BoatAnchors, a word in it's favor

[Bob Hardie- W5UQ]

No, but, I WAS wondering WHO called this meeting...

I have noticed a lot of people hanging around here, exchanging ideas, 
asking for help, offering help, offering equipment for sale and just 
plain having fun sharing a common interest....  you know, just kinda 
"meeting here"........ and on a regular basis too. 

Richard's question is just one example of people who care and trust 
other hams to help.  
I'm sure there is someone out there who is just bursting at the seams to 
help him... and it's a nice feeling to get good answers too.

Isn't the BoatAnchors site a sight?  Quite a sight, I'd say...  sorry, 
but I just had to say that... 
*
Thanks BoatAnchors for just plain "being there to help".  And all the 
people on it who are "BoatAnchors". I'm one.

*_Now, would someone help this boy?_   :-)

Bob  
PS... BoatAnchors, well, those that are fortunate to be in Florida, 
usually meet at the Orlando HamCation.... so Bry, where is this years 
meeting? 
Actually some come from all over.  It's really a big hamfest.

Richard Arland, W3OSS wrote:
> I suppose you're wondering why I called this meeting!!
>
> Actually, I am in need of a solution for my mobile HF antenna. I got talked 
> into buying a High Sierra Sidekick screwdriver mobile antenna. It is 
> extremely short (around 4 ft or so fully extended) but according to the 
> folks at High Sierra, it is capable of 80-10M operation.
>
> Now I realize that this is all manufacturer's hype but as we all know if you 
> add enough capacitance and inductance in line with the antenna you can get 
> it to  resonate almost anywhere. Radiation efficiency is something entirely 
> different, and much harder to realize.
>
> So, my situation is this: I have mounted the screwdriver antenna on the rear 
> cross member of the roof rack on my wife's Nissan Pathfinder SUV. I have 
> tried the antenna on various HF frequencies including 80 and 40 meters. 
> While it does resonate, my 100 watts of RF output doesn't radiate 
> efficiently.
>
> I have thought about adding a ground plane to the roof rack in the form of 
> copper or aluminum tape. In the days of slot cars, we  used copper tape 
> which was positioned on each side of the "slot" in the track, and the motor 
> inside the slot car had a set of pickups that would contact the copper 
> strips providing voltage for the motor. Unfortunately, there is a definite 
> shortage of this copper tape. About as close as I can come to it is the 
> aluminum duct tape used to seal heating duct work. It is conductive and I 
> was thinking of placing this on the UNDERSIDE of the roof rack and 
> connecting each end of it to the ground portion of the antenna mount. I have 
> anticipated adding a ground plane so I added some wing nuts to the lower 
> portions of the antenna mount.
>
> My general question to this group is: Do you think that this is a workable 
> solution to the RF counterpoise problem on this mobile installation?? If 
> not, don't be shy, tell me what you have used in the past (or present) that 
> works for you. I am open to any and all suggestions (within reason, of 
> course).
>
> I was wandering around Home Depot yesterday and spied a bunch of 3/4 inch 
> copper pipe used for plumbing. The thought immediately crossed my mind to 
> use this, along with some 90 degree elbows to form a tubular counterpoise, 
> paint it black (to match the roof rack) and place it on the underside of the 
> roof rack, holding it in place with a few black plastic cable ties. The 
> extra area might drastically improve the RF counterpoise and make the 
> antenna perform as advertised. Just a thought.
>
> Comments, anyone??
>
> 73 Rich W3OSS
>
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