old school mobile antennas

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grease monkey
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old school mobile antennas

Post by grease monkey »

Bit of help required please if you may...... ive been given still in their packaging a hmp dx27 5/8 antenna and a valor road hog. were these any good back in the day im thinking of using one on my caravan when on holiday for some dx-ing
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Oggy
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by Oggy »

Hello Scott I'm lucky to own both , in-fact I have two NOS HMP DX27 in their original packaging unused :o .
But to answer your question the DX27 work real well as they are helical wound.
I always thought the DX/DV mount looked like the top part of an old Bobbie's helmet for some reason :lol:
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by Transwarp »

The DX27 is the bigger brother of the DV27, both were very common back in the day for starting out on CB with. For home base use all that was required was a biscuit tin and some tin foil to run them. They didn't stand up to mobile use too well though. The road hog I'm not familiar with but most Valor twigs were pretty good.
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by Phoenix »

Yep superb twigs those get them on the car and given them a go
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by The Collector »

Is the Road Hog white with red enamel-coated wire (triple loaded??) inside a transparent covering? There was an adjuster at the top if I recall. If so, I had one back in the late 80's and it was pretty good but not quite as good (or practical) as my base-loaded Modulator that I used most of the time for whizzing about. Same as the Firestik and DX27, they were usually best used up in the loft on a tumble dryer casing etc ;)
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by scanhermit »

I had a DX27 on a biscuit tin in the loft. It did that well that if I'm sure that if I had stuck it on the chimney, it would have competed with my silver rod.
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by Unit 148 Mobile »

Scott,

I think you'll find that most all of the DV/DX range of antennas were efficient size for size with other antennas as they were top loaded and not the fact they had a helically wound wire running up the fiberglass rod. I think the DV had a single wire up the centre of the F/G rod while the DX was indeed hellically wound.

This moves the maximum current point towards the top of the antenna thereby creating a stronger radiation field.

The downside was that compared to base and centre loaded antennas they did tend to move a lot while driving.

The wonderful myth re the 'biscuit tin. Of course they offered a simple ground to the antenna but compared to a full-size and resonant ground plane they were nigh on useless.

DV on a biscuit tin v's a silver rod. Silver rod's were a simple end fed 1/2 wave I believe (did they offer a 5/8 version?) If both DV on a biscuit tin in the attic and the Silver Rod on the chimney were both optimized for the same part of the band and fed with the same length feeder there's no way the DV could offer the same field strength as the SR unless you had an inferior designed SR.

You cannot bend the laws of physics.

(Full-size v's inductively loaded).

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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by ghost123uk »

The aerials being talked about here were some of my best sellers when I had the shop in Chester.

There was also another version of the (well reputed) DX27 5/8 wave. I still have two of them, one in use right now on my VW "wedge" type T25 Camper. It is a smooth coated fibre glass affair, about the same length as a DV27 and uses the same "banjo" mounting. It is helically wound, around a thin centre core, but is then coated in a smooth outer finish. They are still pretty thin though, no fatter than a slim cigarette (remember them) at the base and tapered nicely to the tip. They were supplied over length, the only way to tune it was to snip bits off the top until correct, and then replace the little soft plastic "nipple" on the top. These were a version of the "27" range, maybe a DX27 1/4 wave? All I know for certain is it still looks like new after 20+ years (on and off) use and it performs very well. My spare new one (no package) is safe in the corner of my shack (shack = read "shed" ;) )

I still have a genuine DX27 5/8 as well, but they do put a strain on your normal gutter mount.

Shame they stopped making the "Dial-a-Match" range. They had there uses, neat, compact, very well built, worked OK (well the 4 foot one did) and good for off road vehicles.
John, on the S. Cheshire / N. Shropshire border. 26TM953 / muppet handle "Grey ghost"
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by SgtBilko302 »

I used to work in a recycling dump. Last year i saw a steel whip sticking out of a pile that had just been tipped from a skip.That whip turned out to be a Valor Half Breed,tied to about 8 or 9 other mobile antenna's. Two of which were DX27's,Valor Warrior center loader and an original Avanti Moonraker 4ft mobile with original mag-mount which i still have.
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by ghost123uk »

Good find !!
SgtBilko302 wrote:I used to work in a recycling dump.
Did those aerials cost you your job ;)
John, on the S. Cheshire / N. Shropshire border. 26TM953 / muppet handle "Grey ghost"
Don't just monitor, key up and talk, otherwise everyone thinks no one else is out there !!!
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by SgtBilko302 »

Why would the ariels cost me my job. I moved on to a better job.
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by original45 »

My brother in law worked in a steel alloy recycling depot.
He used to bring me all sorts of goodies.
Crazy what gets scrapped.
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by ghost123uk »

SgtBilko302 wrote:Why would the ariels cost me my job. I moved on to a better job.
Sorry there, it was meant to be a joke (re taking stuff home from the re-cycling dump).

Re, Re-cycling dumps. The council owned ones around here won't let you take anything under any circumstances. In fact there was a recent case in the local paper where a guy got fined £200 for taking a bulb out of a scrapped fridge at the council tip :roll: :evil: However, we do have a privately run one near our village, they actively encourage folk to take stuff away, for a small payment. I have had lots of good bits and pieces from them.
John, on the S. Cheshire / N. Shropshire border. 26TM953 / muppet handle "Grey ghost"
Don't just monitor, key up and talk, otherwise everyone thinks no one else is out there !!!
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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by SgtBilko302 »

I worked at a private family run company. If you asked they'd let you take anything as long as it was of no value to them.

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Re: old school mobile antennas

Post by Hamerman »

There is still a DV27 on a Biscuit Tin up in our loft which is getting on for 40 years old.
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