Long Mobile Antenna Cables

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W9LCL
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:46 pm

Long Mobile Antenna Cables

Post by W9LCL »

New to the hobby. Unfortunately, sometimes I have to drive to areas infested with assorted cretins who delight in bending-breaking-stealing mobile antennas or "just" damaging the cables out of sheer cussedness. Magnetic mount seems the way to go but the cables are much longer than I need. Question--would coiling the excess cable into a neat loop fastened with cable ties bolix up the SWR? Would it be better to run the cable all around the inside of the car being careful not to let the cable even cross itself? Could I just cut off the excess and install a new BNC connector? (Possibly the most elegant solution--is this often done?) Any input or suggestions would be appreciated!
k9yli
Posts: 229
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2005 11:35 pm
Location: northwest wisconsin

Post by k9yli »

dont sweat the cable length. just toss it in the back or under the seat.
I'd avoid making a coil as that creates an inductance you may not want. to resonate witrh something. capacitive.
real problem is crushing the coax where it leaves the vehicle , door or window, if you de-install the mag mount ,rather than permanent mount and run coax through a hole in the body some where.
my option would be mount the mag on the trunk. then toss inside when in bad areas. much less crushing of cable in the trunk seal.
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