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Pickup truck mounting
- Thread starter BammBamm
- Start date
Currently using a wilson 1000 mag mount. The 102 SS hit everyrhing and ended up tapping the back of the 3rd brack light if it hit anything hard enough. The wilson 5' fiberglass whip had too much reflect from thecab and wouldn't tune under 1.6 swr. After consideration I think a hole will be drilled once the temperature comes up. I'm thinking Sirio or is there better? NO 102 SS on the roof!
Late to the conversation on this one but I have run antennas on trucks in some pretty weird places and they all performed well. The grounding, coax and antenna are all important including the mounting location. I ran a Dodge Dakota with a predator antenna in the rear bed corner near the tailgate with great results. I was running bigger power back then and actually had used heliax coax for the install and mounted all my amps on the inside back cab behind the jump seats. The setup was slightly directional but not as bad as you'd think. I also ran ground straps from the antenna mount to both sides of the frame.
A number of years before that I ran a Ford Explorer with a 102" whip - the mount was a thick piece of flat steel I had connected to the frame and ran straight out the back of the vehicle towards the left back corner so the antenna wouldn't interfere with opening the back hatch. This kept the 102" far enough away from the cab as well so no issues with reflect. I only ran about 400 watts with this setup and it worked really well but was somewhat directional. I used to be able to jump on the bowl and make contacts from Hawaii to Cali no problem.
I also have mounted a 102" directly into the rear steel bumper of a 1979 Chevy silverado and that setup worked really well but again was somewhat directional.
If you want the most omni-directional setup than a magnet mount or thru hole in the top of the cab is best, but if you want to run a long predator or 102" and don't want to hit everything you can definitely mount it to the bed, frame, or bumper off a back corner with pretty good results. Any bed mounted antenna will need some good grounding through, make sure to go straight to the frame.
A number of years before that I ran a Ford Explorer with a 102" whip - the mount was a thick piece of flat steel I had connected to the frame and ran straight out the back of the vehicle towards the left back corner so the antenna wouldn't interfere with opening the back hatch. This kept the 102" far enough away from the cab as well so no issues with reflect. I only ran about 400 watts with this setup and it worked really well but was somewhat directional. I used to be able to jump on the bowl and make contacts from Hawaii to Cali no problem.
I also have mounted a 102" directly into the rear steel bumper of a 1979 Chevy silverado and that setup worked really well but again was somewhat directional.
If you want the most omni-directional setup than a magnet mount or thru hole in the top of the cab is best, but if you want to run a long predator or 102" and don't want to hit everything you can definitely mount it to the bed, frame, or bumper off a back corner with pretty good results. Any bed mounted antenna will need some good grounding through, make sure to go straight to the frame.
Those Sirio antennas are pretty darned long, too. I think the 5000 is about 77 inches.
73,
Brett
I have a DAVEMADE puck mount on the roof of my 1997 Ford F150 and after trying countless different antennas. Davemade, Black Al Capones, and Mr. Coily to name a few . I settled with the Sirio 5000 because it was the most flexible when it came to hitting overhead objects.
i know ive battled this decision to put a long base load on the roof or a center or top load on the bed rail near the tailgate.. right now its too cold to eperiment
Simply by utilizing the original Wilson gasket and mounting plate on top of your paint. It's just as waterproof as the original Wilson install kit since you would be utilizing part of the Wilson install kit to keep the moisture out. The only thing different would be inside the vehicle how the cable attaches
I just finished putting this together last night And the Wilson 5K fits like a glove.
RFP9998 Right Angle UHF Female Panel Mount, RFP
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I have a Dodge Ram I currently use a Firestik on a fender mount. A 4 transistor amp is about the limit for that. Im going to try my luck with a headache rack. A lot of people have issues with a headache rack mount. I have a rack so I figure its worth a shot. If I have to drill I go with a Gunny puck. I have sold three cars with Gunny pucks. I figure it just goes with the vehicle.
Performance will be proportional to the size of horizontal metal mass directly at the feedpoint. Center of roof should perform 20 times greater than top of roof rack or headache rack.