HF Radio and antennas
Submitted: Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
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A.Stephens
Back a few years when you saw 4WDs out and about with HF radios the most common antenna was the manual tune type ( ie: an antenna with about 9 different sockets on it that allowed you to change the frequency ) but now days you mostly see the auto tune type. My question is, do you change frequencies a lot ( enough to NEED the auto tuner ) or do you only stay on 1 or 2 that mean that you would not really need the auto tuner.
Reply By: David - Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
Hi,Being a user of HF I hope I can help. I have a Barrett with the Autotune antenna. I think it all depends on how you plan or think you are going to use it. If you are simply wanting to
check the road conditions and call into the 4WD network once a day then you can simply use the wire tap antenna. If you are more likley to be using radphone or wishing to scan a number of channels for either selcalls or voice calls from other people then the auto tunner is the way to go. In the bush and travelling around I use Telstras radphone and also communicate with oithers and scan various channels - I think the auto tunner is the only way to go. I have a few friends that use the wire tap units and most of them now wish they had spent the extra money - for the cost of the radio and setup there is no real point in losing functionality. You may think that you will not use the other features now but someone will tell you about something or another and you may not be able to make use of it in the future.
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Follow Up By: A.Stephens - Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
I have heard that the Barrett system can have problems with the 4 bolts at the bottom of the auto tuner, cracking the case and causing problems. Have you or any of your friends had this problem ?? Also, I havent looked it up but what are the call charges like for the RadPhone. Did the people who wished that they had spent the extra money on the Auto Tuner, then go one and upgrade to the Auto Tuner or were they stuck with the manual whip tuner ??. I guess that they could always upgrade to the Auto and keep the manual for a backup antenna in case of failure in a remote place.
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Reply By: Nigel - Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
I think David summed it up
well, but if you cant stretch the budget then maybe invest in a second hand tapped whip until you can afford the tuner. Ive been told by many people that the old style (non tapered) Codan tuner is prone to die so best to avoid that one if you are looking at second hand tuners.
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533
Reply By: david - Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
Friday, May 25, 2001 at 00:00
In regards to your followup questions I havent actually heard of anyone busting the Barrett base in the way you describe and Im very happy with
mine after having used it for a few years continual use in the outback and over bad corrugations etc. Maybe the busts you hear of are due to poor installation? My antenna was mounted on the bullbar but the lower half was actually below the height of the top of the bull bar on a custom bracket to give it some protection. I was advised this mounting method by the guys at PCA in
Sydney who sold us the unit.About Radphone Pricing - youll find ExplorOz Team answered this in detail in an earlier HF question on this
forum.
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Reply By: GARY - Sunday, May 27, 2001 at 00:00
Sunday, May 27, 2001 at 00:00
I HAVE A TAP ANTENNA AND 1 CHANNEL, 8022, 4WD NETWORK AND A FEW RFDS CHANNELS.I FIND THIS SATISFACTORY FOR BUSH TRAVEL. Obviously the more you have then you have more choice but I find I very rarely change the tap. For the most of our travels we just use the 8022 chanel and stick with that for most of the country. The problem with having the auto tuner is it can go wrong and when we tested our old manual one against a friends auto tuner we got better results both sending and receiving
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541