Craig

Craig Miller, W8CR

Mobile Mount Merriment

Mobile Mount Merriment Last year I bit the bullet and bought a Ford F250 pickup. It’s a great vehicle, I love it. After a year I figured it’s time I install a mobile rig for 2 meters and 440 mhz. One major requirement I set for myself is not to drill any holes in the aluminum body to run cable or affix an antenna mount - I don’t want to jeopardize the corrosion protection built into the vehicle. As mentioned, the body is 100% aluminum, so magnetic mounts are out of the question. This also prevents sticking on other accessories like mag- mount flashing lights for emergency use. Gary, KE8O, suggested looking into a slick antenna mount manufactured by Larson Electronics that installs where the third brake-light is located on the back of the cab. The bracket is also made out of aluminum but for a few bucks more, they provide a powder-coated steel plate bolted with stainless steel hardware. This option is perfect, I get a high profile antenna mount which allows me to run the coax through the brake- light opening as well as a future location for mag- mount accessories. I had an old Comet mount I used on the rear hatch of my Expedition and hoped I could repurpose both it and the Diamond dual-band antenna that has served me well for years. Looking over the Comet mount, I found to my dismay the coax shield broke free from it’s strain relief. Crap! Will I have to buy a new one? Grinding my teeth, I notice a screwdriver slot on the bottom of the mount, hmmmm, what is that for? To my surprise, it accesses the solder lug of the SO239 coax connector: This mount was designed to be repaired! Who ever heard of such a thing in this one-shot disposable, planned obsolescence society. I was able to retrim the coax and booger-up a solder job and repair the connection: Following the instructions from Larson to install the bracket, I am able to snake the cable through the foam gasket of the brake-light and run the coax above the interior headliner down to the future location of the transceiver chassis. The only heat- shrink tubing I had on hand to fit the coax was red, so I wrapped the wire with good-old 3M Scotch Super 33+ electrical tape to make it black and give an extra layer of vinyl to keep those crazy RF signals going the right direction. Now, the onto the hard part: run power and install the rig under the back seat and find a good location for the head and microphone up by the dash. This is turning into a project! The things we hams do to play on the radio.