Claims
- 1. A system for the slidable connection of a satellite antenna to a mobile radio comprising:an antenna including a single retractable antenna element and at least two antenna contacts coupled thereto wherein the antenna contacts retract with the antenna element; and at least two slide strips, slidably coupled respectively to the at least two antenna contacts when the single retractable antenna element is in a plurality of retracted positions, the at least two slide strips being coupled to a transceiver in the mobile radio and conducting radio-frequency frequency signals to maintain communication with the mobile radio; and at least two switches coupled to the transceiver and switchably coupled respectively to the at least two slide strips wherein: when the single retractable antenna element is moved to a plurality of retracted positions, the switches and the at least two antenna contacts are coupled to the at least two slide strips to maintain electrical connection between the transceiver and the antenna; and when the single retractable antenna element is moved to an extended position, the switches decouple from the at least two slide strips and couple to the at least two antenna contacts so as to maintain electrical connection between the transceiver and the antenna.
- 2. A system for the slidable connection of a satellite antenna to a mobile radio comprising:an antenna including a single retractable antenna element and at least two antenna contacts coupled thereto wherein the antenna contacts retract with the antenna element; and and at least two slide strips, slidably coupled respectively to the at least two antenna contacts when the single retractable antenna element is in a plurality of retracted positions, the at least two slide strips being coupled to a transceiver in the mobile radio and conducting radio-frequency signals to maintain communication with the mobile radio; wherein the at least one slide strip has a selected length determined according to an amount of reflective radio-frequency losses along the slide strip at the selected length.
- 3. The system of claim 2 wherein the selected length is an integer number of half-wavelengths of radio-frequency signals conducted along the slide strip.
- 4. A system for the slidable connection of a satellite antenna to a mobile radio comprising:an antenna including a single retractable antenna element and at least two antenna contacts coupled thereto wherein the antenna contacts retract with the antenna element; and at least two slide strips, slidably coupled respectively to the at least two antenna contacts when the single retractable antenna element is in a plurality of retracted positions, the at least two slide strips being coupled to a transceiver in the mobile radio and conducting radio-frequency signals to maintain communication with the mobile radio; a ground, a satellite antenna element, and a cellular antenna element, and wherein the at least two antenna contacts comprise a satellite contact configured for coupling with the satellite antenna element, a cellular contact configured for coupling with the cellular antenna element, and a ground contact configured for coupling with the ground; and at least two switches coupled to the transceiver and switchably coupled respectively to the at least two slide strips wherein: when the single retractable antenna element is retracted into the plurality of retracted positions, the switches and the at least two antenna contacts couple to the at least two slide strips to maintain electrical connection between the transceiver and the antenna; when the single retractable antenna element is moved into an extended position, the switches decouple from the at least two slide strips and couple to the at least two antenna contacts to maintain electrical connection between the transceiver and the antenna; the switches comprise a cellular switch aligned with the cellular contact, a satellite switch aligned with the satellite contact, and a ground switch aligned with the ground contact; and when the antenna is in the extended position, the cellular contact opens the cellular switch, the satellite contact opens the satellite switch, and the ground contact opens the ground switch.
- 5. A system for the slidable connection of a satellite antenna to a mobile radio comprising:an antenna including a single retractable antenna element and at least two antenna contacts coupled thereto wherein the antenna contacts retract with the antenna element; and at least two slide strips, slidably coupled respectively to the at least two antenna contacts when the single retractable antenna element is in a plurality of retracted positions, the at least two slide strips being coupled to a transceiver in the mobile radio and conducting radio-frequency signals to maintain communication with the mobile radio; and at least two switches coupled to the transceiver and switchably coupled respectively to the at least two slide strips wherein: when the single retractable antenna element is retracted to the plurality of retracted positions, the switches and the at least two antenna contacts couple to the at least two slide strips to maintain electrical connection between the transceiver and the antenna; and when the single retractable antenna element is moved into an extended position, the at least two switches decouple from the at least two slide strips and couple to the at least two antenna contacts to maintain electrical connection between the transceiver and the antenna; and further comprising means for disconnecting the antenna from the transceiver.
- 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least two slide strips include a conductive portion.
- 7. The system of claim 5 further including means for connecting the transceiver to an extravehicular antenna.
- 8. The system of claim 7 wherein:the means for disconnecting is a docking adapter including a cam feature; the antenna includes a cam notch for fitting the cam feature; and inserting the mobile radio into the docking adapter with the cam feature in the cam notch slides the antenna to a docking position.
- 9. The system of claim 5 wherein the means for disconnecting comprises pushing the single retractable antenna element out of contact with the conductive portion.
- 10. The system of claim 9 wherein the single retractable antenna element is positioned past the at least two slide strips.
- 11. A method for the slidable connection of a antenna to a mobile radio comprising the steps of:providing an antenna including a single retractable antenna element and at least two antenna contacts coupled thereto wherein the at least two antenna contacts retract with the single retractable antenna element; providing at least two slide strips coupled to a transceiver and configured to be slidably coupled respectively to the at least two antenna contacts; and sliding the single retractable antenna element into a plurality of retracted positions and connecting the at least two antenna contacts respectively to the at least two slide strips to maintain a connection between the antenna and the transceiver while sliding through the plurality of retracted positions; providing at least two switches coupled to the transceiver and switchably coupled respectively to the at least two slide strips; sliding the single retractable antenna element into an extended position and decoupling the switches from the at least two slide strips; and coupling the at least two switches to the at least two antenna contacts to maintain connection between the transceiver and the antenna.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of sliding the single retractable antenna element into an extended position includes decoupling the at least two switches from the at least two slide strips while concurrently coupling the at least two switches to the at least two antenna contacts.
Parent Case Info
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/089,074, filed Jun. 12, 1998.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60/089074 |
Jun 1998 |
US |