[TowerTalk] Mobile antenna for SUV

[Dale Martin]

> > The mount is mounted to the hatch lip edge about halfway 
> down the side 
> > of the hatch.  The top of the tubular section of the 120 is 
> a little 
> > above the
> 
> Isn't that a lot of load on that edge at expressway cruising speeds?
> 

I was worried about that when I installed it and thought about a fishing
line guy, but it seemed stable when I moved the antenna by hand.  I've kept
a close eye on it and check it at least once a week to see if there's any
warping of the sheetmetal or loosening of mount screws and pivot joints, but
so far, nothing.  

The mount includes a rectangular steel strip about 1/8" thick to be placed
between the sheetmetal/body and the mount screws.  I believe that gives
added strength to the attachment point.  Also, I think a lot of the wind
effects while in motion are minimized by most of the antenna body being
below and behind the car body.  A rooftop mounted ATAS antenna might need
guys. 

When I first installed the old ATAS-100 (with my old FT-100) on my old
Saturn SC2 coupe trunk deck edge,  the corona ball had caught the edge of
one of the garage door sections as I was backing out one day.  It popped
free but not until the antenna had pivoted forward in the vertical pivot
joint.  I loosened it with the allen wrench, set the antenna back to
vertical, re-tightened it and was good to go; no damage to the antenna.  As
a 'temporary fix' I put duct tape at the leading and trailing edges of the
garge door sections to preclude the corona ball hanging up on any more door
section edges.  That fixed that.  I was going to install plywood 'ramps',
but the duct tape works great. 

73,
Dale, kg5u