Radio antenna

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Ricks70Duster340 said:
Only the "squids" would have access to such a large transmitter & the frequencies thereof!

Regards from your Air Force brother!
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Thanks Rick my Air Force brother, I dedicated most of my life to Aegis Cruisers and Destroyers, very proud of what we accomplished, so many of the people I served with, they're near and dear to my heart.
 
Speedy Pedi said:
Thanks Rick my Air Force brother, I dedicated most of my life to Aegis Cruisers and Destroyers, very proud of what we accomplished, so many of the people I served with, they're near and dear to my heart.
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Yes sir. I was in CRITICOMM communications and served with both AF and Navy guys who were not deployed on ship. We always had fun with ribbing the navy guys and they us. What was great was how well we all worked together when the mission was on.
 
Wow! You really jerked some long forgotten memories, I can remember the old Teletype KSR model 33, chugging along, with the paper tape, making lots of confetti, back in the day.
 
Speedy Pedi said:
Wow! You really jerked some long forgotten memories, I can remember the old Teletype KSR model 33, chugging along, with the paper tape, making lots of confetti, back in the day.
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Ha ha! We actually learned on the old Kleinschmits in school, then "upgraded" to the KSR's in the field!!! Hey, nothing like 75 baud data rates, right?! Did 5 punch paper tape for awhile as an aux device on our Streamliner system. Even though my security clearance is long gone, I sure would like to visit a commcenter and see what they're doing today. Good memories working with great people! Thanks for the chat.
 
ESP47 said:
I'm an RF technician myself who has swept thousands of antennas but I don't have experience sweeping antennas in the AM/FM range that our radios use.

The ground plane is absolutely vital for transmitting and while it's important for receiving, it's not nearly as important. In our field, we always say you need your antenna dialed in to be able to transmit correctly but you can basically receive with a coat hanger. I've tested plenty of antennas with pretty sketchy ground planes and it really just depends on the antenna, the frequency and whether or not you can manipulate the attachment to make the ground plane better.

In this case, I'm curious if @70Duster340 tried my suggestion and just ran a couple alligator clips from the base of the antenna to good grounds on the chassis to see if that would wake the antenna up and allow the radio stations to come in.
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That's been my experience too. As long as you had a good ground on the antenna housing, a coat hanger mast would work just fine. Since close to 100% of all cars just receive and not transmit through their antenna, it sounds to me to be a total nothing burger regarding ground planes and other technical stuff. I remember when I had my fiberglass body dune buggy with not only an AM/FM radio, but, a CB as well. I had two different antennas over the years. The first was just a regular telescoping tri-band type that came with the CB package. It was just mounted on the "hood" section of the body. No metal anywhere close to it. Worked just fine as long as I had a ground wire attached to it. For safety reasons, I changed to a lighted rear whip antenna for the sand dunes. It was mount in the rear section of the fiberglass body (no metal there either) and also had a power wire for the light on top. Worked fine there too. Now, could it have been tweaked to the nth degree by using a better location for optimal transmission and receiving? I would imagine so, but, I wasn't relying on it to defend a country.
 
cudamark said:
That's been my experience too. As long as you had a good ground on the antenna housing, a coat hanger mast would work just fine. Since close to 100% of all cars just receive and not transmit through their antenna, it sounds to me to be a total nothing burger regarding ground planes and other technical stuff. I remember when I had my fiberglass body dune buggy with not only an AM/FM radio, but, a CB as well. I had two different antennas over the years. The first was just a regular telescoping tri-band type that came with the CB package. It was just mounted on the "hood" section of the body. No metal anywhere close to it. Worked just fine as long as I had a ground wire attached to it. For safety reasons, I changed to a lighted rear whip antenna for the sand dunes. It was mount in the rear section of the fiberglass body (no metal there either) and also had a power wire for the light on top. Worked fine there too. Now, could it have been tweaked to the nth degree by using a better location for optimal transmission and receiving? I would imagine so, but, I wasn't relying on it to defend a country.
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I used to be an amateur radio operator and had a lot of fun playing with different antenna types. What was important, as you say, was getting the Standing Wave Ratio down for transmitting. Transmitters do not like high SWR's!
 
cudamark said:
If that's the case, how does Chevy get a radio to work on an old Corvette where the whole body is fiberglass?
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Different antenna design. Modern technology surely could craft an antenna to work, someone probably has but it is not the antenna design the factory used. I am not current on what is available for civilian radio today,perhaps someone who is can assist.
 
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