looking at putting a trunk lip mount on my hatchback. i have a 108"
whip and am worried that, if i hit anything, it'll damage the lip of
the hatchback. any comments? thanks all

On Sat, 05 Feb 2011 07:32:07 +0000, Jim Higgins
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:24:11 -0500, bpuharic wrote:

looking at putting a trunk lip mount on my hatchback. i have a 108"
whip and am worried that, if i hit anything, it'll damage the lip of
the hatchback. any comments? thanks all


If slight bending of the metal of the hatch is a concern, you probably
don't want to attach a 108" whip to it. It will put quite a strain on
th metal at highway speeds. I speak from experience. Mine was
slightly bent from a Hustler whip much shorter than 108". The
distortion was at the trailing edge of the mount, not at the lip of
the hatch. Perhaps that suggests a solution to prevent the problem by
spreading the load at this point.

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info

bpuharic wrote:

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info


How about using a bicycle carrier and attaching the antenna to it? The
load would be better distributed.

On Sat, 05 Feb 2011 11:05:25 -0600, joe wrote:

bpuharic wrote:

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info


How about using a bicycle carrier and attaching the antenna to it? The
load would be better distributed.

that's actually a pretty good idea...may interfere with the
hatchback...someone here had the idea of a luggage rack, but grounding
may be an issue..

no good solutions!

On Sat, 5 Feb 2011 17:08:14 -0800 (PST), wrote:

There really are no good solutions for these newer toy
cars.

yep. i'm starting to think this may be the case. i've seen tow hitches
used, but this interferes with the hatchback AND, since it's low, the
ground losses are huge

joe wrote:
bpuharic wrote:

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info


How about using a bicycle carrier and attaching the antenna to it? The
load would be better distributed.


I've done a variety of schemes like that. A removable bike rack that
straps to the trunk lid works fairly well.

I've also built something that clamps onto the towing/tie-down lug.
That works pretty well if the lug is in the correct orientation.


A light duty trailer receiver works really well, and when you pull the
antenna off, it's very inconspicuous. I did something like this by just
bolting a piece of 1x1" square tubing to the bottom of the spare tire
well to make a sort of receiver. The antenna mount slides in and it's
held in with a couple of removable hitch pins.

pictures (although not very good on the detail you're looking for)
http://home.earthlink.net/~w6rmk/mobile.htm

bpuharic wrote:
On Sat, 5 Feb 2011 17:08:14 -0800 (PST), wrote:

There really are no good solutions for these newer toy
cars.

yep. i'm starting to think this may be the case. i've seen tow hitches
used, but this interferes with the hatchback AND, since it's low, the
ground losses are huge


Not necessarily.. you can use something that has a lateral member to put
the antenna at the corner of the car. Or have a pivot to allow you to
swing it out of the way.

As far as the losses go.. just put the base of the antenna (feedpoint)
up higher (mount the antenna on a stalk, as it were). You WANT the
current in the stalk to couple to the car body. The losses in a few
feet of wire to connect the ground aren't a big deal (after all, the
antenna itself is just a piece of wire, and the losses in that are
presumably acceptable)

One way to think of a mobile antenna is as a dipole with a wire on one
side and a very odd shaped ball of wire on the other.

The real thing on the whole grounding thing is to make sure that all the
pieces of the car are grounded together, and that your antenna "ground"
is connected to a big piece of metal. Bumpers, for instance, are often
electrically isolated from the rest of the car by the shock absorbing
mounts.

On Mon, 07 Feb 2011 11:45:46 -0800, Jim Lux
wrote:

bpuharic wrote:
On Sat, 5 Feb 2011 17:08:14 -0800 (PST), wrote:

There really are no good solutions for these newer toy
cars.

yep. i'm starting to think this may be the case. i've seen tow hitches
used, but this interferes with the hatchback AND, since it's low, the
ground losses are huge


Not necessarily.. you can use something that has a lateral member to put
the antenna at the corner of the car. Or have a pivot to allow you to
swing it out of the way.

As far as the losses go.. just put the base of the antenna (feedpoint)
up higher (mount the antenna on a stalk, as it were). You WANT the
current in the stalk to couple to the car body. The losses in a few
feet of wire to connect the ground aren't a big deal (after all, the
antenna itself is just a piece of wire, and the losses in that are
presumably acceptable)

One way to think of a mobile antenna is as a dipole with a wire on one
side and a very odd shaped ball of wire on the other.

The real thing on the whole grounding thing is to make sure that all the
pieces of the car are grounded together, and that your antenna "ground"
is connected to a big piece of metal. Bumpers, for instance, are often
electrically isolated from the rest of the car by the shock absorbing
mounts.

that's true. i used to have a screwdriver that was a BITCH to get
matched because of the grounding