K5MPH
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- Jul 16, 2003
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I agree on all,check your SWR and look for a good ground.....
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Mobile Set up problems
- Thread starter nfernaays
- Start date
- Status
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
This time around I cut a small square off the bed rail liner to the mount would have metal on metal contact with the bed. Before reinstalling i took a dremel to the paint just under the mount create a direct contact with no paint beneath. I then reinstalled the mount cranking the screws the best i could without stripping the heads. Since, i had the solder out already i put a large bead of solder from the mount to the bed. This step may have been unnecessary but I figured it would cause no harm and i like playing around with the solder gun anyway.
Keep an eye on that.
metal to metal contact like that can corrode easily, especially if they are dissimilar metals (aluminum mount/steel truck bed). It may be fine now, but after a couple of rains, you might get some rust/corrosion in there.
As for the solder, solder won't stick well to aluminum and steel, again, keep an eye open for corrosion.
If it starts to act up, I'd recommend running a dedicated ground wire from the antenna mount to the truck body. Use stainless hardware, clean the paint off, use some No-Ox or some other sort of goop to protect it.
Grounds are really important.
Ravenkeeper
Member
As a follow up, I did end up getting my mobile set up to work properly. Firstly i soldered the coax properly to get a good connection on my antenna coax. I don't believe this alone corrected my issues but needed to be done. Ultimately, i believe my main issue was the grounding of the antenna. When I first installed the stake hole mount i mounted over the bed rail liner. This time around I cut a small square off the bed rail liner to the mount would have metal on metal contact with the bed. Before reinstalling i took a dremel to the paint just under the mount create a direct contact with no paint beneath. I then reinstalled the mount cranking the screws the best i could without stripping the heads. Since, i had the solder out already i put a large bead of solder from the mount to the bed. This step may have been unnecessary but I figured it would cause no harm and i like playing around with the solder gun anyway
Not sure that I would have cleared the paint and put the mount against the bed like that. As MMcKenna said in his post, the bed and the mount are dissimilar metals and a bad combination. Like he also said, I would get something between them.
arkieguide
Member
Question how long is the whip by itself ? Some whips need the spring to bring it to max. condition but some do not. Also I have had very good luck, putting the antenna on the bed sidewall itself not on a side extension., Disconnect black box, move antenna mount to bed not the extension, hook directly to radio make sure all connection are well connected, all connectors are well soldered,double check all grounds, use SWR meter and check radio, tune antenna if needed. Then you should get good performance from radio that done reconnect kicker and see what happens. Good luck.
Ravenkeeper
Member
I'm kind of relearning this as I go, been out of the loop for about 15 years and getting back into it. From what I have read from several posts throughout this forum, 108" from mount to the tip of the whip, spring included. Based on that, I may be trading my 4ft FIreStix in for a 102" whip with my spring. This will put the tip around 9ft above the bedrail and 13ft off the ground. If I put it on top of the cab, it'll be smacking some of the overpasses around here.
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