On 8/20/2017 7:30 PM, Fred Jensen wrote: > e now-defunct Southern Pacific Railroad, acquired by Union Pacific 20 or > so years ago, used DDRR VHF antennas on their trackside signaling > equipment. They were cast steel [maybe brass under the finish], very > low profile on top of the equipment box, small [they looked like a > handle], and about as indestructible as the steel box they were on. > Indestructability is fairly important with stuff trackside in the middle > of nowhere.
In the rail industry, these are known as "Excalibur" antennas - the model type made by Sinclair. They were developed for the transit industry for buses and locomotives to be able to go through industrial wash racks with no damage We used both the VHF Low-Band and VHF High-Band models on a measurement truck and were very happy with them. Use of this type of antenna on wayside equipment such as hot-box and dragging equipment scanners is pretty much standard for the reasons that you gave above. I'd put one on our car but I don't know how the VHF model that I would use for 2-meters would perform on UHF (3/4-meters) like my 1/4-wave mag-mount vertical does. 73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402 From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
