mag mount on a house roof?

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popnokick

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Since you now have acquired a very good antenna for 2M / 70cm (Diamond X-50A) can you use an eave mount? Sometimes called a gable end mount. No drilling of the roof required. Uses two support braces at any roof peak. Pictured is eave mount with a Diamond V2000.
 

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K9DWB

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It does look like a good choice at that. IMO it is probably best for home owners and not renters. I guess it does depend on the landlord as well whether they'd permit it. I'd say it doesn't hurt to ask though.
 

WB9YBM

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mag mounts are so small compared to standard base antennas, I have my doubts they'd have the same chance at getting hit by lightning like a "regular" antenna would.
 

mmckenna

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mag mounts are so small compared to standard base antennas, I have my doubts they'd have the same chance at getting hit by lightning like a "regular" antenna would.

It's not the getting hit that should be the only concern. A close enough strike can induce enough energy into the whip, coax, mounting plate to cause problems.
 

KC1MZX

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I honestly don't know what to do
I'm a two-month-old ham, and I'm trying to get a portable base station set up (i travel quite a bit) and I have my power supply and transceiver, and my antenna arrived very recently and I now have coax on the way. but my parents won't let me set up an antenna on the house, hence I want to be able to set up an antenna with a tripod, but I have my doubts with that also. antenna tripods are expensive and I don't know if that would work with my antenna. but at the same time, any other tripod is one that I am wary over using as I don't know if it is going to mess with the antennas performance, and how I would even mount the antenna.
basically, my insecurity over not mounting or knowing how to mount my antenna is eating away at me
 

mmckenna

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my insecurity over not mounting or knowing how to mount my antenna is eating away at me

I know this won't help much, but: Relax, it's a hobby. You've got lots of time ahead of you to learn. Right now, start slow and easy and work your way into the hobby. The license is a starting point...

If you want a cheap/easy way to mount a small antenna without actually attaching it to the house, you can try the bucket method.
Go to your local hardware store, buy one of the 5 gallon buckets that all seem to like to sell. Get a sack of fencepost concrete. Get a 10 foot length of 1 1/4 EMT conduit. Put the concrete in the bucket, add some water and mix well. Shove the conduit into the mixture and support it so it's vertical. Let it set up.
When it's ready, mount your antenna on the top of conduit.

Yeah, it's temporary, but it'll get your antenna up in the air, it'll be cheap <$20, and you can easily lay it over on the ground when you are not using it.

No, it's not a 50 foot tower, but small steps.
 

mmckenna

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So, here's what I did when I was 14 or 15 years old.
Going on the roof was out of the question. I was able to more or less legally procure a 10 foot long 2x4. I attached a hinge at the bottom of it and the other side of the hinge to a fence post on the privacy fence. I could tilt the 2x4 up and be roughly at roof level. I used a big lag bolt to hold it in place when in the 'up' position.

On that 2x4 I had a cheap Radio Shack scanner antenna fed with some truly awful RG-58(or so) cable. I also had a wire antenna for a short wave radio.

Wasn't perfect, probably wasn't safe, but it did the trick and got my scanner and short wave radio working. It was easy enough to fold down if I wanted to change something. Never had any issues with it. Again, cost was minimal.
 

JoshuaHufford

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Don't worry, your making great progress. Perhaps if/when your parents see you are really serious about this they will let you do a permanent install. For now there are plenty of options.

As prcguy mentioned earlier a speaker tripod is a great option, they telescope to a decent height and are pretty stable. If it is windy you might stake it down with a couple of tent stakes and some straps. Usually antennas come with some mounting hardware such as U-bolts, that should make it easy to mount your new antenna to a speaker tripod.

A decent camera tripod can work as well, I have a Yagi mounted on one right now for some testing I've been doing the last few days, it is quite easy to carry in and out of the house. (please ignore my wife's neglected plants)

50217084327_acfb19db20_h.jpg
 

KC1MZX

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so the message below this one is the response I gave with the quote of the message that was in this box. sorry about that
 

KC1MZX

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A decent camera tripod can work as well, I have a Yagi mounted on one right now for some testing I've been doing the last few days, it is quite easy to carry in and out of the house. (please ignore my wife's neglected plants)
ok, wow. you legitimately have no idea how much I am relieved at the sight of this picture: I forgot about the mounting pieces. that solves literally all of my problems, just one question: does the metal used for the tripod matter? I've heard you should use aluminum but I don't have enough knowledge to question that statement
 

mmckenna

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ok, wow. you legitimately have no idea how much I am relieved at the sight of this picture: I forgot about the mounting pieces. that solves literally all of my problems, just one question: does the metal used for the tripod matter? I've heard you should use aluminum but I don't have enough knowledge to question that statement

The tripod is just a mechanical support. Doesn't matter what it's made out of. Your base antenna mount should be OK if it's attached to metal, won't impact performance.
 

WB9YBM

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It's not the getting hit that should be the only concern. A close enough strike can induce enough energy into the whip, coax, mounting plate to cause problems.

I agree; I just didn't want to over-whelm a newcomer with a whole bunch of details...
 

KC1MZX

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Nah, it's fine. got what I came here for. thanks for all the help everyone!
 
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