RS Mag Mount Antenna (#20-032) and the foil on the base.

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trainman111

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I just bought the mag mount antenna from Radio Shack (#20-032) today and before reading the back I pulled the foil off from the bottom of the base of the antenna. When I read the back, I noticed that it said that doing so would degrade performance. My question is how much will it degrade the performance? Should I take the antenna back and get a new one?

Edit: If it does severly degrade performance, could I just take a piece of aluminum foil and glue it to the bottom of the base?
 
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KC0QNB

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Oh Crap you done ruined it, seriously the foil on the bottom helps to couple the antenna to ground, a capacitive coupling, and removing it will cause some problems in performance maybe not noticeable at first but as time goes by and moisture gets into the antenna connections, the change will become more apparent, and the antenna will eventually fail completely, you can try to get it replaced, but I don't think it will happen, the warranty is null and void. You can try the foil and glue it on with a non water based glue, it might work might not take the antenna inside and let it air out before sealing it back up. sorry that is the best I can do for now.
 

blueangel-eric

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when rebuilding my magmounts that are wet and rusted inside i just use duct tape on the bottom. works fine. actually some of the commercial brands mag mounts are actually some form of plastic rather then foil.
just make sure you use epoxy or something to waterproof it before adding tape.
Eric burris kc0ldt
 

hoser147

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when rebuilding my magmounts that are wet and rusted inside i just use duct tape on the bottom. works fine. actually some of the commercial brands mag mounts are actually some form of plastic rather then foil.
just make sure you use epoxy or something to waterproof it before adding tape.
Eric burris kc0ldt

Ive also used duct tape.if your on the road you use what ya can. I just took a look at the magmounts I have in the garage 2 RS and 1 wilson they are all like a clear plastic, even noticed some rust in the one RS one (inside)time to mess with it.............Hoser
 

trainman111

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Okay,
I'll try some duct tape. So far the antenna works great, but no moisture has gotten inside of it yet. I mostly use it when I'm out listening to the railroads, and when I'm not using it, I take it off the car. I don't have a permanent place to run the coax at this time so I just run it through the sun roof. If worst comes to worst, I'll just try to find a new base or a new antenna all together.
 

trainman111

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The only other question I've got is if I use the duct tape, will it still create the ground between the antenna and the car? If not, I might just buy a new base...
 

hoser147

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The Duct Tape is more of a temp fix, it shouoldnt bother anything if you just use it lke you said, it really should be no different than tin foil. Try some of that stuff like you put pages in to protect them and seal it on there with something no water soluble as stated in prev post, just tryn to think of something close to what is on there.............Hoser
 

KC0QNB

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Just had a thought you can get clear contact shelf liner and use it, cut a piece a bit larger than the antenna base after you clean the base with rubbing alcohol or similar solvent (don't use lighter fluid or other petroleum based stuff it might eat the plastic)
then trim it with an X-acto knife.
 

hoser147

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Just had a thought you can get clear contact shelf liner and use it, cut a piece a bit larger than the antenna base after you clean the base with rubbing alcohol or similar solvent (don't use lighter fluid or other petroleum based stuff it might eat the plastic)
then trim it with an X-acto knife.

I thought about that stuff after I posted the other, you could cut out the glue part with the sticky shelf liner, just clean the base with with rubbing alcohol let it dry and your there.............Hoser
 

CYUL

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Hi Trainman

I know that this is a little while since you installed the antenna. But I would like to know what your over all impression has been in the time you have had it up?

Thanks
Paul
 
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