[PaddyWack]

Prestige the place to buy? With 6db antenna and cable to $452 posted.

6db antenna ok for mountain terrian?

Was thinking of mounting in the centre console and wiring off a cig light point. Any dramas with doing this?

Cheers

Paddy.

 

[TAZMAV]

Repco had them for $399 a weekor 2 back and stick with 4.5db for good all round coverage not sure if a ciggy would or not,should be OK though.

 

[PaddyWack]

Called Repco, $490 just for the unit.

 

[camp road]

i bought mine over 6months ago prestiege where the cheapest i could fine, the 6db antenna they supply put it this way its a good starting point...

 

[7roy]

I bought mine from prestige communications, like the others it was the best price at the time. I have matched it with a 5db RFI CDQ5000 antenna (not cheap though).

I mounted mine under the centre console cover, at the back where the rear air-con would be for a ST-L (I have a ST). The cable supplied with the antenna and IC440 were long enought to run from my second battery (under the bonnet). I got this idea from someone else on the forum.

could take a couple of pics if you're interested.

 

[TAZMAV]

Called Repco, $490 just for the unit.

thats gone up heaps, so go with Prestige, antenna would be fine if bought as a deal. I have mine i the console and the only problem is the bloody noise it makes when turning on, drives me crazy.

 

[EagleBay]

I mounted mine under the centre console cover, at the back where the rear air-con would be for a ST-L (I have a ST). The cable supplied with the antenna and IC440 were long enought to run from my second battery (under the bonnet). I got this idea from someone else on the forum.

could take a couple of pics if you're interested.

Same here (ST ute) and I have the hand piece cable exiting between the carpet and the console up near the gear levers. There is heaps of room under the console, could easily fit two in there! Havent got around to fitting the hand piece mount on the dash yet but I have been putting it under the drivers seat until I use it, then I just have it sitting on the gear lever pouch while in use. One less thing to be seen by unwanted eyes

 

[camp road]

 

[PaddyWack]

Ok, I fitted the 440 unit under the dash then ran the extension up to the small storage comparment under the dash. The mic and cable fits well. You wouldn't even know there was a UHF in the car aside from the antenna..

It took me 5 minutes to figure out the antenna in the bundle is junk.

Which antenna should I be looking at? Mainly mountain terrain.

Cheers

Paddy

 

[the evil twin]

It took me 5 minutes to figure out the antenna in the bundle is junk.

Which antenna should I be looking at? Mainly mountain terrain.

Cheers

Paddy

Ahhh, thats an easy one... RFI Explorist pack.

Had one on my GQ (currently have ZCG Scalar whip and GME Broomsticks on the GU but that is for outback)

Anyway... Very nice spring mounted, elevated feed, ground independant antenna with interchangeable whips 3 and 6 dB, $120 from Prestige

Prestigecom.net.au 3 & 6.5db Ground Independant 4WD Antenna Package - $119.00

 

[heyhey]

You would probably want a 3dB or something around that. You can pick up something reasonably cheap that is good. I have had stainless whips that shatter when your on the ruff stuff and fiberglass flexy whips that splits. So i think finding a reasonably priced heavy duty whip will be your biggest issue. Try and find something with a spring base that is not too rigid, you want the whip to swing around on the spring, the GMEs tend to be a bit to rigid in the spring which can cause stress in the whip, but alot of people swear by them. I currently have an elcheap Mobile-One fiberglass whip on a raised base with some random spring base I found and it is great, I can change the whip from a 6dB to a 2dB easily.

 

[PaddyWack]

Now I'm confused, I've heard the 4.5 db is good for the bush too?

 

[the evil twin]

Now I'm confused, I've heard the 4.5 db is good for the bush too?

Mate don't worry too much.. more horsedoodoo is written about Antenna Gain than wine.

A quality 4.5 will work fine in the hills... Outside of a Lab it will be almost impossible to tell the difference in radiation patterns and performance.

Essentially it is the quality of the antenna and cabling that has the most effect and anything from even Unity to 4.5 or is fine in hilly stuff whilst 4.5 to 9 gives a few extra K's range on the flat. I tend to advise people up to 3 ish for hills, 4.5 for all round use, 6 or higher for outback.

Seeing as how so much chat is done getting too and from the venues and when you are there it is normally only a few 100 metres between trucks in a group I reckon the versatility of the Explorist setup is the go unless you live, work and play in one specific type of terrain.

 

[heyhey]

The lower the decibel gain the better the signal 'wraps' over hills and obstacles but it will travel a shorter distance, higher decibel gain will not 'wrap' the signal over obstacles as well but will travel a further distance.

 

[PaddyWack]

I understand, thanks

 

[Issus]

You can think of RF radiation like a doughnut, with the antenna in the hole. Lower gain stretches the doughnut up vertically, making it tall but not very wide. Higher gain squashes the doughnut down - making it wider and flatter. The doughnut is your radiation, if another antenna is in that doughnut then it will pick up the signal, and the doughnut is a fixed volume. Higher gain will send the signal out wider but it's very flat. Lower gain will be higher but not as wide.

This is why high gain antennas are fine for vast flat expanses and low gain are good for hills. If you only radiate like a pancake (high gain antenna) then it's not going to make it over hills or down into gullys very well, the vertically stretched doughnut however does this quite nicely, but it's not going to go as far.

Every 6dBi doubles your range. ie: a 9dBi has double the range of a 3dBi, but the radiation off the 9dbi is also really flat. This is why people like the 4.5, it's a nice tradeoff between range and coverage.

 

[the evil twin]

The lower the decibel gain the better the signal 'wraps' over hills and obstacles but it will travel a shorter distance, higher decibel gain will not 'wrap' the signal over obstacles as well but will travel a further distance.

Uuummmm not really. Issus is on the money. UHF propogation is line of sight and doesn't like to "wrap" over anything altho it will bounce off some surfaces to a certain extent no matter the Antenna gain. HF ground waves are pretty much the extent of that effect

The reason lower gain antennas are cited for hilly areas is the radiation pattern "donut" is wider so you have less of an issue of radiating over the top of another station when you are pointed towards the sky or valley floor because you have effectively changed the polarisation and path of your antenna signal.

Think of it more like mag lite beam shining on a wall,
low gain = wide beam, lower light levels over top, middle and bottom of the wall
high gain = narrow beam, more light but only on the part of the wall it is pointing at and the other points miss out

 

[Doug]

http://www.rfi.com.au/downloads/wireless/mobile-antennas/citizen-band/477MHz/CD63.pdf

I can highly recommend these as good performers, and visually unobtrusive too. Easy to fit, plenty of cable, priced right for the performance. I have used and sold them in years gone by (I no longer sell anything in comms), and I personally like them, as did/do the people to whom I sold them.