Luggage Rack Mount

[KK4JUG]

I'm looking for a luggage rack mount for a 2016 Kia Sorento. The luggage rack is not the standard type where the tubing (or whatever) is raised above the roof with space between the rack and the roof. Rather, the rack is solid metal down to the roof of the vehicle and the bottom of the rack is flush with the roof for the length of the rack. (It's not terribly practical since you can't tie anything to it but that's for a different forum.) All of the available mounts I've found clamp on both on top of and under the rack. My car can't do that. It has to be something that will clamp over the top only.

I may end up buying the cross bars for the rack but that's a lot of money just for an antenna mount because I don't plan on carrying anything on the roof.

I'm not concerned about ground plane because it will be used for a scanner only and it won't stay mounted all the time. It will be used for road trips only. When in town, everything I want to listen to is on a good 800 mHz trunked system and I have no trouble picking up the signal anywhere in town with the antenna mounted on the portable unit.

 

[Redneck0410]

If portability is what you need, what is stopping you from just using a magnet-mount antenna? In the broad spectrum of antenna mounting choices, that's the "old standby" short of digging out the drill.

Sent from my SM-S820L using Tapatalk

 

[KK4JUG]

I have a magnet mount antenna but I have to take the coax in through the rear hatch then run it to the front of the car. It's a Sorento so it takes up all of the coax. If I take it in any other way, the coax has to go over the side rails of the luggage rack since there's no space under them. That bit of elevated coax from the antenna to the luggage rack makes noise at highway speeds.

It's not so much portability as much as it is a new vehicle and I hate to drill into it this soon. Maybe I'll just use the magnet until the new wears off then do it the right way.

 

[cbehr91]

You could try a fender mount or lip mount on the hood.

 

[KK4JUG]

I thought about that but that increases chances of getting engine noise. It's a 2016 so there may not be that much noise. There's even a slim chance that I might be able to worm the coax somewhere through the firewall.