If it goes thru the firewall to the engine compartment, some dampness is normal. just do not have any splaces in the wire in the engine compartment or near the gromet.

-Jim

Thanks - I have a big Dentron manual antenna tuner as well at an antenna analyzer. I'm after getting the SWR right directly at the feed point for experimantation on many bands. I could an open wire feed from my manual tuner, but here I want to use coax so the only place to tune really effectively is at the other end.

The 239 is not SGCs best unit, but it will handle huge SWR ranges. It can match an impedence range of .5 to 5000 ohms for example.

-Jim

I do most of my hamming mobile. I am running a screwdriver on 40-6m. I can get a 1/4 wave for 2M/440MHz (I hear 1/4 wave is good for hitting all angles in the sky).

What would be a good bird for me to work, and what would I need to get started assuming I know *nothing* about satellite work?

-Jim

I checked out handi-ham and they had a more advanced unit but less useful with CW output thaty is discontinued. I am looking for the article still.

-Jim

For a small antenna you could get a 1/4 wave antenna and a trunk lip mount that would not alter the car. You can get a police, commercial, or ham antenna (you will have to cut the length down slightly for a ham one tuned for 146 MHz).

The Diamond K-400 is the premium mount though MFJ makes a cheaper version that should work for that size antenna.

Must be good to be an office with that car - it will attract way too much official attention!

Think about getting your ham ticket sometime.

-Jim

Magmount is simple, and NMO through the sheet metal would both work pretty well. Are you going to slide stuff over where it goes (since it is a pickup, I assume yes).

-Jim

Well I broke down and ordered the SGC SG-239. It is down to $179 on their web site and it looked like I could do something with it even if it is not my ultimate tuner for all time.

I would have tried the Icom AH-4 but it would only work with my Icom rig out of the box.

-Jim

Great hints on getting motor wire and stand offs! Any other ideas appreciated.

-Jim

I am looking for a good source for an SGC-239 antenna tuner. The list price has dropped to $179 but I am interested to know if anyone discounts, throws in free shipping or other incentives.

-Jim

I also have a tilt mount for my screwdriver. I found for skip work just leaving it angled almost parallel with the ground but works just as well for HF work.

For local UHF/VHF you don't want to be too far cross polarized, but tilted may work quite well.

I park every day in a garage at work and home and leaving the whip tilted is just easier.

-Jim

You should put a sheet of some insulator between - non-metalized glass works well. It is designed to have an insulator about the thickness of car window glass between the plates.

You can test to see if the capacitor has enough adjustment by just holding each piece in place with tape (do not remove the adhesive cover on the glass mount) and see if you can tune it with an antenna analyzer or SWR meter.

-Jim

Tucking under the shingle seems to work. I bought 1/4 mile of aluminum electric fence wire at tractor supply for $10 and it is stealthy enough for the gaps running it under the shingles. I am still looking at alternatives for the wire that will be exposed to the curious - motor wire seems like one good alternative.

-Jim

Unfortunately the rules of this contest clearly state that in the event of duplicates, you must contact the regional director of the FCC regions in which you and the other stations operated, and obtain a certified letter from each allowing the duplicates.

;-)

-Jim

Tune with CW or RTTY.

Or if you need to use SSB, play an audio tone in.

-Jim

Make sure that is open the right direction (or both ways). Some devices has different incoming and outgoing settings.

Mine works fine just opening up 5198 and 5199 and that is it.

-Jim