While driving on the freeway on my way home from work, I went over a bump in the road cause by some in-progress repair work. As soon as I hit the bump, I heard a loud POP from behind the Jeep and as I quickly looked in the rear view mirror, I saw my Hi-Q 4-80 HF antenna launched from it's mount. At first my heart sank, but I also knew that I had it properly guyed to the rear tire carrier. The antenna actually got caught upside down between the rear tire carrier and the Jeep body, so I was able to slow down and pull over while dragging only the whip along the ground.
Fortunately, the spring between the whip and the cap hat riser absorbed most of the impact from hitting the ground so there was no damage done to the antenna. When I got out to retrieve the antenna, I saw that the heavy duty Hi-Q giant quick disconnect base had actually sheared off the bolt holding it down to the tire carrier. It looked like the stainless 3/8-24 bolt had just fatigued to the point of failure and sheared off.
The lesson for everyone here is that if you decide to run one of these big heavy HF antennas on your vehicle, you can't just rely on the main mount. You must take precaution to secure the antenna by some secondary means. If I didn't have that guy rope on the antenna, I would have lost it. Worse, it would have caused a massive car accident behind me or quite possibly killed any trailing motorcyclists. Running one of these big antennas comes with the added responsibility of making sure that if the thing were to ever come loose, it will stay with the vehicle and not cause injury to others. The other lesson learned is to check the mounting hardware periodically. This bolt could have easily been replaced if I had inspected it at least once in the 5 years or so that I've owned the mount.
When I got home, I inspected the bolt that secures the mount. There is no real damage to the mount, but the bolt has enough corrosion that it sure isn't going to come out easy. I have a few different things I will try to salvage the mount, but in the meantime I ordered a new one. I've heard that there were a few design changes made to the Hi-Q quick disconnect base to take some of the slop out of it, so I now have a reason to try it out. When the new one comes in, I'll take some pictures and post them.
Fortunately, the spring between the whip and the cap hat riser absorbed most of the impact from hitting the ground so there was no damage done to the antenna. When I got out to retrieve the antenna, I saw that the heavy duty Hi-Q giant quick disconnect base had actually sheared off the bolt holding it down to the tire carrier. It looked like the stainless 3/8-24 bolt had just fatigued to the point of failure and sheared off.
The lesson for everyone here is that if you decide to run one of these big heavy HF antennas on your vehicle, you can't just rely on the main mount. You must take precaution to secure the antenna by some secondary means. If I didn't have that guy rope on the antenna, I would have lost it. Worse, it would have caused a massive car accident behind me or quite possibly killed any trailing motorcyclists. Running one of these big antennas comes with the added responsibility of making sure that if the thing were to ever come loose, it will stay with the vehicle and not cause injury to others. The other lesson learned is to check the mounting hardware periodically. This bolt could have easily been replaced if I had inspected it at least once in the 5 years or so that I've owned the mount.
When I got home, I inspected the bolt that secures the mount. There is no real damage to the mount, but the bolt has enough corrosion that it sure isn't going to come out easy. I have a few different things I will try to salvage the mount, but in the meantime I ordered a new one. I've heard that there were a few design changes made to the Hi-Q quick disconnect base to take some of the slop out of it, so I now have a reason to try it out. When the new one comes in, I'll take some pictures and post them.
...runna pile-up on 6m SSB