Can I improve my single band HF mobile system?

[ONAIR]

By the way try a 102" steel whip a AT-180 tuner and you like it. Modify it with a home brew coil made of 3/8" or 1/2" O.D. Copper or aluminum tubing for band of choice or large enough to use a tap and have fun.

There's just so many things you can do than having to purchase an antenna. DIY homebrew is a lot more fun than buying one and better because it's made to your specs.

73!

     Yep!  He can even make his own 102" whip with just a fishing pole and some wire!  I know someone who even used a broomstick, and the elements of an old "rabbit ears" TV antenna.

[WA4UF]

...that sometimes you can hear without being heard, and sometimes visa versa.

I run into that one a lot while mobile.  I get a lot of three-legged conversations checking into nets, especially on 40 - I can hear net control (who can't hear me), a relay station can hear me (I can't hear the relay), so net control talks to me, I talk to relay, and relay passes my comments back to net control.

I'm leery of the "shorty" hamsticks - I was running a shorty for 40m mounted on my trunk lid, then switched first to a (not-high-power) Hustler on a short mast with a long whip, then a fullsize 40m hamstick (which causes lots of dragging at drive-throughs ); with either the Hustler or  the big hamstick my receive performance and reported transmit performance are typically 2 S-units (that'd be what, 12dB?) better than the shorty.  Other things being equal, there just isn't much substitute for more metal in the air.

[HS0ZIB]

Well, last weekend I took my mobile system apart and checked all connections etc.  I especially concentrated on improving the ground connection between the Breedlove antenna mount and my car roof.

After re-assembling the system, and parking up on the beach just before dusk, I responded to several low level stations calling, and was very happy that they heard me!  I received good reports on my 200 watt mobile signal from stations up to 5,000 km away.

I then changed to my PSK-20 rig, (putting out about 50 watts via my amp), and had a lengthy chat with a station in Tasmania, at 7,000 km distance).

So either conditions were good that day, or my mobile set-up had improved, or both, or luck

I could also hear very faint US stations, in contact with Australian hams.  It's likely that if I increase my mast height (when parked up), I can hopefully increase my chances of QSOs with NA.

I consider this very good for my simple Hustler resonator and mast that's only about 48 inches overall length on my car roof.

Now, here's the next plan - 40 meters (static) mobile!

I have a Hustler 40 meter resonator, and I have just purchased a PSK-40 kit off Ebay, which will give me hours of fun and frustration in assembling this kit...

Can those with experience of 40 meters mobile give me some idea of what I could expect in terms of contact distance and time of day?  I propose to mount this 40 meter resonator on a 48 inch mast on the front bumper of my vehicle, and then see if I can attach a whip atop of it when I'm parked up.

(Mounting on the front bumper, or generally obstructing the driver's view is quite acceptable here in Thailand - most coach windscreens are almost totally obscured by stickers)

Simon