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Old 05-02-2023, 05:14 AM   #15 (permalink)
ai4kk
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Tallahassee, FL
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I probably won't be removing it as I do use it for CB while traveling (IC-706MkIIG), but I am taking notes on ideas. Can't go on the roof (or maybe it can, will have to see) as there will be a luggage rack on the left and rooftop carrier on the right for my upcoming trip to WA, plus I often carry canoes/kayaks. I said maybe because perhaps I can put the antennas in the middle and whatever on either side of them. I agree about not teardropping the antenna whip itself as that would be too stiff front-rear.

I do have my questions about sweeping the antennas back some. While that may not be good for a 5/8wave 2m (I'll have to look at the radiation patterns to see how much I can get away with without destroying performance), a quarter-wave antenna is closer to an isotropic source so isn't going to be affected as much. That might be an answer for HF/11M, 2M and 440...just use quarter-wave spikes and tilt them back. How much and how does that help aerodynamics? As far as I know, they sweep the wings on aircraft to delay the formation of shock waves which will probably not be a problem with my Prius...at least not until I get the JATO packs installed :-D

Incidentally, the military tilts their antennas for one to avoid beating them up on trees, but also to take advantage of something called NVIS, or Near-Vertical Incident Skywave. Instead of aiming your radio waves at the horizon so they bounce off a distant ionosphere and come back down hundreds or even thousands of miles away but going right over and missing those closer but past the line of sight, you aim them straight up so that they come back down in maybe a 2-300mi circle around you...kind of like aiming a floor lamp at the ceiling to illuminate the room. We use this a lot in regional communications, especially for emergency services as it tends to be much more reliable for communications past VHF range or closer than the skip zone
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