Okay this maybe a simple minded thought, but a buddy of mine just came by and wanted to borrow my SWR meter. He broke his aluminum mirror bracket and put a new stainless steel one in it's place. he checked the SWR's with his meter and didn't trust what he was seeing. On the original setup the best swr he could get was 1.5 and with the new bracket it dropped to 1.1 across the band. Since the cab, mirror bracket and just about everything on his frieghtliner is aluminum I didn't think it would make that big a different without running a ground strap.
Any Ideal's or thoughts?
Antenna Brackets
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521 Houston
Re: Antenna Brackets
There's more to consider than just a simple bracket change. Were the brackets EXACTLY the same, same thickness, shape, etc... other than what they were made of? Did he use the same mounting hardware or the stuff that came with the new bracket? Is the antenna mounted EXACTLY as it was before? Same distance from the cab? Exact same angle? Was the stud on the old bracket corroded at all? There are so many variables that could be involved... more even than what I have listed here.rayray1963 wrote:Okay this maybe a simple minded thought, but a buddy of mine just came by and wanted to borrow my SWR meter. He broke his aluminum mirror bracket and put a new stainless steel one in it's place. he checked the SWR's with his meter and didn't trust what he was seeing. On the original setup the best swr he could get was 1.5 and with the new bracket it dropped to 1.1 across the band. Since the cab, mirror bracket and just about everything on his frieghtliner is aluminum I didn't think it would make that big a different without running a ground strap.
Any Ideal's or thoughts?
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Phaze91460
I have around 15 antenna mounts that I have tried on my truck. Some look identical but made by different manufactures. I have had a wide range of SWR readings on them and was not happy with most. Being mounted in the exact same place there are still factors like the hight, width, grounding surface, metals used, isolator material and thickness to deal with. I finaly used a "Hockey Puck" style which is workin out great for me. Of course that wont work on a mirror mount but will give you an idea of why the difference between mounts.
