Custom Mag Mount

[ButtFuzz]

Made it out of a couple "powerful" cheapie nmo mag mounts and a stout steel ruler.

I got a newsed car and that has no trunk lip, so I made this to put my trunk lip antennae on the roof. It's pretty dang strong. Good enough for two 3' antennas or one larger 5 or 6' variety. 80 MPH so far and nothing moved...

Not the ideal setup, but it is pretty amazing the difference from moving the antenna from the trunk lip on my smallish car to the roof of an SUV.

Works.

 

[killapits]

man that looks cool it gave me a idea since i got 5 or 6 old mag mounts laying around

 

[555]

and whats the bend radius on that coax?

 

[ButtFuzz]

and whats the bend radius on that coax?

hee hee hee!

A lot greater than what you see there!
Mounted on the vehicle, it just goes forward at about 60 degrees and though a window.

"You're sounding a bit pinched up!"

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

you gonna put the mags front and back to give a wider base for forward and backwards torque when the antenna/vehicle id moving/stopping ? a also agree a stud would be better , but it looks fine for a proof of concept and for small to medium antennas .
good use of the ol' noggin

 

[Robb]

Since you re using a K40; the top weight should be OK.
I would put the magnets closer to the center - so that the metal mount bar won't get torqued too much - IMO...

Using a piece of LMR-240 would make that K40 work much better. The stock coax on those things is next to garbage. I have two K40's that I'm about to put some LMR-240 on. It's not as bad an antenna as some have said. I used one for years before I got the Wilson 1000. The two worst points to a K40 are: the matching capacitor that they use in it to force it to match across 40 channel - and the wambly, cheap coax thy use on it.

The LMR-240 -as you know- is the mini-8/flex version of Times/Microwave LMR400. The LMR240 is fully shielded and the velocity factor on it is xlnt! Very flexible - too...Sells for $.65/ft

Two cents...

 

[ButtFuzz]

Thanks to everyone for the suggested upgrades... I'll be putting a hole in the roof for two NMO mounts (I have a 10m ~500watt base-loaded antenna and a dual-band 2m/70cm number) in a week-end or two. I usually use 8x or equivalent in the vehicle. One thing I do like (and theives, too) about the K40 is the 1/4 turn on and off. Makes it real nice on beach trips when I have to park in the parking garage at the no-tell.

Regarding that matching capacitor (and power handling) of the K40. Yeah, that is worrisome. However, I don't run near enough power for it to be a concern.

Again, thanks for the great advice, and please share your projects. I'm working on fixing my end-fed 1/2 wave ("horizontal antron 99") that can be "rotated" using a cool bracket I made out of some Dish Network scrap mounts.

Pictures to come.

 

[ButtFuzz]

Oh,

Oh, and another thing I forgot to mention. No one commented on my mag-mount workbench... a bubba-sized refrigerator!

Happy 4th of July!