Any HAMS found a way of mounting a car antenna on a folding bracket and spring?

[rcx132]

My antenna has a PL-259 connector at the bottom and is designed to screw straight onto a bracket with SO-239.

I've got a cheap folding bracket at the moment, like the one below. It's survived a couple of years use. The bracket is flimsy, which in a way has saved the antenna, when it hits trees the bracket is forced to fold.

I think a folding bracket is essential to get into car parks. A spring is also needed as the bottom of the antenna is totally rigid (it's a complex quad band antenna). But I haven't seen any compatible setups that combine both a folding bracket plus spring. In fact I haven't seen any springs that fit HAM antennas, they all seem to be for 3/8" CB antennas.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ross365]

Compared with the past, it is really quite rare now to see either CB or Ham radio mounts on cars now.
That said, there are quite a few dealers supplying all kind of antenna kit; Moonraker is one https://moonrakeronline.com/amateur-radio, Nevada is another... quite a list really.

 

[Robotstar5]

Compared with the past, it is really quite rare now to see either CB or Ham radio mounts on cars now.
That said, there are quite a few dealers supplying all kind of antenna kit; Moonraker is one https://moonrakeronline.com/amateur-radio, Nevada is another... quite a list really.

Moonraker, Nevada and Waters & Stanton all operate from the same address now, think there's only Martin Lynch left as the last big player.

 

[Farside]

Why not go full Humvee-stylee and have the long whip stretching over the car from the rear bumper to the front?
Get some NVIS action going with that, too.

 

[Jack_K]

Who needs carparks, I put a 1.5m am/fm antenna on my astra. I had replaced the original antenna with a UHF one and then the DAB in the aftermarket radio stopped working so I added the 1.5m antenna.

I had bought the 1.5m antenna to go on a mini I am building.

There might be something easily available over here in Australia as people like to put on thick long UHF antennas on their 4wds which don't even leave the road. Try looking at GME, RFI or Benelec

 

[voipio]

The Watson W-770HB is a decent antenna, performance wise. It has a section about 6" from the bottom held together by a spring, allowing the antenna to be pulled upwards and folded over. The magnetic base, shown in the link below, is not part of the product.

Watson W-770HB - Waters & Stanton

www.hamradiostore.co.uk

 

[GRW]

On CB Radio (thr early illegal stuff) thr long whip aerial was popular.
For travelling it'd be clipped to the rain channel, & released when stationary

 

[Kayos]

Moonraker, Nevada and Waters & Stanton all operate from the same address now, think there's only Martin Lynch left as the last big player.

And Knights, the veritable Aladdins cave

 

[Kayos]

I found a folding or spring mount ruined swr across the board on my quad band. They do exist in so239 but I had a 3/8 quad band so used that.

I only do static mobile these days so have no need for a permanent antenna install, my last was a triple may mount on the L200

 

[My Old Landy]

It looks like they all stock the same type

Mobile Mounts | LAMCO Barnsley

Mobile Mounts Brackets Scanners LAMCO Barnsley 5 Doncaster Road, Barnsley, South Yorkshire UK Call 01226 361700 My favourite HAM store in the world icom

www.hamradio-shop.co.uk

These are my local but they only have what you already have shown.
A gap in the market ready for a new mounting system......

 

[rcx132]

I did a bit more Googling last night.

The CB springs use the car as ground and only the signal passes through the spring to the antenna. This won't work for a complex HAM antenna which needs to be connected to both ground and signal.

I found the item below. It looks like the right solution. Can't find any UK sellers but this one is on Ali Express. Not cheap either at £55.

The other option is to give up on the quad band antenna and use a simple single band VHF antenna which can use the CB mount and spring system.

 

[Erie Fred]

I really don't think the Pl-259/SO-239 connector was designed for any physical loads.
I would rather like to see an insulated independent stud mount of some sort, and then a short lead for the connector.

 

[carbon]

The CB springs use the car as ground and only the signal passes through the spring to the antenna. This won't work for a complex HAM antenna which needs to be connected to both ground and signal.

A quad band antenna still requires the shield of the coax to be connected to the vehicle body to work correctly. A lot af ham antennas have the pl259 plug in the end and require a so239 connection to be fitted to the vehicle the outer of which is grounded to the vehicle body, with the mount in the first post this is done through the roof bar.

 

[Anguz]

my 2m 7/8 wave had a tipping mechanism i didnt know it had, found out by driving on the autobahn, fast enough for it to lift on its spring and tilt over (spring was hidden in upright mode)
made a bit of a clunk when it hit the roof at 120+

 

[Farside]

This is what you need - for the Clansman series, which will do all HF.
Not as neat and tidy as a civvy antenna base, admittedly, but will do the job.

CLANSMAN VEHICLE ANTENNA MOUNT ASSY COMPLETE 1004298

CLANSMAN VEHICLE ANTENNA MOUNT ASSY COMPLETE 1004296, COMPLETE ANTENNA SUPPORT, WHIP CLAMP AND BASE MOUNTING AS AN ASSEMBLY. 5985991004298 5985 99 100 4298 5985-99-100-4298 48050-835-08

www.lrseries.com

 

[Robotstar5]

View attachment 408896

This is what you need - for the Clansman series, which will do all HF.
Not as neat and tidy as a civvy antenna base, admittedly, but will do the job.

CLANSMAN VEHICLE ANTENNA MOUNT ASSY COMPLETE 1004298

CLANSMAN VEHICLE ANTENNA MOUNT ASSY COMPLETE 1004296, COMPLETE ANTENNA SUPPORT, WHIP CLAMP AND BASE MOUNTING AS AN ASSEMBLY. 5985991004298 5985 99 100 4298 5985-99-100-4298 48050-835-08

www.lrseries.com

Does it need one of these under it?

 

[Farside]

Does it need one of these under it?

View attachment 408923

No, that's purely for the VHF (30-70ish MHz sets the Pongoes used). For HF use, the un-un matching unit was taken out of the base of the antenna mount and the HF feed (BNC connection) was cabled directly to the Clansman 320 in my case. The 320 has its own on-board ATU.

I'll be mounting the rubber block at the back/rear of the bike and teh Chlansman across the back set (or in a pannier with batteries in the other pannier).
Bout time I got around to it, been meaning to do this for years.
I also purchased a gooseneck for the 320, and the 4m whip can go straight into that if I need it to.
I'm also not short of lay-out dipoles that go with the kit, slung up trees, etx.
This is just for motorcycle static mobile when I get the urge to go out for a tootle and partake in Castles / Parks / lamp posts on the air, and other such nonsense. Summits will only be done from those with vehicle access.

 

[rcx132]

Those military mounts look like they're for larger antennas. Mine is 1.2m.

I've bought one of these marine folding mounts. It has a 1-14 thread on it so need to look for a matching screw down nut. Or try to machine an adapter.

 

[rcx132]

Just an update. Managed to find a VHF spring mount, though it had to come from the US and wasn't cheap. Made a bracket in the end to get the antenna to fit right. These quad-band antennas are weird, they've got to mount on the edge of a panel to get the ground plane right, unlike usual VHF ones that go in the centre. I'm happy with how it turned out. I had to weld a reinforced mounting point into the bodywork, but as the 4x4 is old and worthless that's no big deal. A lot of work, but worth it for me, I really enjoy HAM'ing while driving.

 

[My Old Landy]

Just an update. Managed to find a VHF spring mount, though it had to come from the US and wasn't cheap. Made a bracket in the end to get the antenna to fit right. These quad-band antennas are weird, they've got to mount on the edge of a panel to get the ground plane right, unlike usual VHF ones that go in the centre. I'm happy with how it turned out. I had to weld a stronger mounting point into the bodywork, but as the 4x4 is old and worthless that's no big deal.

View attachment 421305

That is a nice solution, what sort of swr do you get from it?