[Mobile-Portable] Newbie to mobile ops

[Ed Gilliland]

Thanks Mark.  I was hoping that Hi-Q would be at Dayton so that I could 
see the antennas but he said that he is selling too many antennas and 
doesn't need to go to Dayton.  I guess they only sell direct.
73, Ed

Mark Schoonover wrote:

>Ed,
>
>	I got the clamp ons from Gateway Electronics. I'm pretty sure they
>can be purchased at Mouser, etc. They'll just cost more. I only use 1" braid
>on the hood and all the doors. For the bed and the cab, I took some heavy
>duty copper flashing, and cut it into 4" wide strips. Much cheaper than 1"
>braid, and that will provide a much better ground than braid. Use only
>stainless steel screws and washers. I used self tapping sheet metal screws,
>with flat and star washers. Grind a clean spot off the frame, drill the
>hole, then screw everything in. You can use spray on undercoating, or
>silicon sealant. I've used the former with no problems, have had many mobile
>vehicles, some over 10 years and when I took them to the junk yard, those
>grounds were still clean and shiny. Ground both the cab and the bed in all
>four corners as close to the frame as possible. Oh, and tin the copper
>flashing where the screws will attach.
>
>	Running your power. You can run the power off the driver side
>battery, through the fender, then through the driver side door pillar. If
>you open the driver's door, you'll find a rubber plug that you can feed the
>power in to the cab. I use 8 ga marine grade power cable, well worth the
>extra money. When running your antenna & control cable, you can run that
>through the rubber plug at the front of the bed. Follow that down under the
>vehicle, you'll find another rubber drain plug under the cab that will bring
>you into the cab, under the back seat. There's another hole in the storage
>under the seat, you'll have to pull up the carpeting in order to find it,
>but it'll easily go back in place once the coax/control cable is run. I then
>snaked these cables down the passenger side between the seat and the door
>under the carpeting, across the floorboard to the center of the vehicle. The
>other option would be to drill another hole beside the antenna mount, put a
>grommet in the hole, then you can run all antenna cables cleanly under the
>truck and keep it all out of the bed.
>
>	Now, if you plan on installing NMO mounts in the roof, let me know.
>There's a few things you need to be aware of, especially if you have those
>side curtain airbags.
>
>	Please, whatever you do, do not bumper mount your antenna! I can
>tell you from experience, using my Hi Q, do not mount it on the bumper. I
>know people will argue this point, but it does matter, and it matters
>greatly. You will be disappointed in the performance, and you'll suffer from
>more noise than ever. Since you don't have a shell, you can mount the
>antenna against the flat spot where the tailgate meets the bed. It'll fit
>there very nicely, you'll have a very secure mount, plus you'll have very
>little ground losses. You'll need to remove the tail light assembly in order
>to bolt through the bed. Ground the antenna right to the bottom of the bed,
>then on the underside of the bed, you can run that copper flashing from that
>ground bolt, right to the frame. I originally mounted my Hi Q off the bumper
>hitch, and it didn't work very well, having an 80M bandwidth of 250 KHz with
>the caphat. Now that it's mounted inside the bed, under the shell, my
>bandwidth dropped to 80 KHz - much better, and on the air performance has
>been noticeably better.
>
>	K0BG has plenty of good general information, but it's always great
>to find someone that has your exact model of vehicle that's done an install.
>
>	Remember, have fun, don't be afraid to drill holes. It's not going
>to lower the value of the vehicle that much. As soon as you drove it of the
>lot, you lost about $5,000! With patience and some elbow grease, you'll end
>up with a mobile that will knock people's socks off. Some don't believe I'm
>running mobile at all...
>
>	Oh, and send photos! :)
>
>73
>
>Mark
>KA6WKE
>----
>Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC, mobile-portable-owner at mailman.qth.net
>
>  
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