Mobile Mount Extension

[DougWare]

I believe I may have found a place to mount my 2m/70cm antenna on my new vehicle using a lip mount, but about 2ft of the antenna will be below the roof of the car and beside a piece of the rear support column.

I'm looking for some type of PL259 rigid extension that I can screw into the Diamond Heavy Duty mount and then screw the antenna into to raise it up 2 or 3 ft.

Is anyone familiar with any product that will help me solve this problem?

Doug

 

[n9mxq]

How tall is the antenna? I had a Diamond SG-7900a mounted on the liftgate of my 2000 Durango and about half the antenna was blocked by the body..

I never noticed any major difference..

 

[DougWare]

It's a Comet CSB-750A, so it's 42".

In my experience, having the antenna close to something metal really affects the SWR.

 

[n9mxq]

You're right, and it took a crapload of fiddling to get mine tuned. But I'm not sure anything exists that will do what you want.

Besides, I would think that even a Diamond heavy duty couldn't take that much torque. Not to mention if you happened to whack the antenna into something.

 

[DougWare]

There will be little to no additional wind load, since the extension will be shielded to the by the car and the antenna will be no higher than where it was mounted on the old vehicle, so that won't be a problem. I just have to mount the mount itself lower, hence the extension.

 

[n9mxq]

Something like this (8-Inch - UHF-Female SO-239 Bulkhead Coaxial Connector ARS-7518-8) comes to mind, but finding one at the length you need might be tricky. I've seen them at hamfests but not at the 2 foot length..

 

[prcguy]

Except for a few models of antenna designed to work without a ground plane, raising the base of your antenna above the car body will seriously degrade performance and complicate tuning. Even mounting them to elevated roll bars or on the few inch wide top side of a truck bed will make some antennas impossible to tune.
prcguy

 

[DougWare]

I guess I will only have two options then, drill a hole (which I'm not qualified or experienced to do) or use my old mag mount.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Doug

 

[n9mxq]

3. Try it on the mount at the lower location and see how it works..