SSRacing

Check them out at:

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/c0ssizem/...src=ph&.view=t


The original wheels are for sale if anyone is interested locally.
Also have the set of 17x7 Chrome wheels with Michelin 225x45x17 tires for sale too. They came off of a Lexus ES 400.
I think they fit the Camry as well, have not had a chance to mount them on the wife's car yet though - they are drilled out for another patter as well but not sure of the pcd. I have another set of Prime 5-Star wheels 15x8 that I had on the 4Runner for a short while for sale too. (I have too many wheels).


Let me know that you think..

MY024runner

looks nice

L33T35T 4Runner

very nice. where did you get teh clear corners? id get some of those...

midiwall

Very nice wheel choice... Some of the best I've seen!

CTB

Check with Jason B for the clear corners.

JSB

The Antenna looks great!

Now tell me how the reception is. I'm debating on running that same mount on my wifes Burb, but was un sure it that was a very look location. Is that a 3 or a 4 foot? Also is that a Non Ground Plane antenna?

SSRacing

The antenna is a 3ft Firestik. For some stange reason, it is not working well. When I had the old glass mount, it worked fine, but with low range..

Now, it is only showing 2 out of 5 bars lit when I transmit. I am also fading bad when receiving. I am thinking the problem is with the cable. The radio worked fine before and the antenna is new. The cable is a used one from another truck so I am guessing it may be the problem. The antenna is a non-ground type I guess, no ground wire.

Anyone have any idea why only 2 bars out of 5 would light up when I trigger the mike? When I let go of the mike, I get all 5 bars...

Thanks
Shane

midiwall

It sounds like you might have an SWR problem (SWR = Standing Wave Ratio). This is a phenomenon where part of the signal that's heading for the antenna is reflected back _into_ the transmitter. This can drastically reduce your output power, and in the worst cases, burn up the finals on the radio. The issue comes from the length of the antenna (and this includes the wire, the additional capacitance of all the connectors, and the physical mast itself) is not an even multiple of the wavelength of the frequency that you're transmitting on.

It's been a LONG time since I went shopping for SWR meters, but "the last I knew" (call it 18-20 years to be safe) you could get an SWR meter that also lets you adjust the "effective length" of your setup. By doing so, you can reduce the SWR and thus increase your output power.

I need to let someone else point you to the latest in meters and such.

Longhorn

Firestik.com is a great site. It tells you everything you should consider as to antenna selection and mounting. Check this out before buying new cable:

http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/Bumper-mnts.htm

Nice truck!

SSRacing

Thanks for the replies,

I have an SWR meter that I found in another truck. I do not know how to use it though. I think I may talk to the guys at Radio Shack to see if they can help...

The cable I am using is at least 12' long. The old cable was the same length I think but a much shorter antenna. I thought these babies were plug/play. It seems the bigger the antenna, the more problems.

SSRacing

by the way,

The WX (Weather) stations pick up/come in fine??????

midiwall

Yeah, reception should be fine. SWR is something that comes about with transmitting on your end.

btw, What you're experiencing is "normal" for radio installations, and it will be a bigger issue as you work with a longer antenna. The reason is that a shorter antenna has a better chance of being an even multiple of a wavelength than a larger one. And if it's not, then the margin of error is much less.

For example... Say you have something that is 100 units in size (feet, inches, miles, makes no difference). If you try to match that with something that is 25 units in size, then you only have 4 possibilities of hitting it (100/25 = 4). Now, if you try to match it with something that's 2 units in size, you have 50 chances of hitting it (100/2 = 50).

Further, with the 25 unit object, then your worse case is to miss the even divisor by 12.5 units (25/2). Whereas with the smaller object, your worst case is 1 unit (2/2).

So, if the wavelength of your transmit frequency is "100", then a smaller antenna (the "2 unit" value) is practically always in tune. But, throw in the larger 50 unit antenna, and you'll have to do some work. What you'll get in return for your troubles though is better range from the radio on transmit, and better sensitivity on receive.


For the SWR meter... It should have a PL-259 (plug) on one side, and a SO-239 (socket) on the other. You need a short length of cable with a SO-239 on one end and a PL-259 on the other. Plug the short cable into the radio, then the cable into the meter, and then your regular antenna wire into the meter.

Set the transmitter to the middle chanel, then key the mic and note the reading on the meter. Now, this is where things can get a bit hazy for me...

In a base station rig, you usually leave the SWR meter inline all the time and the meter has a knob on it to adjust the effective length of the antenna. You would adjust this knob for the lowest reading on the meter, and then leave it set.

But, in a mobile rig, you don't usually want to leave the meter inline - just because of it's bulk (you can though). So, to do this tuning, you have to go to the antenna. (enter the haze) The antenna should have some mechanism on it so that it can be tuned. In some cases, this means that you're taking a pair of diagonal cutters and physically cutting length off of the antenna. In other cases, it may have an adjustable coil at the base. The instructions that came with the antenna should talk about this.

If you DO have to physically cut the antenna, then you want to do it in small increments, like 1/4". Key the mic, note the reading, clip 1/4" off the antenna, they key the mic again. You may see the SWR go _UP_ before it goes down. This would happen if you're on the "low side" of the 1/2 way point from an even divisor for the wavelength. This means that you'll have to trim the antenna down enough to come through the 1/2 way point and then sneak up on a divisor.

Again, check the instructions that came with the antenna. I'd hope that antenna manufacturers are all including loading coils these days instead of making the user trim the antenna.


Hope that helps!

Mark