Mobile to Base Convertor Kit

[KG5HHS]

Hello everyone,
I'm a fairly new ham & just purchased my first home. I've never been able to have a "base" setup as I've lived in apartments and didn't want that hassle. I'm wanting to put something simple in my home. I have a cheap QYT-KT8900 radio, power supply, SWR meter, coax cable, & mobile antenna.
As I said earlier I want a very simple setup. I came across this convertor kit (http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/tram-1465-1703.html). Is this convertor kit as simple as just mounting on the eave of the roof, attaching the antenna, & moving on? I don't want to have to put up a tower or anything like that.

 

[n0xvz]

That should get you most of the local repeaters. May have some trouble with ones outside the city limits. Put it outside and mount it as high as you can.

 

[ke6lou]

Tram 1465

I use the Tram 1465 with a dual band antenna and it works very well. I haven't had any problems hitting repeaters in the DFW area (and I live in Denton County) and have worked simplex easily in town and some around the county. Mine is mounted just above the roof line of a two story house. It is light weight so it was easy to mount on the eave of my house. When I used to live in an apartment I had a Tram 1465 setup in the outside storage closet in a 3rd story apartment and hit the local repeaters okay. Don't cheap out on the coax and check your SWR and you'll do fine. 73 and good luck with your base station.

 

[bharvey2]

All of my home-based radios are "mobiles". I live on the ground floor of a two story condo and have been using a home-made J-pole (Think Arrow Antennas) mounted about 15ft in the air. Many would "poo-poo" such an installation but sometimes you need to work with what you have. I'm in an RF dense area and can hit just about any repeater I can find within about 30-40miles. Their are some repeater sites with much greater vantage points that are much further away (75 miles+ ) and I can hit those as well. I think that if you can get your antenna up above your house and run some quality coax, you will likely do well.

 

[N1BHH]

You can get by with a mag mount antenna on you air conditioner if you have one hanging out a window. I've been doing it for years at various locations. The best place was a 3rd floor apartment from which I could work 60-70 miles simplex with a friend just running 30 watts.

 

[KG5HHS]

Thank you for the replies, Ill update when I have it all set up.

 

[KG5HHS]

I plan on putting up a VHF & UHF antenna with the mobile to base conversion kits. I also have a few scanners that I'd like to put outdoor antenna's on vs the stock antenna's. With them being scanners and not transmitting, can I just put them on mobile antenna's with an NMO L bracket like you'd put on a fender or something? I plan on connecting separate lightning arrester's to all the antennas.

 

[TheSpaceMann]

Hello everyone,
I'm a fairly new ham & just purchased my first home. I've never been able to have a "base" setup as I've lived in apartments and didn't want that hassle. I'm wanting to put something simple in my home. I have a cheap QYT-KT8900 radio, power supply, SWR meter, coax cable, & mobile antenna.
As I said earlier I want a very simple setup. I came across this convertor kit (http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/tram-1465-1703.html). Is this convertor kit as simple as just mounting on the eave of the roof, attaching the antenna, & moving on? I don't want to have to put up a tower or anything like that.

You might be better off just building a homebrew ground plane(s) for just a few bucks! Lots of plans available online!!

 

[prcguy]

If you have some sheet metal or chicken wire for a ground plane you can use one of these to make an NMO mobile antenna into a base: OPEK NMO-3-1 NMO MOUNT to 1in SO-239 UHF ADAPTER | eBay
You can also put the adapter in a home made L bracket and attach to the side of an air conditioner, etc.
prcguy

 

[N2BRI]

I have that type of Mount the only problem is is my antenna is kind of heavy and I had to put an extra hose clamp on it to keep it level

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[N2BRI]

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

[KG5HHS]

Does anyone have another source to purchase one of these Mobile to Base kits. I know they can be made but I would rather purchase them and was planning on buying them through "TheAntennaFarm" but I have learned that they are no longer in business.

 

[cmdrwill]

John, look for the groundplane kit with the NMO mount, they will take most of the commercial NMO style antennas. Avoid the Tram, Browning, Comet, Diamond junk.

One of the ones we use: BSMOLC-VHF with N connector by Comtelco.

 

[N5TWB]

Does anyone have another source to purchase one of these Mobile to Base kits. I know they can be made but I would rather purchase them and was planning on buying them through "TheAntennaFarm" but I have learned that they are no longer in business.

John, look for the groundplane kit with the NMO mount, they will take most of the commercial NMO style antennas. Avoid the Tram, Browning, Comet, Diamond junk.

One of the ones we use: BSMOLC-VHF with N connector by Comtelco.

Here's the Pulse/Larsen version from the Ham Radio Outlet webpage:

PulseLarsen BSAKIT Antenna Accessories Mounts Other, BSAKIT

 

[mass-man]

You might consider a Stridsberg splitter for the scanners...MCA204M....one antenna, one feedline down and into the house. then split with short coax jumpers. After eyeing them for many years, I finally bough one and it has been a good purchase...

 

[1hardyanimal]

As someone such as myself just getting into this, I look at the pic above and I believe that might be a set up that I will do next to the chimney. What I wonder is, how far does it need to be from the chimney to avoid interference of any kind or is it even an issue? Also I have two big chimneys coming up through one 6 foot by 6 foot cap , just wondering what if any height or distance I might need to clear. This is an interesting concept to just use a mobile antenna. I live in the middle of a flat cornfield in flat land for miles and miles in southern middle Michigan (48429)

 

[chief21]

Search for "ground plane NMO" on Amazon

 

[N5TWB]

As someone such as myself just getting into this, I look at the pic above and I believe that might be a set up that I will do next to the chimney. What I wonder is, how far does it need to be from the chimney to avoid interference of any kind or is it even an issue? Also I have two big chimneys coming up through one 6 foot by 6 foot cap , just wondering what if any height or distance I might need to clear. This is an interesting concept to just use a mobile antenna. I live in the middle of a flat cornfield in flat land for miles and miles in southern middle Michigan (48429)

In flat land like you describe, performance is dictated by three things: antenna design,height & low-loss feedline. The height demonstrated in the photo you reference is good as it clears the chimney cap adequately to avoid interaction/interference. It's also good as it doesn't appear to be excessive for a moderate-length run of reasonably-priced feedline like LMR-400.

However, I would avoid the top-heavy windcatcher-type mobile antenna from Comet/Diamond that is shown in the photo. The stresses applied to the mount are less than optimal, IMO. Confine the antenna to a simple 2-meter 5/8-wave whip or an open-coil dual-bander.