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Screwdriver Antenna Mount (HAM radio) Anyone have one??

The Mox

The Mox

SM 2004
Full Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Messages
540
Location
Central Indiana
I upgraded my amateur license recently and now have the bug to put an HF rig in the Avy to keep my Kenwood TM-D700 company. 


I might buy the Icom 7000 if I can find the $$$


:help:        :help:

It appears from the current wisdom on the web that a screwdriver antenna is the best compromise for a multi-band antenna.  I have seen an AVy or two with screwdriver mounted along the side of the rear bumper, tied into the hitch frame.  Wow, That makes the AVy even wider than it already is.  See the SUV installition picture section at www.tarheelantennas.com

I have seen some receiver mounts also.  The commercial mounts appear to be pretty expensive for the tilt down variety and perhaps easy to fabricate.  Think of some of the Avy flagpole mounts.  I don't want to lose the ability to get into the bed or pull a trailer.

Let me see what you have or what you have tried.


The MOX
N9MOX
 
I would go to a Hamfest.. No doubt you'll run into just the setup you want.

I'm still procrastinating. I had 13 antennas on my `78 Toyota (it had a camper shell), and three on my S-10, but NO ham stuff yet on the Av and I had it for four years!

DE K6HQJ, and congrats on the upgrade! :)
 
The Dayton Hamvention is the middle of May and I am just 90 minutes from Mecca.

I wanted something before the Music City Madness GTG

I had so many antenna on the Outback that everyone called it porcupine

Only a Dual band and a scanner antenna on the Avy .  plus a GPS antenna on the dash


73

 
I'm working with a bud on this same project.  Setting up his, as he refers to it, Hamalanche with a screwdriver antenna.  Also trying to relocate four other mag mount antennas to a permanent position.  We have just started trying to figure out the best way to do this (mounting the screwdriver) and have done a lot of head scratching.  He wants to get everything completed soon, he plans (and I may too) to attend Hamfest.

Let me know what you've come up with on the screwdriver.  I'll let you know what we come up with.


Later,

Ryan
 
Wimps!

Go bigger!


truck4.jpg
 
Who's rig is that??? 

Quite the set-up, any idea what is all up there?

The set-up that I'm working with on my bud's vehicle will be a but cleaner.  Won't look like he's transporting scaffolding.

But that is interesting!

Later,

Ryan
 
Keep that up and you will really be hearing voices in your head.  All my antennas are drilled though the roof, other than Xm & Sirius.
 
That would be N5AC's Ava. I have two Diamond dual band NMO's on my roof, in the rear, with a VHF-Lo antenna on a front lip mount bracket. Pro-Fit International makes a lipmount NMO mount that fits very nicely, and uses an existing fender bolt to mount it.

Here is another pic of N5AC's ride:

truck3.jpg
 
Well Nothing like N5AC, but here is my solution for the screwdriver antenna mount and a pic of one of my 2/440 antennas.  It is held by a TXAVY rack bracket...


The Icom IC-2000 works like a charm.  Now to work on some of the ignition noise....



The MOX
N9MOX

 

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How firm is the hitch receiver? Does the antenne tune OK?
 
sperry said:
How firm is the hitch receiver? Does the antenne tune OK?
Click to expand...


Mounting an HF antenna on a truck always appears to be a compromise. ?The "best" location on any vehicle is on the top of the roof. It centers the ground plane and protects the occupants from rf. ?However that becomes quite impractical on an Avalanche with a 6+ foot height. ?Add a 3 1/2 foot antenna and a 6 foot whip and you hit everything over the road.

Searching the internet for truck mounts indicates that almost all have been mounted on hitch mounts, bumper mounts or stake pockets. ?No stake pockets on the AVy. ?Mine has a plastic bumper. ?Not much of a secure mount. ? And even with the experts saying that hitch mounts are the worst, you read many reports of "successful" ?operations using this mount.


I want to get the tailgate open without too much hastle so I ruled out the center hitch location. I didn't want it exteneding beyond the body too much. ?The AVy is already wide enough for the narrow county road. ?The mount was assembled from a bike hitch mount I had and a mount extender for hauling long lenghts of lumber. ?Lots of weird angles to account for to get a plumb mount. The mount will rattle like crazy with a conventional pin. ?I am using a Valley Industries "No-rattle" hitch bin. ?It uses a trapped Unistrut style nut in the hitch and a bolt pin. ?Just tighten the hitch bolt and it pulls super rigid. It hasn't been touched in a week. ?No loosening, so far. ?No rattle or noise. ANd it has a lock.

It tunes okay after a pair of ground straps from the mount to the frame and from the radio to the frame. ?I haven't gone through all the bands yet. ?I have made 59 contacts into Europe and Canada. ?Even with no sunspots. ?It still need to hunt down some noise sources. ?Proably old plug wires. ?The ICOM has an unbelievably effective noise filter. ?Wipes out almost all garbage. ?But it would be better not to have to use it.

I bought a Turbo Tuner but it was sent back for inspection. ?I didn't want to comminucate properly. ?But they offer a lifetime replacement. ?


SO there it is..

Greg

 
Well this is what we ended up for an antenna setup on my buddy?s Hamalanche.? We mounted 4 antennas across the top plastic panel above the break light.? These are bulkhead type mounts.? In order to have a better ground we cut a light gauge piece of sheet metal and placed it on the underside of the plastic above the break light.? Used epoxy to fasten it along with the bulkhead mounts.? The sheet metal piece also reinforced the antenna mounts since they clamped down on the plastic and the metal.?

The antenna cables were ran across the top over to the driver side and through the plastic vents that are in the body of the truck.? These allow access into the ?C? pillar (I think this is what you would call it) where the cables are ran down to the sill panel up to the front.

The screwdriver antenna is mounted where the rear grab handle usually is.? I made a bracket that uses the same bolt pattern as the grab handle.? Then attached to the bracket is the antenna mount itself.? This allows the antenna to be quickly removed and other accessories I?ve built can quickly installed (canoe rack and such).? In order to keep the functionality of the saddle box we had to cut the rear portion of the lid off (you can see the seem in the pic).? I built a bracket that holds the piece that we cut off in the same position as if the lid was closed.?

All in all it turned out to be a very clean install.? We took great precaution to insure we had good grounds to insure good antenna performance.

The truck on it?s way down to Dayton for ham convention so if you?re down there keep an eye out.


Later,

Ryan
 

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we run w/ dual whips... but don't do NEAR the level of walkie'talkieing that u guys i'm sure do... sorry the pics not much better of the set up but i'm sure u get the idea... (was too lazy to walk 3 feet to hubby's comp to get better pics off of his :E:)
 

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RyanD said:
You can see it in the first pic but better in this one:
Click to expand...

I'm guessing I don't understand why people want to run a scaffold on their truck. Or even have something that sticks 15' off the truck.

To each their own... nice setups none the less.
 
Dune said:
I'm guessing I don't understand why people want to run a scaffold on their truck. Or even have something that sticks 15' off the truck.

To each their own... nice setups none the less.
Click to expand...

Most people don't understand the radio frequency spectrum either.? If you want or need to communicate on HF/VHF/UHF one needs the right equipment.?

The gentleman who owns the vehicle above serves his community by supporting emergency/disaster communications (ARES).

Later,

Ryan


 
RyanD said:
Most people don't understand the radio frequency spectrum either.? If you want or need to communicate on HF/VHF/UHF one needs the right equipment.?

The gentleman who owns the vehicle above serves his community by supporting emergency/disaster communications (ARES).

Later,

Ryan
Click to expand...

ya but w/ a set up like that, he could serve his community and a couple billion of his closest friends w/in the northern hemisphere !  that's just CRAZY !

what kind of range would that thing have?
 
Dune said:
I'm guessing I don't understand why people want to run a scaffold on their truck. Or even have something that sticks 15' off the truck.

To each their own... nice setups none the less.
Click to expand...
This is from someone who cut a 8' by 4' hole in the top of there AV. :beating:
 
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