Today I have been mostly...

[ajlelectronics]

Building a mobile mount for a dual band aerial for the car. I decided it was good practice to use what I had lying around, so got some inch square really thin stuff and some 3mm plate.

The inch square I cut and mitred and only blew a couple of holes in it. I was able to refill them so on a scale of 10, I think I could award myself 6. I then cut another piece and drilled it half inch diameter for the SO239, before closing the end off with it. Seemed to work out.

Then it was a matter of weldind the other end to the 3mm. I aimed for the 3mm and sort of washed against the thin stuff and again, apart from a couple of repaired blow throughs, it seemed to stick!

Once all done and painted, I decided it was an obstruction to the number plate so decided to mod it. The 3mm now is just a mounting foot but then realised that the only piece of 3mm I had left was too short. I was going to butt joint the two pieces together, but for some reason I laid one on top of the other and tacked them together, totally failing to get any penetration. So a bit more power and with the help of a passing pigeon, got a passable job, score about 3. Then I remembered I was going to butt joint them! Oh well.
So then I locked up and left it for another go tomorrow with a working brain.

 

[Robotstar5]

Back to the magmount then?

 

[ajlelectronics]

Back to the magmount then?

On fibreglass? ;-)

The mount bolts onto the towball bracket and extends above the boot, to give a bit more of an RF ground. Might have a finished picture tomorrow if all goes well.

I did have trouble with the wand. It switches the gas easily, but wire feed needs a good hard and uncomfortable pressure on the trigger. I'm sure that's not helping. It's a Clarke 150TE original Italian built.

 

[AdrianH]

I am thinking once again on mobile use. Many years ago I have an asta Diesel estate and I just put a hole in the roof towards the back tailgate stuck a 3/8' inch mount in the hole. Two weeks later I decided to put a plate on the inside and glue in up there to add some rigidity. The 8 foot antennas sure have some wind loading.

One thing that has been stopping me doing the same on my Mondeo estate is the air bag system, I assume they would be OK as I hope they have suppression built in such as decoupling caps etc, but I do wonder.

Adrian

 

[Robotstar5]

On fibreglass? ;-)

I put a couple of Antennas on a fibreglass roofed van, just stuck some squares of thin plate inside to act as ground planes, even heard of tinfoil being used but not sure how effective it is.

 

[optima21]

I did have trouble with the wand. It switches the gas easily, but wire feed needs a good hard and uncomfortable pressure on the trigger. I'm sure that's not helping. It's a Clarke 150TE original Italian built.

if you havn't taken the handle apart before you may be able to adjust the spring lever and check to make sure the pivot for the trigger is free to rotate. it should be something similar to this (different model but same idea)

 

[norlander]

Building a mobile mount for a dual band aerial for the car. I decided it was good practice to use what I had lying around, so got some inch square really thin stuff and some 3mm plate.

The inch square I cut and mitred and only blew a couple of holes in it. I was able to refill them so on a scale of 10, I think I could award myself 6. I then cut another piece and drilled it half inch diameter for the SO239, before closing the end off with it. Seemed to work out.

Then it was a matter of weldind the other end to the 3mm. I aimed for the 3mm and sort of washed against the thin stuff and again, apart from a couple of repaired blow throughs, it seemed to stick!

Once all done and painted, I decided it was an obstruction to the number plate so decided to mod it. The 3mm now is just a mounting foot but then realised that the only piece of 3mm I had left was too short. I was going to butt joint the two pieces together, but for some reason I laid one on top of the other and tacked them together, totally failing to get any penetration. So a bit more power and with the help of a passing pigeon, got a passable job, score about 3. Then I remembered I was going to butt joint them! Oh well.
So then I locked up and left it for another go tomorrow with a working brain.

Yep, sounds like a normal day in the atelier here at chateau norlander.

 

[balmerchris]

Today I have been mostly eating armadillos.

Sorry couldn't help myself after reading thread title.

 

[pedrobedro]

Today I have been mostly eating armadillos.

Sorry couldn't help myself after reading thread title.

Me too, taramasalata was what I thought of though

 

[ajlelectronics]

 

[ajlelectronics]

if you havn't taken the handle apart before you may be able to adjust the spring lever and check to make sure the pivot for the trigger is free to rotate. it should be something similar to this (different model but same idea)

Thanks, it was just the same. Once I got inside, I gave the contact a little attention and found I had no gas operation. Working back, I eventually realised that I now have an empty gas cylinder for some reason. I didn't shut it down last night as I usually do, so maybe I have a leak somewhere. Not happy! It also meant that I couldn't reweld the bracket so had to make do with what I had. I will get some gas and then fine tune. It is a nasty horrible design in that torch, are they all that badly designed?

 

[ajlelectronics]

I am thinking once again on mobile use. Many years ago I have an asta Diesel estate and I just put a hole in the roof towards the back tailgate stuck a 3/8' inch mount in the hole. Two weeks later I decided to put a plate on the inside and glue in up there to add some rigidity. The 8 foot antennas sure have some wind loading.

One thing that has been stopping me doing the same on my Mondeo estate is the air bag system, I assume they would be OK as I hope they have suppression built in such as decoupling caps etc, but I do wonder.

Adrian

I would doubt that there would be an issue. I have never heard of airbags being set off by normal RF levels. I have some ignition interference to investigate on receive. Worst on Airband AM but can be heard in FM mode too.

* If anyone is thinking of being smart about air band reception, I do actually have an aviation RT licence! *

The radio is a bit past its best. I had to make a new bracket for the main unit as the original was lost. Remote control lead is right on its length limit too. Optical encoder on the remote head is erratic and one side has the panel illumination out. I was surprised that I can get a similar animal new for £220, so when I win a fortune.... It is VHF, UHF FM & Air band AM receive.

 

[Robotstar5]

I am thinking once again on mobile use. Many years ago I have an asta Diesel estate and I just put a hole in the roof towards the back tailgate stuck a 3/8' inch mount in the hole. Two weeks later I decided to put a plate on the inside and glue in up there to add some rigidity. The 8 foot antennas sure have some wind loading.

One thing that has been stopping me doing the same on my Mondeo estate is the air bag system, I assume they would be OK as I hope they have suppression built in such as decoupling caps etc, but I do wonder.

Adrian

You shouldn't have any problems with air bags, a friend has a new company car every couple of years and fits his Icom IC706 to it, runs up to 100W on HF without any problems, I've worked him on 10FM mobile a few times. It probably helps that he's in the radio telecomms industry so knows what he's doing

 

[Tinbasherdan]

What you need is a Clarke 12m telescopic SCAM mast, if for instance you knew someone with one.............

 

[ajlelectronics]

Well I am trying to buy one Dan, but not heard from anyone who might be able to assist. ;-)

 

[optima21]

Thanks, it was just the same. Once I got inside, I gave the contact a little attention and found I had no gas operation. Working back, I eventually realised that I now have an empty gas cylinder for some reason. I didn't shut it down last night as I usually do, so maybe I have a leak somewhere. Not happy! It also meant that I couldn't reweld the bracket so had to make do with what I had. I will get some gas and then fine tune. It is a nasty horrible design in that torch, are they all that badly designed?

they are a bit crude I guess, but can be "adjusted" easily, Im guessing euro torches are better made as they don't have the gas valve in the handle