Ham Radio Antenna Placement?

[bluefly]

Any hams out there? I just got my ticket last month and am researching radio and antenna options. While I've narrowed the radio choice down to a dual bander, I'm stumped on the antenna and mounting options with the camper.

From what I've read, a good option is a 5/8 wave like the Radiall/Larsen NMO2/70 installed on the center of the vehicle's roof. As I understand it, the effectiveness of the antenna is dependent on the ground plane provided by the metal roof.

With the camper on the truck, there's not much roof exposed! And mounting an antenna lower causes loss of signal. Solutions anyone?

Another issue is preventative- being able to minimize possible damage from garage roofs, low-lying branches etc.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

[simimike]

I've been looking into a CB for my truck and one of the antenna options was a bracket that bolted to the front fender. It uses an existing fender bolt under the hood and is sort of "L" shaped. No drilling, and you can open and close the hood without any problem. I don't know if this would work with your Ham radio though.

 

[davinski]

Simimike:

I think that the hood mount is a nice option because it is out of the way and you don't have to worry about the camper as much.

I have a dodge ram and have two mounts, one on each side of the hood/fender and use them for 2m and CB.

Off of the back of the truck I have a hitch mounted bike carrier and attached to this is my HF screwdriver antenna. It worked well with a bare pickup and with just a cap on the bed....haven't yet tried it with the camper. My thoughts are to mount the Hf Antenna to the jack mount plate and get it off the back. I just take off the whip when driving in tight places.

I, Too was wondering if anyone else has antenna mounting issues with the 4WC. My guess is that I will have to make sure all the aluminum panels are grounded.....no easy task I would think.

I will probably also have a mount that I drive up on with the rear tire and use it to hold a fiberglass collapsable pole. This will allow some other configurations when stationary such as the inverted V or impromptu dipole. Lots of options but I am working on battery power to run all those rigs....

dave

 

[Blazer]

Bluefly,
Welcome to amateur radio. My camper is mounted full time, so my antenna placement might not be ideal for you.

I use a 40" dual band antenna mounted at the driver side front latch, one of six that keep the top down while driving! That is, the anetnna mount shares screws with the latch... Diamond 7500 ant, I think... this antenna does not need a ground plane, and I like that I am shielded from rf by the camper. I run the rg8x coax up thru the rear of the reefer compartment and out the reefer ventillation to the roof edge. This requires me to feed extra coax out before raising the roof, and I have forgotten more than once!

I plan on an eyeball qso with Ben next month, and will ask about the wisdom of running coax thru the side of the camper, thru the solid wide edge just below the roof, along the counter level... this would mean not having to fuss with coax when raising the roof, but might detune the ant when roof is up. It should be a stonger mount location, but I worry about leaks, which is why I would never pierce the roof. I've always thought that all that aluminum would make a great ground plane.

In the past, I ran a 8 foot whip on 10/11 meters off the left rear bumper... It seemed too close to the metal camper side, but worked well (5/9 to Australia and Kamchatka, 25 watts)... should get as much as possible above roof.

Great topic; I'm planning to add hf and another vhf band soon. I'm also concerned with enough battery power once I add a 100 watt hf rig, but there is lots of info on that in the handbooks.

73 de N6ZKS
'86 Blazer

 

[davinski]

Blazer and all:

Yes, this is going to be my ham shack as I don't really have time to use the rigs when home. When I travel I use the rigs while driving, then while actually camping.

I will probably use remoted rigs and have wires for the head units pass through the window into the camper when sitting still. Then, I don't have to have 2 radios and can run both from both locations. I am placing small speakers inside the camper to use for audio, both leisure and radio. All can be heard through the open side window and I hope to have a shady boy awning tomorrow for mounting. Then I can listen to the radios even if I am outside the camper.

Can't wait for more radio stuff. always fun.

dave

 

[Blazer]

For fun, today I did a continuity check and found that I have good electrical continuity between the Blazer vehicle and the camper, including the roof. But then, my camper is attatched via bolts thru the sides of the blazer... So I figure I have all the ground plane I need... FWIW.

73 de N6ZKS