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Question for you Radio Guys!!

therobzilla

therobzilla

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Ok,

Here is the sitrep!

Putting CB/WB radio in the camper. It's a Lance slide in, mounted on my goose-neck trailer.

I have mounted the CB already in the camper. I purchased a Zero Ground Plane Antenna by Solarcon, did a bunch of research on this antenna, most of the RV guys are using this because of the lack of ground plane, and a specialty Marine Antenna Mount.

So here is the question for you guys.

The roof of the Lance/camper has a 20 GA Aluminum sheet roof over the complete roof, does this aluminum roof create the ground plane for a normal CB antenna. More specifically, does aluminum work the same as steel as the ground plane. Everywhere I research, it states Steel as the ground plane, but can't find anything the Aluminum is the same or does create the ground plane.

Give me your input on this. I'm very interested in what you guys say, as I have gotten many mixed signals on this.



Post up.
 
Yes, aluminum works fine. Any conductive material can be used as a ground plane. I would just mount a standard base loaded whip on there and call it good. One thing I would do is sand the area to bare aluminum where you want to mount the antenna and immediately coat it with dielectric grease. The reason is that aluminum naturally forms an oxide layer in the atmosphere, and aluminum oxide is an excellent insulator. By failing to do this you risk the connection getting poor over time, along with your reception and SWR :doah:
 
I told him it was pribably OK today at Desert Rat . He was going to try the Wilson up there tonight . Wonder if it worked out better .
 
pauly383 said:
I told him it was pribably OK today at Desert Rat . He was going to try the Wilson up there tonight . Wonder if it worked out better .
Click to expand...

Should be fine as long as the SO-239 makes good contact with the aluminum. I suggested the dielectric grease so it keeps good contact with the aluminum :wink1:
 
He was just gonna sit the Wilson mag mount up there and see if it went under 3 swr . I don't think he was trying a hard mount .
 
pauly383 said:
He was just gonna sit the Wilson mag mount up there and see if it went under 3 swr . I don't think he was trying a hard mount .
Click to expand...

Is it just me or does anyone else see a problem with using a magnet mount on a sheet of aluminum? :thinking: :D
 
It won't stick , he was just seeing if it was his antenna or not by placing the mag mount up there .

Aluminum may not stick to a magnet , but it sure does conduct electricity , and should work as a ground plane .
 
pauly383 said:
It won't stick , he was just seeing if it was his antenna or not by placing the mag mount up there .

Aluminum may not stick to a magnet , but it sure does conduct electricity , and should work as a ground plane .
Click to expand...
If he wants to use a mag mount up there what he needs to do is to get himself a 6"x6" piece of 409 stainless steel and screw it to the top of his camper. 409 is magnetic, so the mag mount will stick to it fine, and it does pretty welll at resisting rust and corrosion so it won't need to be painted unless you want to :thumb:
 
I am going to test the theory of aluminum and ground plane. I can't find any conclusive research yet on the INTERNET that says that Aluminum acts as a ground plane.

I know the Mag Mount won't work. I'm using it because I know that a Wilson 1000 will give me an excellent SWR.

I want to check before I go mounting a permanent antenna in this application.
 
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