From Bill Baker of Information Station Specialists Part 2

Well, I'm excited to see what the range will be, although I'll admit I don't know much about how the TH compares with other transmitters in other catagories such as sound quality and that sort of thing. There are more things to consider, but when dealing with such low power, range is a big thing. 

I do have to wonder where this is all leading. If we have certification of a transmitter with a remote ATU and the intervening 25 feet of coax is considered "just inter-stage coupling between an exciter and final stage," as stated (correctly, IMO) by the Admin here on another thread, I suppose the sky is the limit, so to speak. So, why not spread out the transmitter circuits with inter-stage couplings so the transmitter is 100 feet tall (or whatever) and has less than a foot of actual antenna lead at the top and a foot of ground lead on the bottom? 

Sometimes you just have to think big...

John
W9LWA
    
Does anyone remember that guy who used to sell ground wire tuners at hamfests? I used to see him everyplace, but not for a while. Something about reducing resistance, impedance and probably whatever else he could think of while making his pitch. I think it was really just half of an antenna tuner circuit.

If we can have an AT at the top of the tower, why not a ground wire tuner at the bottom? Problems with short antenna and ground leads solved?

Indeed, the one I'm thinking of was probably about the same thing as the MFJ artificial ground unit. I suppose the question is where in the ground wire the AG would need to go. I  talked to an "expert" at one of those places on line that sells MFJ stuff but he seemed unaware that a ground wire can radiate. I believe he finally told me that the wire coming out of the AG wouldn't radiate, but I don't think he thought the ground into the AG from the transmitter would radiate to begin with.

I'll figure this out, but probably not from talking to him...

John
W9LWA

Well, apparently MFJ says this AG unit needs to be connected to the transmitter or AT with as short a wire as possible. I don't know that I'm barking up  the right tree with this thing, but at least I'm still barking...

sparepart: Since you are doing a two tone and then an announcement you should be able to put up a video on youtube.  I'd mount your cell phone on your back seat to the passenger headrest using bungee cord or maybe use a selfie stick but have the stick put inside the back pouch of the back seat to hold it up.  This way you can drive and record without distracting or impaired driving.  We should be able to hear the Radio and Youtube should not block you for any copyright issues.

Mention your distance according to the trip meter so we can hear what is going on.

Mounting your antenna as High as possible will certainly give better range results.  Using a 20 Ft pole or putting your antenna 20 feet from the peak of the pitch of the roof should give great results according to what I've read in the manual.

And for the ones who own apartment buildings what a great idea install the ATU at the top of the building.  As we saw with the rangemaster on top of a church steeple this should do relatively the same.