[Elecraft] Screwdriver antennas in salt fog? [was: RE: High Sierra in qst]

Sat May 5 09:26:51 EDT 2012

One of my friends had a screwdriver antenna mounted on an old motor mount.
It was bolted "high side up" in the bed of his truck, near the side-rear.
It got the entire antenna (including the feedpoint) above the sidewalls of
the truck bed. He insisted that mounting the antenna below there was
"eating up" the signal. Of course, with the thing that high, the "normal"
clearance one gets has now been raised significantly.

I mounted mine just off the left rear - a piece of channel steel was
tack-welded to my trailer hitch and double-bolted to the bumper. At the top
of the side of my truck, I mounted a huge home-brew fastening mechanism,
made of a u-bolt, a piece of stainless steel and a piece of starboard. The
starboard is also known as "marine plywood." I used a couple of good-sized
sheets of it to make hatch boards for my sailboat. It is non-conducting and
insulates the radiating portion of the antenna quite effectively. I do a
lot of mobile activity (and will continue to do so when I get my KX3!),
running 100W (mostly on CW) and the county hunter guys rave about my signal.

The antenna is just far enough away from the truck to help, but close
enough that I don't break the law on total clearance - well, it's possible
on a few narrow, secondary roads that I'm violating the rule, but, for the
most part....

Unless you do something really crazy with your mount, it might not make
nearly the diff a lot of people think it does.

One of the beauties of my mount (pics available on request - if you want to
see a pic or two, please email me offline via aburkefl at gmail dot com) is
that it's so solid that I can grab the body of the antenna and shake the
whole back end of the truck with nary a wobble from the antenna itself.

Art - N4PJ

On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 7:58 AM, <goldtr8 at charter.net> wrote:

> Wow my post sent from my android was messed up.
>
> What I tried to say was I have a Scorpion antenna and it has gone thru 2
> winters in MI.   I am just north of Ann Arbor.
>
> Also I do not have a trailor hitch mount it is above my bumper on the
> rear tailgate.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Don
>
> ~73
> Don
> KD8NNU
>
>
> On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 10:55 PM, goldtr8 at charter.net wrote:
>
> > Scorpion 2 winters in NO on my jeep. Don
> > KD8NNU
> >
> > Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!
> >
> > ----- Reply message -----
> > From: "Dave" <dpbunte at gmail.com>
> > Date: Fri, May 4, 2012 10:31 am
> > Subject: [Elecraft] Screwdriver antennas in salt fog? [was: RE: High
> > Sierra in qst]
> > To: "Dave New, N8SBE" <n8sbe at arrl.net>, <Elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> >
> > Dave -I used a PREDATOR made N9JMX in Kokomo, IN.  After 5 years, 220
> > countries and None of the problems you describe, I sold it to WN9O.  I
> > am not sure they are still being made, but the SCORPION is very
> > similar in design and I would not hesitate to use one if I decide to
> > again do HF mobile.
> >
> > Dave - K9FN
> >
> > Sent from my Samsung smartphone on AT&T
> >
> > "Dave New, N8SBE" <n8sbe at arrl.net> wrote:
> >
> >> It seems that High Sierra is like a number of other screwdriver
> >> antenna
> >> companies that live in California or Arizona, where they never
> >> encounter
> >> winter weather with the salt fog spray that is common when driving in
> >> northen climates in the winter time.
> >>
> >> I rebuilt my 1800HS so many times I finally tired of it (the guide on
> >> the mast finally fell off, because the tiny screws threads through
> >> the
> >> thin mast all stripped out), and decided to get a HiQ, based on
> >> recommendations from a friend (unfortunately, he lives in Tennessee
> >> and
> >> so doesn't see the kind of winter weather I get in SE Michigan).
> >>
> >> After one winter on a trailer hitch mount behind my Durango, the
> >> antenna
> >> quit working (motor stalled), and I sent it back for repair.  Charlie
> >> at
> >> HiQ called me and asked "what did you DO to this antenna?"  I said,
> >> "Nothing special, just used it on my vehicle over a Michigan winter."
> >> According to Charlie, the inside of the mast was solid salt rock
> >> crystal.  To his credit, although I think at the time the antenna was
> >> just out of warranty, he replaced the entire unit for free.
> >>
> >> So, I used it through that next summer, but by November, I had traded
> >> my
> >> Durango in for a Ram pickup, and wanted to change the mount to a
> >> stake-mount on the pick up bed just behind the cab, for clearance for
> >> a
> >> 5th wheel tow, and also to try to keep it out of the salt fog.  I
> >> actually never got around to mounting it until a few weeks ago, and
> >> had
> >> left the antenna stored in the garage over the winter.  When I tried
> >> it
> >> out, the motor was stuck again.  I've not had time to contact HiQ
> >> again,
> >> and I understand that Charlie sold/transferred the ham radio portion
> >> of
> >> the business to someone else, so he can concentrate on DoD contracts,
> >> which I'm sure are much more lucrative than the ham trade.  I fear
> >> that
> >> this time I'll end up having to pay to replace the antenna, and these
> >> things are definitely not cheap.
> >>
> >> So, long story short (too late):  Is there anyone on the list using
> >> somebody's much-vaunted screwdriver design that has actually survived
> >> northen winters where they use salt on the roads, without a lot of
> >> maintenance headaches?  I would think that with the advent of the
> >> KX3, a
> >> lot more folks on this list will be considering going HF mobile.
> >>
> >> 73,
> >>
> >> -- Dave, N8SBE
> >>
> >>
> >>
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