cb antenna quick disconnects

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:53 am

whos got a line on really good quick disconnects for cb antennas

the one i have rocks a little front to back between the antenna half and the base half

i don't think theres any danger of it disconnecting on the road it just annoys me knowing that it does it

corwyyn · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:10 am

Had one of this type on my ball mount a couple of years ago until the constant back-and-forth of my 4ft antenna on a particularly rocky trail caused the post to snap off at the base :shock:

Hustler Antenna makes one that looks a bit beefier but until I get a chance to go to the local ham radio store and compare it to the others I'll just stick to removing the antenna the old-fashioned way...

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:19 am

i might buy that hustler quick disconnect and try it out

this is what i've got at the moment

http://i643.photobucket.com/albums/uu16 ... PX0128.jpg

it rocks just a hair when the antenna sways, i think when going down the road it just stays back, the wilson flex-4 would be just fine on a permanent mount, but i like to take it off when i park for long periods, or go into a garage

i plan to get what we used to call a rubber duck antenna, adjustable tip short 1 to 2 foot antenna floppy rubber whip for wheelin, the flex-4 and my galaxy have astronomical range out on the road though, it's almost as good as the dual full length 1/2 waves i had on my truck, the radios much better than what i had then though :lol:

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 2:40 am

kinda curious if this would work, it's for heavier mass HF/HAM antennas

the WQD says theres no slack or looseness in motion

i'm not educated very well in freqs, is there any reason why that WQD mount couldn't be used with a CB antenna?

threads are the same and standard so that wouldn't be an issue

corwyyn · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:28 am

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

kinda curious if this would work, it's for heavier mass HF/HAM antennas

the WQD says theres no slack or looseness in motion

i'm not educated very well in freqs, is there any reason why that WQD mount couldn't be used with a CB antenna?

threads are the same and standard so that wouldn't be an issue

Anymore info on this WQD mount (link or something?). As far as frequency concerns CB (11 meters) is up towards the top of the HF spectrum which is normally considered the 10 meter band.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:44 am

I talked to Mr. Gyenes ( W6HIQ / VE7BOC / HA5CMG )

he said there's no reason why it wouldn't work, he even gave some advice on how to get it to stop swaying or rocking with my current mount using fishing line :lol:

seems like a very honest merchant, I ordered the WQD about 3 minutes ago

http://www.hiqantennas.com/quick-disconnects.htm

the WQD is at the bottom of this page, the gigantic QD mount was tempting but I figured I'd wait till I got my license before I started buying 'bigboy toys'

it's got standard 3/8-24 threads so it should be a plug and play once it gets here! it's only slightly more expensive than some of the beefier "cb" quick disconnects but it looks like it's made better, i mean, ham/hf antennas can be really expensive, and theyre usually high in mass, i'd make an educated guess that our 4 footers won't budge it at 100 mph, not that i ever drive over 70 ... i like to take my TIME!

corwyyn · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:22 pm

Yeah after taking a look at the link you should be just fine with that setup. Hi-Q Antennas have been in business for a number of years and I've always seen good reviews of their products in the amateur radio magazines. Let me know how it works and I may just order one for my 'big boy'

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 4:30 pm

you bet! i'll post back here with a pic once I get it on, i'll run it down 264 at 100mph for a few miles and make sure it stays on for the review :lol:

what kind of maul do you drop? i want to get into some sorta hams later this year, perhaps after i put a lift on my renny in the fall

oddball · **Posted:** Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:57 pm

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

whos got a line on really good quick disconnects for cb antennas

Have you checked out Wallcott CB ? They make great stuff.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:16 am

wallcots got some great stuff however,

corwyyn had one of those firestik k1a's and it rocked and snapped and the R1A i've had before and it rocked back and forth too

i ended up ordering the WQD, it's actually a ham antenna quick disconnect, it's a 3 turn twist down so theres no cam to rock and it's made for antennas that have much higher mass than a 4 foot fiberglass so i'm hoping it will work very well

it was only 30 bucks, if it stabilizes my swr, doesnt rock in motion, it will be well worth it, i'm frankly really tired of the cam type QD's i've always been dissatisfied with them

i look forward to tryin out this WQD mount

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:59 pm

my WQD came in saturday and I forgot to pick it up till today

a word to the wise, don't grab the sucker by the brass threads and try to twist out the stud with your fingers you'll bleed all over it and not even realize it, so if you get it and plan to not use the stud that comes with it skip the finger tightness test and double-nut the stud to get it out

i'm going to hit ace hardware or something and find a plumbing o-ring to put on it inplace of the thinner o-ring that came with it although I really don't see this sucker untightening itself under any circumstance. I really look forward to putting this sucker to use, finally.. no more ROCKING

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:55 am

got the WQD installed today

I had to cut half an inch off of the stud that came with it, I double nut'ed the stud and everything and could not pull the stud out. I cut half an inch off of the stud so that it would not bottom out against the coax end stud

had the stud came out it wouldn't have needed the typical antenna threaded joiner

in anycase, it's all together, it DOES -NOT- wiggle, rock or anything

the mount itself does give a little, I may find some rubber washers or something, like fuel injector o-rings to act as bushings for the mount to help dampen the lenth of time the antenna sits there and waves when its flexed

the SWR is even better than it was before which is hard to believe, apparently the other quick disconnect was throwin it up 0.07

the swr is sittin friggin bullzeye dead-on doesn't get any friggin better, i'm estatic

I also found a 1 x 1 'ish square foam rubber adhesive pad for something.. in the toolbox. No idea what it was from or what it was to, I decided to put it under the bottomof the coax boot on the roof to protect the roof from having paint rubbed off to do vibration and plus to deaden any sound it makes. It seems to have appreciated it, it appears comfortable like that :lol:

KJ Taz · **Posted:** Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:21 pm

That looks like the ones I used to use. They are great as long as you remember to take your antenna off BEFORE you drive into your garage. I found that after long wheeling trips I would forget and drive in anyway. The quick disconnects held up fine and I never had a problem with them. I go through a lot antennas before I decided just to use a shorter one. Yes the range is not there but now I just don't have to worry about the darn thing any more.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:41 pm

the wilson flex-4 antennas flexible enough to take quite a beating, i've already stuffed it under a overhang without thinking

I'm pondering sticking a spring between the mount and the antenna, not sure what spring would be best, i don't want to go ruining my swr either

I guess a spring would be better than using bushings on the mount to cut down on continual sway

it'll sit there and sway a good 2 mins if i reach up and slap it hehe

"that's what she said"

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:09 pm

i finally solved the water leak that was runnin down the coax through the back glass

i pulled the weather stripping back and re-ran the coax under the weather stripping, and instead of making a notch in the pinch that the weather stripping seats on, i notched a slight V in the top and bottom of the weather stripping seat, not the seal, the seat that goes over the pinch. If you do this make sure you trip the metal wires in the area of the notch. There are wires that run through the weather stripping that can damage your coax.

After I re-seated the weather stripping and made a few adustment trims, I used black rtv and created a seal around the coax and the notch to reform the seat just for extra seal, rehooked the coax to the antenna and rechecked the SWR

Stood there and blasted everything with a waterhose for about 20 minutes, no leaks

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:22 pm

ok it's still leaking, going to try more rtv along the edge of the weather stripping

PITA

edit:

it's been monsooning for 3 days
no more leaky leaky

gobbed a peanut sized glob of rtv on my finger and spread it across the back top edge of the stripping behind the coax then shut the glass to put pressure on it as it cured

cb antenna quick disconnects

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