Tram 1185 Ham Dual-Band Magnet Antenna on the Way

I have a Tram 1185 2m/70cm Magnet Antenna on order (used a prepaid Visa rebate from a Christmas gift from my wife, thank you, Xiaohong!). I don't expect to use the scanner and ham radio at the same time, so as long as there's enough play in the rear door's rubber seal, I'll put the magnetic mount on the rear passenger side, near the glass mount, so I can run the coax along the same path.

 

FWIW, I was aware of the possible problems transmitting with a bad SWR ratio[1], I just have no way of knowing how poor the glass mount Tram 1199 might be on the ham bands so didn't want to risk transmitting, and I'd been planning to put up a dedicated dual band antenna in any case. Back in the day of 23-channel CBs, I had a magnet mounted antenna on the roof of my Plymouth Colt and it did quite well. (I was even licensed back then; I’ve since lost that radio, too bad, had my CB license stuck to it.)

(I'll soon post about the scanner that got me started with all this.)

Excellent article with advice on antenna mounting and SWR measuring (focus on CB but applicable to mobile ham): http://www.firestik.com/Meas-SWR.htm

Want to see something really cool? Art Bell's (W6OBB) 5-Acre Antenna Farm in Pahrump, Nevada:

Visit SMeter.net: http://www.smeter.net/w6obb/antenna-farm.php

[1]
"Standing wave ratio ratio" ? Is that like PIN number ("personal identification number number") ?

Started: 2012-03-21