UHF Aerial

Hi Mark and Jacqui,

I use a GME AE4018K1 It seems to work.

Cheers Wilko

May not be the corrugations, but simply that you have a Diesel - if you do?

Believe it or not you can buy aerials suitable for Diesel engines that should last a lot longer even if it turns out to be the corrugations.

http://www.lakecomm.com.au/uhfant&acc.html

No affliliation, just first to come up with a Google search

Sounds like you may have a Prado,
I have and had the same problem with both fibreglass and stainless aerials.
If so I took the springingness out of the spring at the bottom and have not had a problem since. about 8 months now.
The spring was allowing the aerial to whip back and forth violently and was snapping.
I got a piece of conduit heated it up until it was soft and pushed it down over the spring

I was at aerial shop last week & bloke showed me the black plastic type a bit thicker ,reconds they wont brake . also said wire type is common to brake ?
but they shaw do wobble a lot on bull bars and then you can get the BIG white ones .!!

Hi Mark,

Stainless Steel whip aerials are very prone to stress fatigue, I bet they are breaking off close to the base?

I have two black fiberglass ground plane independent aerials that has lasted me for many years, I swap between a 3ft 4.5db whip and a 6ft 7.5db fiberglass one with its own spring base. Both these aerials have seen may, many corrugations, quite a few tree whacks and still work fine. Being black, they tend to fade away in the background and you very quickly find you do not see them when driving.

Cheers

Captain

Must be a rattly diesel I have had a 1018K on the bull bar of my cruiser for nearly 3 years It has done over 60,000k on all sorts of roads and still is in one piece and still works.

The RFI cell phone aerial was a bit wobbly as the spring is not as stiff as the UHF one.

I slit a piece o slightly smaller black poly pipe and cable tied it around the spring Its been there for 25 months and is fine.

The 1018K is just the right height that if it goes under a doorway or carpark height bar the car will go under as well.

Smart thinking there boy.

Cheers

G'day Mark,
I have a GME AE409L mounted on the D/s guard of my HZJ105.
It is roughly 20 years old and this is the second vehicle that it has been on. It has travelled over all types of road surfaces for long periods of time without any detriment to the performance of the antenna.

HTH

I fail to understand why folk persist in mounting their antenna on the bullbar.
The bullbar is mounted to the chassis and as such has considerably higher vibration effects when compared to the vehicle body.

I have an RFI CSW series Phasemaster™ antenna, just a sinple SS black coated 900mm one mounted on the vehicle guard close to the front windscreen.
It sits a few cm's above the roofline giving excellent reception and also happens to be perfect for judging height of access to underground carparks, etc.

I do have an "antenna" bracket mounted on my bullbar, but this is used for sand flag attachment and have not had a failure with this setup.


Bill.

Maybe a spring base would help take the shock away.Antenna spring base

Or you could use one of these (MB407 - Antenna Mounting Bracket) and mount the antenna back along the side of the bonnet.

Thats what we have done. One on each side. One is for VHF amateur and the other is for UHF CB comms. But they can be interchanged and even used for HF amateur work.

Phil

I had exactly the same problem on my LC200 fiteed with an ECB bullbar.

Apparently the bullbar was designed for airbag compatibility and it does vibrate heaps. Even with spring bases the aerials didn't last long. They were different models but all were flexible and developed harmonic vibrations under corrugations which, while pretty to watch, totalled them tout suite.

a year ago I changed to rigid white fibreglass sticks, still on spring bases, which sit there like a rock. I've had no problems ever since; even on the horrific corrugations on parts of the CSR last year.

Cheers.

Damn, i just purchased a AE4810K aerial too.

And i know my bullbar moves around a bit also.

Wish i had of read threads like this earlier.

My previous aerial was a thick fibreglass, and this time around was told go for the stainless steel whip aerial as they are much better.

Mark & Jacqui

This is the aerial I use.

Never been a issue on any of our trips, including the Gunbarrell, the Canning Stock Route, The Gibb River Road, and the road into Wolfe Creek Crater

http://www.prestigecom.net.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=372&products_id=56



Cheers
Bucky

Unfortunatley this has very little to do with what brand of antenna you use and rather the combination of the vehicle vibration frequency and the exact material used in your antenna.

The reason is due to resonance. Anything vibrated at its resonant frequency will fall to pieces. Obvioulsy the people who have had issues with antennas breaking are vibrating at or very near the resonate frequency. Increasing the thickness of the antenna will just delay the same outcome. It is the same for other materials and structures including glass and even things like bridges.

In order to prevent this we have to alter the frequency the antenna vibrates at. I knew a cocky who had a S/S whip with the small coils roughly the middle of the antenna. He had an older model rodea which are quite "rattly". To solve the problem he put a small (8mm OD) hose through the centre of the coil and taped it in place. It was enough to alter the frequency of the vibrations and stop it vibrating at the resonate frequency and job done.
Tim

I've had numerous antennas over the years on various vehicles and have found that the stainless steel ones tend to brake the most. I've recently changed to a large "white stick" on a very strong spring. This seems to be the answer. Although you need to be more careful of over-hanging branches and the like, the vibration doesn't seem to to transfer through the larger spring base. This one may be a keeper.
Capt.

A short rubber stubbie aerial mounted on the roof will work just as well as a big aerial on the bullbar and is indestructible. Mine's been on there for 12 years, and we do all the main corrugated roads - Anne Beadell Hwy most years.

Have been offroading for years.The majority fitted with a GME 6dbi and 9dbi white sticks.Best advise-the next aerial you fit make sure it has a 'spring base' it will take the expense away from replacing broken aerials.