I’ve seen these every once in a while over the years, these super long antennas on top of cars taller than I am. They look pretty ridiculous. I once saw one that was taller than the car is wide. What accessory can a car have that could possible necessitate one of these monstrosities?
Amateur radio operators. (ham radio)
Or CB (Citizen’s Band) radio. Back on the farm in the seventies, we had a truck with a ten-foot (1/4 wavelength) whip antenna for the CB radio.
ham radio antennas would be short (less than 2 feet) for the most common mobile use. if a ham uses the high frequency bands they might have a long antenna but it would also have a big coil on it. also it would be rare for a ham to have a long antenna on a vehicle and not also have a bunch of short ones as well. hams have a number of frequency ranges an often use equipment on a couple of them.
if it was a single tall antenna then more than likely it was a CBer.
The buggy-whip antenna is usually CB or VHF in the 28-30 mhz range if I recall correctly.
Dad was a ham.
I’ve seen antenna mounted on a bumper that folded over the length of the car and were tied down to the other bumper while the car was in motion.
because of the size of the antennas and the equipment, unless the car was used full time for radio, high frequency equipment might only be put on the car when being used for radio. you would have the antenna mount(s) on the car with the cables run to the radio equipment location and then mount the antenna and equipment when you had a need or desire for it.
some antennas hams use for high frequency can only be assembled and used when the car is stationary. hams are nuts for antennas, they come in all shapes and sizes.
ultrahigh frequency equipment and antennas are small and used for local communication.
This is true. I had an armature license and used the 70 Centimeter and 2 meter band, and my mobile antenna was 6 feet. The taller (higher) the better.
A license for motors?
that’s just how he’s wound.
Dear G-d, what have I done?
Don’t give us the brush-off. Just stator your business and be on your way.
Punsters are like zombies showing up at the picnic.
:rolleyes:
I’m sorry, Mogernstern, I’m truly sorry.
Perhaps if we took some crosses and silver bullets…or melted lead…
watts up with that?
What?
Watt’s on first.
Who’s on second.
I haven’t seen one of these in a long time; I don’t suppose anyone does CB now except for truckers.
There are quite a few legitimate uses of HF that are not ham or CB related. If you travel outside of the range of cellular phones you very quickly find yourself needing HF (or satellite.) Here in Oz the Flying Doctor service maintains near country wide radio network on HF, and it is common to see 4x4 and other vehicles that travel to remote areas with antennas used to access that network. Typically they are a base loaded whip or trapped whip, and not small. Locally I often see police cars that are used in more remote areas with a large array of antennas, including some HF capability.
Truckers, and vehicles in convoy, will often still use CB, but UHF CB, not HF, for communication within a convoy. We do a good line in “remote areas” in Oz.
Turns off my dsmm auto spkjell corector
These puns are raising my blood pressure. I’m gonna go meditate.
“Ohmmmmmm”
better than blowing your fuse.