Low band setup

[prcguy]

@prcguy - Wait what? What can I do with my XTS5000 radios? Here I am suffering with each one in its own XTVA when I could rip out my double din radio/CD stack out of the dash and shove something I don’t really need in there? Fantastic! Time to read some manuals.

Some time later, “…yeah, CHP used to use this in their aircraft”.

A guy has a great deal on a Technisonics TDFM-7000 chassis that will hold four XTS5000s in different bands all controlled from one front panel. If your vehicle has a green dash display then you can’t live without this thing. But no VHF lo, so we can’t discuss it in this thread.

Aw what the heck, here it is anyway.

 

[prcguy]

Continuing with the VHF lo band setup theme, I decided to take some VHF lo band antennas out for some sun today and discovered there are too many and it would be an all day project to put them all together. So here are a few military antennas I use on occasion for VHF lo coverage.

The antenna on the far left is a 30 to 88MHz ground plane made by BAE Systems Israel and there is no model # showing. I believe it’s also available in a vehicle mount version and the ground plane adapter is really well made with stainless steel tubing legs that disassemble quickly. The center antenna is a Shakespeare SFB3512/VRC on a ground plane adapter that might be a Harris and I had to fabricate the screw in legs. This antenna actually covers 30-512MHz and the whip is typical in height for most 30-90MHz vehicular whips currently in use. The far right antenna is a Cobham COM-201B and is one of the current military 30-90MHz antennas for SINCGARS use. It’s also available in a vehicle mount version and I have one on the roof of my house.



There are a few more antennas that didn’t see any sun today and one is a full size portable 30-90MHz Discone that stands about 8ft tall with arms and legs going every direction. I also have a man packable Discone that covers 26 to about 200MHz that is about 9ft tall, but I didn’t have enough time to put these together.

 

[serial14]

@prcguy I have a Shakespeare SFB3512/VRC but my ground mount looks different than that. The base has foldable legs that just use AT-1011 elements for the legs. I always thought it was a slick tripod sort of base, with maybe some ground plane characteristics. Meaning, I've only seen them used/deployed in a tripod use case( which is what I do ) Not suspended up like a classic VHF ground plane on a mast.

Any thoughts on how the two styles of bases would compare? Sadly, my googling skills right now are not turning up a link for the base even though it was sourced through Shakespeare as a reference, I'll keep looking.

 

[prcguy]

@prcguy I have a Shakespeare SFB3512/VRC but my ground mount looks different than that. The base has foldable legs that just use AT-1011 elements for the legs. I always thought it was a slick tripod sort of base, with maybe some ground plane characteristics. Meaning, I've only seen them used/deployed in a tripod use case( which is what I do ) Not suspended up like a classic VHF ground plane on a mast.

Any thoughts on how the two styles of bases would compare? Sadly, my googling skills right now are not turning up a link for the base even though it was sourced through Shakespeare as a reference, I'll keep looking.

I have not found a tripod as you describe using AT-1011 elements as the legs. I have seen some tripods supposedly made by Shakespeare and they were not much different than the one in the middle picture above. There is also a version that folds up instead of being taken apart and the mfr is unknown. If the tripod legs are similar length as pictured above I would expect it to work similar to the above units. When you place it right on the ground it should have more loss than elevated above ground and sitting on the ground will detune the ground plane elements.

 

[K6GBW]

PRCGuy, I see you have Bert's machine programmed up!

What was the U.S. Army VHF-Lo ground plane antenna that was used before the current OE-254? That's the one we used in Germany but I can't remember the nomenclature.

 

[prcguy]

PRCGuy, I see you have Bert's machine programmed up!

What was the U.S. Army VHF-Lo ground plane antenna that was used before the current OE-254? That's the one we used in Germany but I can't remember the nomenclature.

That might be the RC-292 ground plane. It covered roughly 26 to 76MHz in chunks and I have a couple here that I’ve modified to take 3/8-24 threaded whips. It had brown beehive insulated base unit and various threaded elements.

 

[K6GBW]

That might be the RC-292 ground plane. It covered roughly 26 to 76MHz in chunks and I have a couple here that I’ve modified to take 3/8-24 threaded whips. It had brown beehive insulated base unit and various threaded elements.

Yeah, that looks like it. We used those on our barrack when we were on a border tour. We had the PRC-77 in the vehicle mounts with the Shakespear antenna on HMMWV's. I was amazed at the range we could get out of those things.