it works around town. I was planning on going to a 5-6db gain antenna for myself, so that should make up some. I can look at LMR240, but my understanding was it was solid core and again very stif, and not to be rolled rerolled to many times.

This is my newest attempt to get a better antenna up. It is a threaded extension to pool pole adapter ($9). It has 3/4x5 acme threads, same as broom handle or extension pole, then goes to 1.25 push button to use pool pole accessories and has set screws to snug it down on the threads. I ordered some push button pool pole adapters($10 pr) off amazon to use with it. I will be remounting the antenna on the black adapters, then they can be attached and detached easily, with the antenna mounted, when I want to setup or take down. I ordered some RG8X with bncs on both ends, as well as some adapters. This should allow me to have different antennas, yagi, omni, etc, and quickly attach or detach to swap them. It is still a work in progress. My goal was to be home usable, but also field usable in case.

Well, I admit it took a little ingenuity to do what I wanted… I bought a wood handle paint roller frame($5), then knocked the metal frame off. I used a large hollow wall anchor down the hole where the frame was with a little glue. I then Attached a 25lb magnet ($7) from home depot via screw to the hollow wall anchor. The pizza pan started out a 16” from a dollar store, but I went back and bought a 12” after reading about the size of ground planes, both worked equally well, but the smaller one was a touch easier to deal with. And I ended up with the below. Allows me to attach and detach everything to set it up/down. edit-Just saw you asked about the base. It came from Walmart, a 26lb umbrella stand. Has different size shaft adapters and only cost $20. Has two little thumb screws to snug everything down.

Today they had gun show at our local Chamber. I had taken a BF UV5RM Plus with me. Since all I use it for is GMRS, I bought and installed HYS bnc antenna for GMRS. I have hit our big repeater(40 miles away) with the dual band 771 antenna on 10w, but I figured this antenna might improve it. While waiting for my buddy, I keyed the repeater on medium power, which should be about 5 watts +/- and got a good acknowledgement. I was advised I was not full quieting, but was plenty clear and staying strong while we talked. This was the distance and elevation plot I mapped when I got home.

I have been using a HT with a mag mount, but a base it the next purchase. I have been using the painter pole with a mag mount at home, works well. I am hitting a repeater about 40 miles away on 5 watts, as well as another one about 10 miles away. For those that use batteries, are there any issues? I am thinking of going that way so I can take it out back with me a little easier. Otherwise has anyone used a cigarette lighter style dc converter like this? https://www.amazon.com/Converter-Cigarette-Refrigerator-AUCARAUTO-C15/dp/B0C4KJYMSZ/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?crid=3CPS5ZWOZGQ8E&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fXIC-VleCgLkcho3QA14OILDONN7ZuJJP8xBERoIU6A7wagqv4XY7yEGA3fpTOwK1tJenJ2OJYwCIr-Mx0OkGAvUsUN7bokOaH3jXbQn8kUSOAk12Ul1gEwilWGYClo4pg762PJW94nE-LyVecwLNfduBxeE37-3ISuN5AoTbyv4ITK69QvHSD83bYvsomWmSDmFQDpV-D4hdL15tyle1K7LLGFl1QS892RllXp34go.hosoaLxkAr1uOUoiDsFGs4r1V5wZ2fBR6_bp3u0Ep9I&dib_tag=se&keywords=12v%2Blighter%2Badapter&qid=1739245365&sprefix=12v%2Blighter%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-17-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1 Sorry if your not supposed to put links, just using it as an example. Here is my current house setup, pizza pan and all.

I got a friend and I some for Christmas. He kinda wanted one as a “prepper” type radio, and I had been reading up on ham again after like 25 years. So we both ended up getting our GMRS licenses to be legal. We chit chat on the weekends occasionally, and that is pretty much all he does. I have been taking around on a local repeater as well as one about 40 miles away. So far it has scratched my radio itch, tho I am still debating getting a tech license. The wife will take one when she goes for a walk, but doesn’t usually call me, though she knows how because we both use them at work.