AWESOME DEAL!
you were in the right place at the right time I guess!
it's funny every review of the Stryker AR 10 say's the same thing that they didn't have to adjust the SWR as it was perfect out of the box.
I also LOVE my Tram 3500, I've never had a better antenna and am totally amazed how well it works... I bought mine after watching Erik from Far Point Farms do a 18.5 miles range test with a 4 watt radio to his base station... I've chatted with Erik and he has had his Tram 3500 for 7 years and not a bit of trouble ... but he bought a new Stryker AR 10 for another vehicle and said it's better than the Tram 3500... he didn't do a range test but feels it's a much better antenna.... I plan to do a range test of my Tram 3500 and my Stryker AR 10 ( some day )
sounds like you got two fantastic antenna's
at first I was wondering
how on earth are you using the magnetic tram 3500 as a base station antenna??... the magnetic mounts, on a big flat piece of metal of the car gives it the Ground plane.... so I'm guessing the three 4 foot fiberglass radials are being used for a ground plane? but you still only have a 5 foot antenna... but I guess if you get it up high enough????....
interesting.... never heard of anyone doing that.. if it works it works!
certainly didn't cost you much!
why would someone buy two nice pieces of equipment and then sell them for next to nothing?
P.S. on that Stryker ... I have heard they get water inside them quite often.... and you need to put a little silicone around something??? my Stryker is still in the box waiting for me to range test it / play with it.... but before I permeant mount it I'll silicone the heck out of everything... as I can see where water could get in where the stupid lights are.
The length of the mast/whip is irrelevant to the application. All that matters is that it is a 1/4-wavelength antenna. What makes it different than a 102-inch steel whip is that the steel whip and spring are the true physical length of a 1/4-wavelength. The Stryker and any other mobile antenna that is shorter than 102/104/106 inches (depends who you ask) makes up the length inside the coil.
The coil windings make up the difference. In the case of a fiberglass antenna, the "102" inches are helical windings around the fiberglass mast.
What mobile antennas that are shorter than a 102 are known as would be "compromise" antennas. They achieve the proper SWR by means of their "electrical" length, and the vehicle then serving as a ground plane.
Sure, you lose some performance over the 102, by compromise. But they still can perform very well, particularly because your mounting location to accommodate a 102 often costs you performance.
In the case of my home made Tram ground plane, I used three 4-foot fiberglass Tram antennas as ground plane radials, no differently arranged than the true sized radials on an Starduster. The downward radials are the ground plane, and it works beautifully.
Let me see if I can find you a picture of this home brew of mine.
