Radio Shack Magnet Mount Antenna

[jblake76]

I use one on my p/up truck and at home on my pro-106. I have a question? I see alot of you talking about slapping it on a cookie sheet, my question is do you really mean just put it on a cookie sheet or some flat metal surface and thats it? I have mine in a minny muffin pan on my window sill. Is that ok there or is there more to do?

 

[dd364]

I would leave it in the muffin pan and make some cookies.Cookies are better.

 

[hoser147]

I use one on my p/up truck and at home on my pro-106. I have a question? I see alot of you talking about slapping it on a cookie sheet, my question is do you really mean just put it on a cookie sheet or some flat metal surface and thats it? I have mine in a minny muffin pan on my window sill. Is that ok there or is there more to do?

Nothin more to do, that will work fine till the wife is looking for her pan..........

 

[jblake76]

LOL Hoser! No I was smarter then that, I went out and bought my own. Thanks for the reply.

 

[rvictor]

I don't know how big a mini muffin pan is. I'd try something bigger and see if it makes a difference. There must be some relationship between the size of the ground plane and desired frequencies and I'm thinking that if it's too small, it may adversely affect lower frequencies. I know that standard cookie sheets seem to work well for VHF and above. A decent sized pizza pan is a bit easier to use because the round shape makes it convenient to find a place to set it.

Dick

 

[jblake76]

I don't know how big a mini muffin pan is. I'd try something bigger and see if it makes a difference. There must be some relationship between the size of the ground plane and desired frequencies and I'm thinking that if it's too small, it may adversely affect lower frequencies. I know that standard cookie sheets seem to work well for VHF and above. A decent sized pizza pan is a bit easier to use because the round shape makes it convenient to find a place to set it.

Dick

The reason I use the small pan is because it is up on a window as stated earlier. I live in a apartment and this is where the best reception is.

 

[N6RDC]

I've got one that works well but it's loose at the base....I took it apart looking for a screw in
the bottom but it looked to have a button like cover under the magnet...has anyone successfully taken
one of these apart from the bottom?

 

[Dewey]

I've got one that works well but it's loose at the base....I took it apart looking for a screw in
the bottom but it looked to have a button like cover under the magnet...has anyone successfully taken
one of these apart from the bottom?

I have two, and have taken both apart. Both have a "standard" hardware type bolt going up from the bottom. The bolt passes that an eyelet that is attached to the center conductor of the coax before it passes through to the outside of the mount. The reason I had to take mine apart was because the bolt had come loose making it very hard to switch antennas due to the bolt spinning with the antenna. (I like to use a couple of old Antenna Specialists antennas on the mounts).

Dewey

 

[jackj]

Ground plane

I don't know how big a mini muffin pan is. I'd try something bigger and see if it makes a difference. There must be some relationship between the size of the ground plane and desired frequencies and I'm thinking that if it's too small, it may adversely affect lower frequencies. I know that standard cookie sheets seem to work well for VHF and above. A decent sized pizza pan is a bit easier to use because the round shape makes it convenient to find a place to set it.

Dick

The ground plane needs to be 1/4 wave length in radius as a minimum. So, 19 inches for VHF HI-Band, 6 inches for UHF. Anything shorter will make the antenna directional toward the longest dimension and will mess up the impedance. The ground plane supplies the other half of a center-fed 1/2 wave dipole.

Jack j

 

[izzyj4]

If you ever wanted to see what the inside looks like under the black weather covering, look here: http://forums.radioreference.com/antennas-coax-forum/163130-rs-mag-mount-scanner-antenna-fix.html

I'm running this in my attic after "fixing" it to get rid of the rusty bolt. Plus I bough a new one from my work car. I've always had great luck with this antenna, probably one of the best tuned sticks out there.

 

[R1VINCE]

I would leave it in the muffin pan and make some cookies.Cookies are better.

+1

I threw away the old magnet base part of my antenna and stuck the whip in an old Wilson 1000 base. No more worries about the original magnets strength(for mobile use). And it is my mobile antenna of choice!