The next best was a 5/8 wave whip.  Can you tell me a little more about the 
MFJ antenna?  I want to know things like can the loading coil be adjusted? 
Can it work on more then 1 band?  How much power can one use?  and how much 
does it cost?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 12:12 AM
Subject: some new antennas to play with


>I picked up one of the MFJ hamtennas the other day.
> I got the 20M resonator and whip.
> It's essentially a 4 foot long  poll with wire wrapps up to a loading coil
> near the top...then a 4 foot stainless steel whip attached on top.
> the bass terminates in a 3/8's by 24 stud.
> the whole assembly was pretty cheap so i figured i would try it out and 
> see
> what sort of results I could get.
> the shop didn't have any c clamp style mounts, so i'm fabricating 
> something
> to atach to the balcony railing.  I picked up a bunch of 18 gage speaker
> wire to use as counter poise as well.
> I've also got a maggy mount with a 3/8's female connecter that i'm going 
> to
> try out both mobile and perhaps at home if I can't find anything adequit 
> for
> a mount.
> I know I can probably get one of the c clamp style mounts online as well.
> so far, with the antenna leaning against the wall inside on the fourth
> floor, I am receiving far more on 20 meters than I was before.
> I have the ground screw on the radio connected to the hot water heater 
> pipe
> as a counter poise, but obviously it's far too long and not designed to 
> work
> with the antenna...a few 16.5ft pieces of speaker wire should work well as 
> a
> counter poise for now...attached at the bass of the antenna right at the
> feed point.
>
> I also picked up a midland 18-325c dual band mobile antenna that i'm going
> to use instead of the current quarter wave dual band on the vehicle.
> Hopefully that will keep me into the repeater more consistently than the
> quarter wave does now.
>
> 73
> Colin, V A6BKX
>