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Posted: 7/23/2022 12:52:23 AM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: How do you guys handle FT8 "pileups" where you get 3 or more responses to a CQ? Do you go one QSO at a time or do you try to respond to them each before completing the first QSO? Out of 5 responses over 2 cycles I only got 2 completed QSOs before the rest of them lost interest. |
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Posted: 7/23/2022 8:23:30 AM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: How do you guys handle FT8 "pileups" where you get 3 or more responses to a CQ? Do you go one QSO at a time or do you try to respond to them each before completing the first QSO? Out of 5 responses over 2 cycles I only got 2 completed QSOs before the rest of them lost interest. |
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Posted: 7/23/2022 2:41:56 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ManiacRat461: Just work them one at a time or sometimes I'll jump back and forth with each cycle. Most seem to be patient as I'm guessing they can see the other people calling me or at least see me answering other folks. But some are not. They'll hit you over and over while you're trying to finish up with someone else. Can't do much about that. Is there such a thing as programmatically ignoring a call sign? Rude hams irritate me. |
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Posted: 7/23/2022 2:49:29 PM EDT
[#4]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Emoto: Is there such a thing as programmatically ignoring a call sign? Rude hams irritate me. I tend to give a little leeway on FT8 though. Firstly, they may have only decoded me once then it dropped off. And if they don't see anyone answering me or me answering them then they may not have any idea I'm busy working folks. All that being said is why my cut off is 3 so I'm not annoying. Typically it will no longer TX once they answer someone, but I've had it not do it too. So I make sure I shut it off if it doesn't on its own. Even as the activator/CQing my limit is 3. I can always go back and work them if they pop up. |
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Posted: 7/23/2022 3:11:22 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ManiacRat461: Just work them one at a time or sometimes I'll jump back and forth with each cycle. Most seem to be patient as I'm guessing they can see the other people calling me or at least see me answering other folks. But some are not. They'll hit you over and over while you're trying to finish up with someone else. Can't do much about that. I usually disable TX right after responding to the CQ and wait until I see the activator's 73, and then double click that. Then see if they respond, if not, wait until I see another. I got 2 parks last night this way. |
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Posted: 7/23/2022 3:27:58 PM EDT
[Last Edit: ManiacRat]
[#6]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: I usually disable TX right after responding to the CQ and wait until I see the activator's 73, and then double click that. Then see if they respond, if not, wait until I see another. I got 2 parks last night this way. 
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Posted: 7/23/2022 4:06:30 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Jambalaya]
[#7]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ManiacRat461: Same. I've gotten a lot of good stations sniping like that. Kinda takes the wind out of the sails of my computer is working crowd too I did have a moment a few days ago as I was sitting there clicking and watching it cycle through a QSO where I was like "What am I doing? This is so pointless." Then a purple line popped up from Peru and I forgot all about that. 
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Posted: 7/23/2022 6:37:41 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By tyrex13: I’m all loaded up and heading out in the morning. My likely window for being on the air tomorrow is 2200z-0200z Were waiting....
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Posted: 7/23/2022 7:57:23 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BLKVooDoo: Were waiting.... I’ve turned the radio on a couple of times today. The band seems broken. I’m getting lots of Europe, but nothing to the states. I’ll try again in a couple of hours. |
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Posted: 7/24/2022 3:21:45 AM EDT
[Last Edit: TinLeg]
[#10]
If you’re responding to a CQ, WSJTX will cease step 1 attempts when it sees the CQ station transacting with a station not yours or a certain number of attempts, whichever comes first. This doesn’t always work out if signal was marginal in the first place, which should result in ceasing attempts after several tries.
If you’re calling CQ, the “call 1st” option will cause your station to respond to the first decode calling you. Basically, the automation elegantly handles the multiple caller scenario if you let it handle it. It all gets short circuited if you or they interrupt the sequence after the CQ station reaches the response step. |
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Posted: 7/24/2022 4:39:19 PM EDT
[#11]
Conditions aren’t good, but about to go live 14.328
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Posted: 7/24/2022 4:50:00 PM EDT
[#12]
14.330
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Posted: 7/24/2022 4:53:49 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By tyrex13: 14.330 I hear you, but not good enough to make a contact. |
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Posted: 7/24/2022 4:58:33 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BLKVooDoo: I hear you, but not good enough to make a contact. I’m going to give it about an hour. Hopefully conditions improve. Good to know my radio is working though lol |
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Posted: 7/24/2022 5:06:00 PM EDT
[#15]
I can hear you, but I ain't making that trip today.
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Posted: 7/24/2022 6:09:06 PM EDT
[#16]
14330
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Posted: 7/24/2022 7:06:56 PM EDT
[#17]
I scratched out an 11 QSO activation in about 45 minutes including a few European stations. I’ll try again at 0000z
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Posted: 7/24/2022 7:20:34 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Colt653]
[#18]
worked our 60th new park today.
20m was up & down wife said — “ back up, I think I saw two eagles “ false alarm  …..turkey buzzards  Attached File. . .  |
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Posted: 7/24/2022 7:52:34 PM EDT
[#19]
I hope POTA is still a thing when I retire in 16 years
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Posted: 7/24/2022 8:09:06 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ManiacRat461: I hope POTA is still a thing when I retire in 16 years counting down already 
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Posted: 7/24/2022 8:22:27 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Colt653: counting down already |
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Posted: 7/24/2022 9:51:13 PM EDT
[Last Edit: tyrex13]
[#22]
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Posted: 7/24/2022 11:30:04 PM EDT
[Last Edit: lorazepam]
[#23]
Do you use a coil with that? I added a wire to my 17' whip and it worked well on 40m. Just made an inverted L to a fishing pole.
Edit: Very nice beach. I love the smells in a place like that. |
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Posted: 7/25/2022 12:08:09 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lorazepam: Do you use a coil with that? I added a wire to my 17' whip and it worked well on 40m. Just made an inverted L to a fishing pole. Edit: Very nice beach. I love the smells in a place like that. No coil. I brought my Chameleon CHA Mini that I use on 40 and 17, but bands were so shot I never broke it out. Also put up my EmComm III portable for the first time and it works great for NVIS on 80m. It’s below 2 on all the bands 160-10 except 40. It’s just below 3 on 40. Also brought my LEFS but never bothered. |
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Posted: 7/25/2022 11:28:06 AM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ManiacRat461: I'm eligible now just financially not eligible. Started young and have saved since I started. But numbers just aren't right. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ManiacRat461: Originally Posted By Colt653: counting down already Yes, do be careful! I thought I had quite the surplus stashed away, well with the crazy inflation it isn’t that much of a surplus as it once was. That said I don’t plan to touch my nest egg for ten years. The pension will do for now. Staying much longer with some medical issues wasn’t really in the cards. I will get by. |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 4:34:33 PM EDT
[#26]
Anyone using ham sticks to activate from a vehicle? Most activity seems to happen on 20 and 40, so a couple of monoband ham sticks might be a reasonable approach. As long as you use the same mounting location, you could tune them once and then swap them as needed to change bands.
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Posted: 7/29/2022 4:42:41 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: Anyone using ham sticks to activate from a vehicle? Most activity seems to happen on 20 and 40, so a couple of monoband ham sticks might be a reasonable approach. As long as you use the same mounting location, you could tune them once and then swap them as needed to change bands. They can make contacts, but performance will not be very good. I would look at the 20M one and higher bands. 40M and down just gets closer and closer to a dummy load and just not worth the time. Plus they get so narrow banded you have to go out and adjust the whip length to tune around on the band. |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 4:55:19 PM EDT
[Last Edit: ManiacRat]
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: Anyone using ham sticks to activate from a vehicle? Most activity seems to happen on 20 and 40, so a couple of monoband ham sticks might be a reasonable approach. As long as you use the same mounting location, you could tune them once and then swap them as needed to change bands. stake pocket mount and a 891 for my vehicle HF. |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 5:07:03 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By D_Man: I keep a few sticks in the back of the truck for those "I just just don't have the room to setup anything else" scenarios. Just mount it to the spare NMO mount I have on the roof with an adaptor to the 3/8 stud. They can make contacts, but performance will not be very good. I would look at the 20M one and higher bands. 40M and down just gets closer and closer to a dummy load and just not worth the time. Plus they get so narrow banded you have to go out and adjust the whip length to tune around on the band. I figured performance might be a bit of a compromise, but it seems like being attached to your vehicle has advantages in avoiding being approached by park personnel. If the antenna isn't too big, it just looks like someone talking on their "CB". |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 5:13:32 PM EDT
[#30]
20-10meters hamstick work pretty well
40 is marginal and 80 is a high Q dummy load |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 5:32:51 PM EDT
[Last Edit: BLKVooDoo]
[#31]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: Anyone using ham sticks to activate from a vehicle? Most activity seems to happen on 20 and 40, so a couple of monoband ham sticks might be a reasonable approach. As long as you use the same mounting location, you could tune them once and then swap them as needed to change bands. No, but I have a mount on the tire carrier of my jeep to screw in the WRC. Thats how I have done all three of my activations. Have it about a foot away from my 2m/70cm antenna. two runs of coax into the jeep. |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 5:55:05 PM EDT
[Last Edit: ManiacRat]
[#32]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: I figured performance might be a bit of a compromise, but it seems like being attached to your vehicle has advantages in avoiding being approached by park personnel. If the antenna isn't too big, it just looks like someone talking on their "CB". |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 6:13:14 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By ManiacRat461: Yep. Have a kilo( closer to 1400 overall now)using them. Use a GeoTool stake pocket mount and a 891 for my vehicle HF. I have a basically new in box 857D I could use, but rather than dig that out I was planning on just using the 817. I already have cable run and a mounting stud I use with a Midland handheld CB because there just isn't a good spot to permanently mount a radio or remote head. |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 6:18:58 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Jambalaya]
[#34]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BLKVooDoo: No, but I have a mount on the tire carrier of my jeep to screw in the WRC. Thats how I have done all three of my activations. Have it about a foot away from my 2m/70cm antenna. two runs of coax into the jeep. I also have an older antenna I bought like 5 or 6 years ago that was in a thread here in the ham subforum. It's a coil antenna but it has banana jack taps for various bands and it came with a fiberglass lower part, the coil, and then a steel whip for the top. It's nearly 8 feet long so probably not something you'd want to drive with it installed, but it has a 3/8"-24 stud so it would work with my existing mount. The whip is tunable with an Allen wrench. ETA it's a Great Lakes Antennas.  Attached File |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 6:39:47 PM EDT
[#35]
A 17' whip and a tri mag mount will get you 20-10 if you are stationary.
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Posted: 7/29/2022 9:00:48 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lorazepam: A 17' whip and a tri mag mount will get you 20-10 if you are stationary. I would totally do that if I didn't have a fabric or fiberglass roof. Jeeps suck for antenna mounting. I could plop a magnet down in the middle of the hood but that would just be wrong. |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 9:49:58 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: I would totally do that if I didn't have a fabric or fiberglass roof. Jeeps suck for antenna mounting. I could plop a magnet down in the middle of the hood but that would just be wrong. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: Originally Posted By lorazepam: A 17' whip and a tri mag mount will get you 20-10 if you are stationary. I would totally do that if I didn't have a fabric or fiberglass roof. Jeeps suck for antenna mounting. I could plop a magnet down in the middle of the hood but that would just be wrong. I have a 2015 JKUR I made two mounts for either side of the tailgate mount where the OEM tire carrier goes. Which is tied to the frame. And the frame acts as a elevated radial. I can tune (while stationary) extremely easily with my wolf river coil. It is a lot faster than with laying ground radials. I find a parking spot. Get out, screw the coil in, attach the whip and I have both the 117" and the 203". for 20m use the 117" extend it out, while reading the rigexpert Pro. and stop. when it is 1.0-1.5:1 Call CQ |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 10:01:25 PM EDT
[#38]
Try it on the mount in back. Worse case is, it sucks. I bet it is better than a hamstick.
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Posted: 7/29/2022 10:04:57 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Jambalaya]
[#39]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BLKVooDoo: I have a 2015 JKUR I made two mounts for either side of the tailgate mount where the OEM tire carrier goes. Which is tied to the frame. And the frame acts as a elevated radial. I can tune (while stationary) extremely easily with my wolf river coil. It is a lot faster than with laying ground radials. I find a parking spot. Get out, screw the coil in, attach the whip and I have both the 117" and the 203". for 20m use the 117" extend it out, while reading the rigexpert Pro. and stop. when it is 1.0-1.5:1 Call CQ I have a mount that uses the spare tire carrier bolts as well. It was stainless. A lot more $$ than the carbon steel powder coated version from Terraflex. There is a grommet behind the spare carrier that I drilled for the coax and it's such a close fit it's pretty much watertight. I put silicone grease inside all the connections and liquid electrical tape on the outside. I did have to bend the bracket a few degrees forward to keep the antenna from touching the tire. I have some long grounding straps I bought, but I didn't see any significant resistance from the tub to the coax shield so it is getting a decent ground through the hinge and the bolts. With this Great Lakes antenna I am going to make a little offset bracket to space the coil forward from the tire an inch or so since it's designed to be base loaded and you need the hollow fiberglass section to go below the steel whip, so the whip can slide down into it for fine tuning. I will tune it and mark it with paint pen where it needs to be for the various bands. If I wanted to mount the coil in a center loaded position, I could, but it would be too high to reach for tuning from the ground, and the whip can't slide inside the coil section for tuning like it can the fiberglass section.  Attached File |
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Posted: 7/29/2022 10:33:38 PM EDT
[#40]
I am doing livepd shit talking right now, I will give you a run down. of my setup pic for pic.
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Posted: 7/29/2022 10:52:41 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By BLKVooDoo: I am doing livepd shit talking right now, I will give you a run down. of my setup pic for pic. Cool, I am interested to see how your JK install went. I had contemplated putting some SMA connectors on the tub and door and using an RG174 jumper at the hinge so it could be replaced if it wears out from the tailgate opening and shutting. But that was when I only anticipated using this mount with a 12 watt CB at most. Since I might be tempted to use a 100w radio I am going to leave the RG58. When it finally succumbs to water intrusion or mechanical wear at the hinge I will just replace it with RG8X. I did buy an overhead mount that goes behind the footman loop on the top of the windshield but I never bothered to install it since my CB is one of these HTs that converts to a mobile by sliding a power cable/antenna adapter in place of the battery pack. I just got one of the microphone brackets that mounts on the dash behind the passenger grab bar. Coax is run to come out from under the center console where it meets the dash close to the cigarette lighter socket. |
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Posted: 7/30/2022 12:29:00 AM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lorazepam: A 17' whip and a tri mag mount will get you 20-10 if you are stationary. With really good efficiency too. Compared to some other antennas at least. |
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Posted: 7/30/2022 11:10:34 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Jambalaya]
[#43]
Well I tested out my antenna today and made a handful of contacts. Most were pretty dismal signal reports.
Anyone see what I did wrong here?  Attached FileI didn't figure it out until I was packing the antenna away and wondering why my signal was so crappy. |
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Posted: 7/30/2022 11:41:45 PM EDT
[#44]
In spite of my stupid antenna mistake, I managed to successfully activate a park today. I got 12 contacts overall, but when I uploaded them, the website split them at the GMT time so I was lucky the first ten were before the split. Unfortunately that means one of the 2 park to park contacts I made didn't count.
Anyhow I decided to just use SSB to simplify setup, but I think I will do FT8 next time, and I will not make the same stupid mistake with the antenna. It was a good learning experience and it also makes me want to get a 100W radio for the Jeep. I want to be able to do "drive by" activations that quickly get to 10 contacts or more, and I think FT8 and more than 5W is the way to get there (along with correcting the antenna blunder, which might make a big difference by itself).  Attached File Attached File Attached File |
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Posted: 7/31/2022 12:20:44 AM EDT
[#45]
It counts. You'll just show two activations and one being a "failed" one since it didn't have 10. But the hunters will still get their credit.
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Posted: 7/31/2022 2:08:37 AM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: Well I tested out my antenna today and made a handful of contacts. Most were pretty dismal signal reports. Anyone see what I did wrong here? https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/80518/20220730_210841_jpg-2471275.JPGI didn't figure it out until I was packing the antenna away and wondering why my signal was so crappy. Do tell… |
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Posted: 7/31/2022 4:51:49 AM EDT
[#47]
It appears you may have had two points of connection to a feed line if I am seeing it correctly.
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Posted: 7/31/2022 11:47:59 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Jambalaya]
[#48]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By lorazepam: It appears you may have had two points of connection to a feed line if I am seeing it correctly. Close, but not exactly. I wanted to use either the Great Lakes or the PAC-12 antenna on my existing mount. Each of these antennas had a problem with doing so. The Great Lakes antenna coil has female threads on both ends, so it would need a 3/8-24 stud to thread into the antenna mount. I looked at 2 different hardware stores and couldn't find one that wasn't just a black carbon steel screw. Still, my offset mount would have worked with that antenna. The PAC-12 antenna uses 10mm 1.5 threads. But I did have several stainless bolts with these threads. I used the offset mount, and seeing that this antenna had its own separate cable connector, I ran a separate cable to it. Where I went wrong is that with this antenna, the ground is connected to the base instead of the center conductor. In my haste to get set up, I thought I'd solved that by running a separate cable. BUT, in doing so, there wasn't a ground connection to the chassis. My antenna's ground was just connected to the center conductor of the other coax. Essentially a 12 foot long capacitor. It tuned up just fine with SWR below 2:1 across the entire band. But, it just had no counterpoise to speak of. If I had a 10mm 1.5 nut I could have bolted the mast directly to the mount and used the existing cable and it would have worked. |
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Posted: 8/2/2022 12:27:18 AM EDT
[#49]
Anyone have Dave Canterbury of "Dual Survival" fame in the log?
 POTA Activating 4 parks in one day Why!!!! |
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Posted: 8/2/2022 4:18:36 AM EDT
[Last Edit: K9-Bob]
[#50]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Jambalaya: Close, but not exactly. I wanted to use either the Great Lakes or the PAC-12 antenna on my existing mount. Each of these antennas had a problem with doing so. The Great Lakes antenna coil has female threads on both ends, so it would need a 3/8-24 stud to thread into the antenna mount. I looked at 2 different hardware stores and couldn't find one that wasn't just a black carbon steel screw. Still, my offset mount would have worked with that antenna. The PAC-12 antenna uses 10mm 1.5 threads. But I did have several stainless bolts with these threads. I used the offset mount, and seeing that this antenna had its own separate cable connector, I ran a separate cable to it. Where I went wrong is that with this antenna, the ground is connected to the base instead of the center conductor. In my haste to get set up, I thought I'd solved that by running a separate cable. BUT, in doing so, there wasn't a ground connection to the chassis. My antenna's ground was just connected to the center conductor of the other coax. Essentially a 12 foot long capacitor. It tuned up just fine with SWR below 2:1 across the entire band. But, it just had no counterpoise to speak of. If I had a 10mm 1.5 nut I could have bolted the mast directly to the mount and used the existing cable and it would have worked. I am wondering if you could attach an additional counterpoise wire bundle to the tire mount by using an Anderson Powerpole or some other kind of quick disconnect to get the SWR down under a 2:1? I've seen photos and post of guys running POTA from their cars by using additional counterpoise wires to improve their antenna performance while parked. Those hams noted the additional counterpoise wires helped reduce their SWR and allowed them put more contacts in their logbook. Your mounting location on the Jeep looks less than optimal for good bonding to the vehicle body/frame. 
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