turbogrill Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 Hi I am looking to upgrade our antennas hoping to get better reception. We have buafeng 4watt radios. I don't think they are the issue. 1. We already have a roof antenna but it has a very long cable to the radio, is this an issue? 2. Could the cable to the roof antenna be of low quality? It looks much thinner then the typical TV coax cables. 3. The pit radio antenna came with the radio and its pretty short and I assume it was made for both VHF and Uhf. Would a dedicated Uhf antenna help? Is 5/8 better than 1/4? What should I get? 4. Does power matter? I tired understanding the theory about antennas, seems complicated. Smith charts do look cool... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 Hi Turbogrill Here are a few links that will help in the set up. Yes the length is a issue but more than that it depends on VHF vs UHF freq and the install. See videos at the bottom of the page- http://www.sampsonracing.com/Shark-Fin-Phantom-Elite-Antenna-Coax-for-Racing-p/phantom-standard-system.htm hope this helps Cheers, Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi_Im_Will Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 That shark fin antenna Shawn posted is awesome. Whip antennas are great when you're mostly stationary, but at 100mph they get a bit bendy, and their emission pattern goes to poop. Best reception we ever got was with a 5/8 over 5/8 whip antenna, but only at a standstill. Once the car is moving at any kind of speed, the shark fin is unquestionably better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbogrill Posted June 1, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 1 hour ago, Shawn Sampson said: Hi Turbogrill Here are a few links that will help in the set up. Yes the length is a issue but more than that it depends on VHF vs UHF freq and the install. See videos at the bottom of the page- http://www.sampsonracing.com/Shark-Fin-Phantom-Elite-Antenna-Coax-for-Racing-p/phantom-standard-system.htm hope this helps Cheers, Shawn Thanks! So you would recommend the shark fin? For the 1/4 wave whip I can pick the exact frequency that is a 1/4" wave length. But what about the shark fin? 1 hour ago, Hi_Im_Will said: That shark fin antenna Shawn posted is awesome. Whip antennas are great when you're mostly stationary, but at 100mph they get a bit bendy, and their emission pattern goes to poop. Best reception we ever got was with a 5/8 over 5/8 whip antenna, but only at a standstill. Once the car is moving at any kind of speed, the shark fin is unquestionably better. Aha! That makes sense! I was curious to why Shawn recomended a shark fin antenna, seemed odd. Our antenna is not rigid at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xph Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 We also use baofeng radios, with good result... we use a quarter wave, its about 6" rigid metal (like you would see on a cop car) So without getting too complicated... this type of antenna is a ground plane, it requires a nice flat "ground" or earth below the antenna... what this means is it does its best work when mounted in the center of a sheet of metal, like your roof or trunk... you start to compromise its effectiveness when you move it to an edge, or worse, mount it to a tab or something... Second, tuning antennas is critical... you need an SWR meter to properly tune an antenna... you cant really expect to just open the package and stick it up... you need to be able to hook up the SWR meter, and adjust the length (trim and set screw) to get the proper antenna length, getting that dialed in makes a big gain.. Of course just having any external antenna is generally better than an internal one, but you will see big gains from proper installation and tuning.. SWR meters are not that expensive and are a must have in my opinion... I like something like the Surecom SW-33 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 Please understand UHF antennas are not tunable only VHF antennas. They make different UHF antennas depending on what bandwidth you run but road racing is mostly run in the 450 to 470 bandwidth and those antennas are not tunable. A SWR meter can tell you Kickback information due to poor grounding or a bad antenna coax. It can also tell you your total output wattage. On a VHF system it will also tell you if your antenns is tuned properly. But those types of antennas are trimmed to the proper frequency and normally come with a card telling you how it is to be trimmed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bremsen Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Shawn, If I'm already running a UHF whip antenna (with coax and BNC) do I need the whole kit to swap over to the shark fin? or can I just buy the antenna by itself? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Yep it will fit right in top great upgrade! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanehutton Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Is there the option to just replace the whip antenna with the shark fin and leave the existing coax and even screw on base? I have the standard whip antenna you guys sell at the moment. Would a much larger remote antenna at the pits make a difference? Larger or smaller difference than swapping the car antenna to a shark fin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 yes you can just upgrade the roof mount antenna- http://www.sampsonracing.com/UHF-Shark-Fin-Phantom-Elite-Antenna-Tip-p/phantom-elite-antenna.htm And yes you have a few options on the crew side Pit side antenna http://www.sampsonracing.com/Track-Side-5-8-Wave-Antenna-p/track-side-antenna.htm New antenna for the crew radios http://www.sampsonracing.com/2-5-dB-Gain-UHF-Handheld-Ducky-Antenna-p/uhf-6-bnc-antenna.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.