[VHFcontesting] Rover Antenna Mounting Hardware

[kb7dqh at donobi.net]

Guess it depends if the antennae are to be mounted to the vehicle and used
while in motion or if one needs to assemble the station at a fixed
location, then pack it all up and move somewhere else.

I "hambrewed" a tilt-over crankup tower and welded the the hinge to my first
"rover" vehicle's sheetmeteal!  The  antenna mast slipped over a short
pipe clamped into the rotator, and was locked into position with a
hitchpin.
Antennas were fastened to the mast with more "hambrewed" quick-connect
clamps, fabricated out of "vise-grip" pliers and angle-iron, these "u"
bolted to the mast.  The clamps weighed more than the antennas they
supported with  the possible exception of my 6 meter Yagi, six elements on
20 feet of boom, which also came apart in three sections and was held
together with hitchpins.  The Whole mess, all five bands worth, could be
put
on the air from setting the parking brake to first QSO in less than an hour!

Then I wanted the same gain in a "run-and-gun" configuration, so changed
everything!

Then I bought a "real rover vehicle" which can run four stations
simultaneously in "run-and-gun" as well as "operationally fixed",

and everything changed again.  Other than running masts through the roof
of the vehicle, the antenna hardware used is typical of "base station"
assemblies.

Look me up on Youtube and view the videos posted by VE7DXG!

Eric
KB7DQH



> The Jitney is put together with standard (and non-standard, i.e.
> "whatever fits") hardware in the usual fashion. I've got quite a bit
> more metal than most rovers, with a fixed rotatable mast on the front
> with (from the top) a 6M moxon, 2 and 222 yagis and a pair of 432
> yagis, and then another crank-up rotatable mast on the rear with an
> H-frame with 903, 1.2, 2.3, 3.4 and a 2' dish for 5/10 in the middle
> of the H, and a long 2M yagi above the H. Running height is just under
> 12ft ..
>
> de w1rt/john
>
> On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 1:58 AM, n3_kkm <n3_kkm at embarqmail.com> wrote:
>> For those of you who rove with beam antennas I'm interested to know if
>> you use the standard antenna mounting hardware (U bolts, Nuts, Wrenches,
>> etc.) or is there another technique that's quicker/easier?
>>
>> Bill- N3KKM
>> FM15
>> _______________________________________________
>> VHFcontesting mailing list
>> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
>>
> _______________________________________________
> VHFcontesting mailing list
> VHFcontesting at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
>