SMALL 60M MOBILE ANTENNA???

[N3OX]

Did someone mention that max power is defined on 60 meters in terms of ERP? 

That could get expensive because you have to get an antenna that will handle the power, but it's a good point.

You get a "free 3dB" if you have a hundred watt rig... guess if you got one of the 200W rigs out there you could get a free 6dB provided you have an antenna that will handle that.

Had some guy in these forums talking about running a RM Italy amp on 60m to make up for the bad mobile installation but that sounds like a terrible thing to do on 60m, even more so than the other ham bands.  I don't know how carefully we're actually being watched in terms of the stated bandwidth restrictions but we really can't tolerate off-channel splatter if we're going to be responsible users of the band.

[K0OD]

60 meter mobiles seem to get out really well.  I hear lots of them giving their power as 100 watts. And many could probably run even more legally.  Too, many home stations run gawd awful antennas on 60... like 40 meter dipoles. So mobiles are quite competitive there.

Note that the 50 W ERP limit should soon go to 100 watts ERP, along with other enhancements such as (channelized) CW and two types of digital.  Waiting for final approval by the FCC. 

[WX7G]

I don't have the ARRL Antenna Compendum 7 so I can only guess at the mobile wire grid model. If it's like all the others I have seen, the antenna current shown on the vehicle appears to be less than the whip current because the current per wire-grid segment is only a fraction of the whip current. The vehicle current of each vertically oriented segment must be added together to obtain the total vehicle current. The vehicle current MUST equal the whip current; the current on each side of the feed node MUST be the same.

[W9CN]

As someone who has attempted to run 60 meters out of my 02 Cadillac DTS let me point out that the internal buss that ties in the 20 or so computer modules together that run every aspect of the vehicle has a 5 MHz clock rate which didn't enjoy 60 meters in the least.  In fact when I tried it it lit up every warning indicator and light on the dashboard like a Madam LaRue pinball machine on Tilt and put the engine into "limp home" mode.

I had to pull over and restart the car.  It reset the both trip odometers, the car radio presets, MPG calculations, fuel used and just about every one of the user defined information settings..  My Cadillac dealer thought it was very funny after he explained that the buss clock frequency was 5 MHz..

I run 40M just fine.  No problem with 20, 15, 10 or 6 either.  But 60 Meters wasn't happy in the least.

Best regards and '73,

Mike Pappas
W9CN

[KC8IUR]

That's pretty awesome. Going to my Toyota dealer today for a service. I'll ask what their clock rate is while i'm at it.

[K0BG]

I suspect the problem is common mode on the coax, and perhaps an inadequate choke on the motor leads. At least, that is where I would start.