Mobile Ham Help for 5th Wheel RVers

I have been mobile hamming since 1966. In all those years, I have had to make some adjustments on where the antenna goes. On my cars they usually went on a ball mount and spring. On my 1989 Chevrolet pickup, I mounted the antenna on a bumper mount in the front of the truck. On my 1997 Dodge pickup, I used mag-mounts on a steel toolbox in the bed.

My 2002 Dodge pickup posed a different challenge. The bumper mount just didn't lend itself to looking all that good. The toolbox now in the bed is aluminum and mag-mounts are useless. I didn't want to have mag-mounts all over the truck roof with wires hanging down over the rear window. I bought some thin steel sheeting and cut it down to fit the top of the toolbox and screwed it down using silicone seal to keep the box dry inside. That didn't work out to well for the heavier antenna since I had no way to tether it when driving. It works well for the lighter 2-meter antenna though.

I still needed to do something about the HF antenna. On eBay I bought a used ball mount and spring for the toolbox. I did the mounting and all that and it worked really well. Well, that is, until I hooked up my 5th wheel travel trailer. Then the problem arose. The 5th wheel turns sharply and the front of the 5th wheel moves OVER the toolbox. UH OH! The antenna has to lean over and it wasn't made to do that the way it was mounted. The solution? I went to my local home hardware place and bought a piece of aluminum 3/8-inch rod. I already had a tapping tool for 3/8X24 and I used it here. I cut a 6-inch piece of rod off and tapped both ends about an inch long. I put the new rod in the ball mount and then mounted the antenna spring on that new rod. Now when the 5th wheel hits the antenna, it just leans over the toolbox and returns when I straighten out.

I used a piece of 60-pound monofilament fish line to keep the antenna vertical when driving. The fish line is attached to a hook I mounted just inside the rear door of the Quadcab. I put a piece of plastic tab cut from a coffee can top under the screw and fish line to protect the truck paint from the line and hook. The side benefit from all this is that I mounted a chassis mount SO239 fitting on the lower side of the toolbox and now I can attach a coax from the outside of the truck to that as well. It looks strange, but after all the things I have tried with mobile antennas, that isn't unusual for the vehicles I drive. They work and THAT works for me.

73
Frank
KL7IPV

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