Guys,

Well, Those SP432VDG's work REAL GOOD for mobile operation. My mobile has a quarter wave whip (6.5 inches long) for receiving on UHF. Those low-noise preamps DO help a lot. And if you like to use a small beam to receive with, then the preamp will help that, too. I mean you get a LOUD signal that you can actually copy thru the whole pass instead of "in and out" and lots of "no copy" time. And of course the noise level is still zero or near it.

This is not just an opinion, this is tried and true. I have logged thousands of contacts on the FM birds while mobile and portable with pretty minimal rigs.

73, John K6YK On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:01:03 -0700 (PDT) Bill Dzurilla billdz.geo@yahoo.com writes:

Kent,

Never tried it, but I doubt a preamp would be worth the expense if mounted at the rig in a mobil set-up. I assume the feedline is only 10' or so. The preamp helps most when the feedline is lengthy, especially if cheap coax is used.

If you want to try a switching preamp, the ARR SP432VDG is a good one, see http://www.advancedreceiver.com/page7.html

For about the same price, you could buy an Arrow handheld yagi antenna, which would substantially improve both reception and transmission. See http://www.arrowantennas.com/146-437.html , although if the rig is fixed inside your car if might not be convenient to hold the Arrow, unless your mike cord is long enough so you can stand outside the car.

If you are limited to operating from the car, try driving to a hilltop or somewhere with a clear view from horizon to horizon.

73, Bill NZ5N

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