Antenna mounting help

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:51 pm

Ok Ham/CB gurus, I think im gonna use the back two tabs to mount my antennas I need ideas or suggestions on what to get to mount them. I have a CB of course and I want to mount my dual band antenna for my Ham radio. so what kinda of CB antenna and cable and mounting stuff do I need to get to use the back tabs?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:01 am

This is what I had wished I had used for mine

http://www.walcottcb.com/firestik-18-fi ... 28_355_437

the firering prevents the end of your coax from rubbing against your roof

and of course you've probably read that I'm very happy with my WQD disconnect even though I had to cut half of the stud off because the stud was too long, even so, it's far superior to normal CB cam type disconnects and it's suitable for AM or Ham antenna applications with standard

http://www.hiqantennas.com/

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:17 am

I currently have a dual band antenna now, I just need mounting options, as far as the CB I need everything, cable mounts and the the stick itself.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:25 am

sounds like all ya need is the coax and a disconnect, fire ring comes with the double nut coupler, then a WQD ontop of that and you'd have your antenna mounted

you going to want a spring or anything?

ohh.. are you going to need to come off of the tab with a bracket or something of that nature?

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:32 am

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

sounds like all ya need is the coax and a disconnect, fire ring comes with the double nut coupler, then a WQD ontop of that and you'd have your antenna mounted

you going to want a spring or anything?

ohh.. are you going to need to come off of the tab with a bracket or something of that nature?

That's why I am asking all the questions. I don't know anything about mounting this stuff. so I don't know what kind of stick to get or if I need a spring for flexing in case I hit a tree branch etc. I dont know if I need to attach something else to the tab etc. I know the tabs were meant for lights but being that they are so far back on the rack, i don't think its a great spot to put lights. Ill rig some back up lights on my rear bumper.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:09 am

oh dang i'm sorry I misunderstood :lol:

It will depend on the size of the hole in the mounting tabs, has to be big enough to fit the stud but not so small that the stud rubs the threads and grounds the hot signal

studs are 3/8ths, if the hole is 3/8ths it wouldn't be a big deal to drill the hole out until it fit the shoulder of the white nylon washer that you use when mounting coax

everything after mounting coax and the coupler is completely customizable by need

stiff fiberglass whips can break much easier than steel whips or the highly flexible whips like wilson's flex 4

on a gasser you'll pick up fuel pump racket with antennas mounted in the rear

for maximum range efficiency you'd want an antenna in the center of the roof slightly forward but that's hardly convienent expecially with a basket

The tab locations will be more than adequate locations for ground plane

if it were mine, i'd do just this, get the coax i linked mounted to the tab, put the bottom of the WQD onto the coupler, and put a wilson flex 4 on the top half of the WQD , some people like actual firestiks, if you go with a fiberglass firestick id go with a 3 footer if you're in and out of alot of trees

i've really grown attached to my flex 4, i've had it on with no spring mounted on the WQD and drove it through branches that were not even level with the top of my jeep and not a single problem

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:44 pm

Here's some more pics of the tabs..

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:14 pm

just from eyeballin them the holes look like they'ed be just about right

I'd def. say that they would work very well for mounts and they're where ya wouldn't have to climb too much to pull the antenna off of the quick disconnect if you had/wanted to

it's a bit of a pain waterproofing where the coax goes in through the back glass, but after i notched the back of the seat of the weather strip and ran it behind and sealed it up good with RTV mine hasn't leaked a drop

I would think that with how you're roof rack is attached to the roof that it would get adequate ground too, i had to ground mine but my roof rack is Unchi if ya know what i mean

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:15 pm

I also realized that my dual band antenna has a NMO mount, is that gonna be an issue or is there an adapter that I can get?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:37 pm

hmm, i'm trying to think how the NMO's come apart

they are very similar to firering coax setups the NMO assembly should come apart so that you can use the tab on your rack instead of the included mount

now I don't know how easy it would be to find a NMO type quick disconnect, they do make NMO to standard adapters but if you wanted to use what you have and mount that i'm pretty sure you can, it's just a matter of taking the NMO assembly apart and reassembling it using the tab instead of the aluminum mount piece that came with it

you will probably have to take off some of the coating on the tabs in order to get proper grounding for either antenna

in otherwords, unless you really want a quick disconnect for the NMO, there shouldn't be a problem with using it without an adapter

I couldn't find any NMO quick disconnects, i did find some NMO to standard COAX adapters, but that's not really what you're looking for

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:45 pm

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

hmm, i'm trying to think how the NMO's come apart

they are very similar to firering coax setups the NMO assembly should come apart so that you can use the tab on your rack instead of the included mount

now I don't know how easy it would be to find a NMO type quick disconnect, they do make NMO to standard adapters but if you wanted to use what you have and mount that i'm pretty sure you can, it's just a matter of taking the NMO assembly apart and reassembling it using the tab instead of the aluminum mount piece that came with it

you will probably have to take off some of the coating on the tabs in order to get proper grounding for either antenna

in otherwords, unless you really want a quick disconnect for the NMO, there shouldn't be a problem with using it without an adapter

I couldn't find any NMO quick disconnects, i did find some NMO to standard COAX adapters, but that's not really what you're looking for

So in a nutshell it would be just easier to get a new dual band antenna.. Now is there a name for the mount on the bottom of amateur radio antennas or are they all standardized?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:01 pm

the 'standard' antenna mount is 3/8ths by 24 threads

I think the NMO's were created to create a super low profile mounting system for trunks and roof tops and what not where you want the base of the antenna to seat against the mounting surface to conceal the mounting hardware

if you want a Quick disconnect then from what i've been able to find through searching, then yes, it would be easier to get a different antenna

i was able to find NMO mounting system adapters for use with 3/8th-24 antennas but i didnt find any adapters to simply change a NMO antenna to a 3/8th-24 mount

so you could either get a different antenna (3/8-24) and an adapter and use the NMO mount or get a 3/8-24 antenna and get the standard firering coax and a quick disconnect

i'm sure this isn't what you were hoping to hear, but i spent about 30-45 minutes looking for adapters and what not and I came up with nothing

now, you could email mr. gyenes or hail him (Charlie Gyenes W6HIQ / VE7BOC / HA5CMG 14.185 +/- mobile) and ask him if he has something you could use for a quick disconnect for a NMO mount/antenna

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:34 am

yea.... Im thinking just get a new antenna..... do you have a link for a good qwik disconnect at the same site you said to get the fire ring coax deal?

So for the CB I need the coax, the qwik disconnect and and a flex 4 right?

do I do the same thing for the HAM rig as well, other than getting a new dual band antenna?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:21 pm

out of the 4 that walcott carries i would personally get this one :

http://www.walcottcb.com/qd2-heavy-duty-stainless-steel-quick-disconnect-p-264.html?cPath=28_354_446

the external locking ones - what i call cam type, others call bayonet type, in all of my experiences with them they all rock, and i don't mean awesome, that rocks!, i mean physically rock back and forth

most standard ham antennas also have the standard 3/8-24 and since you're doing the dual band mobile thing, your HAM antenna will probably have less mass than your CB antenna theres no reason why the same quick disconnect wouldn't be more than adequate for it as well

also that firering coax is RG8X which most ham operators seem to use RG-8 or LMR400 and there is a difference and i'm not qualified to tell you what impact it would have at say 800mhz in the lengths used in a mobile application but firestick brand stuff is a league better than radio shack so I'd be very tempted to say you'd be just fine with it since it's going to be less loss than radio shacks crap and still better than RG58

apparently it's all about the ground braid

0311_DoC · **Posted:** Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:32 pm

JeepinJarhead03 wrote:

out of the 4 that walcott carries i would personally get this one :

http://www.walcottcb.com/qd2-heavy-duty-stainless-steel-quick-disconnect-p-264.html?cPath=28_354_446

the external locking ones - what i call cam type, others call bayonet type, in all of my experiences with them they all rock, and i don't mean awesome, that rocks!, i mean physically rock back and forth

most standard ham antennas also have the standard 3/8-24 and since you're doing the dual band mobile thing, your HAM antenna will probably have less mass than your CB antenna theres no reason why the same quick disconnect wouldn't be more than adequate for it as well

also that firering coax is RG8X which most ham operators seem to use RG-8 or LMR400 and there is a difference and i'm not qualified to tell you what impact it would have at say 800mhz in the lengths used in a mobile application but firestick brand stuff is a league better than radio shack so I'd be very tempted to say you'd be just fine with it since it's going to be less loss than radio shacks crap and still better than RG58

apparently it's all about the ground braid

so is there another site i should check out for a qwik disconnect?

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:45 pm

i got my quick disconnect from www.hiqantennas.com it's the WQD whip quick disconnect

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

i had to trim the stud about 50% with a hacksaw, he makes them long to be able to be used with some pretty massive mounts

they're actually designed for higher mass or very long HAM antennas, i guess it's the brass versus steel or aluminum but I get a an ohm or two less resistance with the WQD than i do with any of my other quick disconnects, it does not rock at all, if you get it just becareful installing the threads are sharp i cut my thumb up playin around with it before i installed it

if you find something similar you should be ok as well, i've never used or had the heavy duty one from walcott that I linked, i'm not sure how sturdy it is but it would probably be just fine if you wanted to go with that

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 17, 2009 5:07 pm

oh, and I also don't mean to preach things like the WQD or the Flex 4, they're just the 2 top things in my experience that I've found that work very, very well, atleast for me

some people have good experiences with springs and standard fiberglass antennas, i have not, not so much with the antenna but with the spring itself

wilson is a very reputable antenna company as is Firestik

wilson also makes a Flex-3 but I don't know how well it would perform, my flex-4 shows a hair long but it's a hair long in the very low SWR range, talking less than 0.5 difference

if the Flex-3 is matched in contstruction the same way the 4 is, i'd guess that it would match a hair short, and as you may know its always easier to lengthen tuneable tips than it is to shorten them, it's just a matter of putting a longer tip in

just food for thought, i think either way you go you will be pleased with your mounting location once you sort out your voltage filters and grounds

Antenna mounting help

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