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HAM radio antennas

Kejtar

Kejtar

PostMaster General
NAXJA Member
Location
Westminster, SoCal
OK, I need a new dual band antenna and mount. First one I lost in some tight growth, replaced it and yesterday I backed into the garage and.. well.. trimmed that off too.

So, what do y'all use for 2m/440 setups? How do you have it mounted? Looking for practical mounts to go on the XJ that wont stick out and get lost on rocks and wont get trimmed by the undergrowth or the garage......
 
Larson. I got the 2m/70cm short one for every day 1/4 on 2m. And I got the long one for trips. NMO mount in the roof about 2 inches back from the dome light. I ran the coax across under the headliner, and down the column where the door attach's. Simple, clean, and up high in the middle of all the metal.

Your only other place would be on the hood somewhere. I've seen people mount the antenna in that gap between the fender and the hood.

Since I have lifted my XJ I have to unscrew my 2m/70cm antenna when I go into the parking garage at work. It fits, but I hear that tick tick tick, as it is hitting the supports.

Fits in the garage at home just fine. Nice thing is the antenna is very flexible and cheap.
 
Last edited:
muckleroy said:
Larson. I got the 2m/70cm short one for every day 1/4 on 2m. And I got the long one for trips. NMO mount in the roof about 2 inches back from the dome light. I ran the coax across under the headliner, and down the column where the door attaches. Simple, clean, and up high in the middle of all the metal.
Click to expand...
While I'm in the desert.... I do encounter trees every so often ;) Solid mount like that will mean I'll have to carry spare antennas (I'm about $160 into the antennas by now with no working antennas).
 
Kejtar said:
While I'm in the desert.... I do encounter trees every so often ;) Solid mount like that will mean I'll have to carry spare antennas (I'm about $160 into the antennas by now with no working antennas).
Click to expand...

You might consider mounting it on the front bumper then. Back bumper has too much metal to block the signal. 2m/70cm repeater should be ok, station to station distance will suffer, although if you go with a long antenna that should give you some gain, and from that mount point it should be fairly well protected.

In Houston all I have to worry about is high water, and mud. ;)
 
ham radio outlet in anaheim! They have anything and everything!!
 
Kejtar said:
that's where I shop but.. they don't have the "there's trees and rocks" threatening the antenna expertise ;)
Click to expand...


Hahaha, got it. Will we also be using ham up at BB? Ill make sure to leave my radio in if we are.
 
I run a larsen 510 on an NMO magmount on the roof.

My buddy Jeff runs the same thing on a homemade bracket with a spring between the mount and the antenna. He's beat on that thing and its never broken or been knocked over.

If you're breaking antennas, get the spring.
 
Get the MFJ 1729 mag mount. Cheap, works good, has great SWR and worse case it will just flop over and you can put it back up. It's not like you ned HAM on the trails anyway, as everyone knows CB is superior. :) This reminds me, I need to somehow mount a CB and antenna so that I can talk to the non-hams this weekend. Walkie talkie I think is done.
 
markw said:
Get the MFJ 1729 mag mount. Cheap, works good, has great SWR and worse case it will just flop over and you can put it back up. It's not like you ned HAM on the trails anyway, as everyone knows CB is superior. :) This reminds me, I need to somehow mount a CB and antenna so that I can talk to the non-hams this weekend. Walkie talkie I think is done.
Click to expand...

I won't argue that, but being that I use my 2 meter for something much different, it still sees alot of trees and growth, and at much higher speeds.
 
Remi,

I have used a magnet mounted 2 meter antenna for the past 3 years and a magnet mounted CB antenna for the past 10 years. I have tipped over the magnet a couple times, but all that is required is to stand it up again...

You just need to be more careful...

IF need be; you can go to the Diamon K9000TM motorized antenna mount.

k9000.jpg
 
CharlesS said:
I have tipped over the magnet a couple times, but all that is required is to stand it up again...
Click to expand...

I've tipped mine a couple times too. I think the reason was water and dirt getting between the magnet and the roof. Mine was actually tipping at 60mph on the highway too.

A good cleanup, and a bead of silicone around it took care of that!
 
The 250# pull of the Wilson 5000 magnet mount has provided a firm grip to the roof for the Sirio 5/8 wave antenna. Even driving at 90 mph; the antenna was bent over at a 45*, but has always stayed on the roof.
The Hustler magnet mount has only been up to 85 mph; but has adhered well to the roof.

The only time I thought the magnet might let loose was when I had a NAXJA flag attached to the antenna whip doing 75mph coming home from MOAB several years ago... Never did, but the antenna was almost fully horizontal....
 
CharlesS said:
The 250# pull of the Wilson 5000 magnet mount has provided a firm grip to the roof for the Sirio 5/8 wave antenna. Even driving at 90 mph; the antenna was bent over at a 45*, but has always stayed on the roof.
The Hustler magnet mount has only been up to 85 mph; but has adhered well to the roof.

The only time I thought the magnet might let loose was when I had a NAXJA flag attached to the antenna whip doing 75mph coming home from MOAB several years ago... Never did, but the antenna was almost fully horizontal....
Click to expand...

Yeah I am not sure which magmount I have. Couple people told me I could get a bigger one though. Looks to be about a 3" x 4" rectangle.

We'll see how this does in the trees at Oregon Trail Rally, and go from there. It held up great in Pomeroy Speeds at Olympus Rally the other weekend.
 
I'm curious what you ended up doing, Remi. I'm in the market for a 2M antenna myself, and I've had bad luck with roof mag mounts getting knocked off.
 
Daedalus454 said:
I'm curious what you ended up doing, Remi. I'm in the market for a 2M antenna myself, and I've had bad luck with roof mag mounts getting knocked off.
Click to expand...
I think that eventually I'll be picking up mag mount. Haven't done anything yet as I ran out of time before my trip to Moab and now I'm working on fixing and taking care of some other issues that I have on the rig.
 
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