Trunk mount for 3/8 x 24?

[KJ1H]

I've moved my mobile station to my new mobile ham shack. A Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor has a lot more room for this stuff than a Miata.

For the moment I'm still using my magmount antennas from the Miata, but that will change. There's an NMO mount through the trunk lid, though for some insane reason somebody cut the coax off. I've got a new NMO mount on the way to replace the "disabled" one, and will move my 144/220 MHz antenna there to eliminate one magmount.

I'm wondering about my 10 meter antenna.  Right now I'm using a Radio Shack HTX-10 and a trimmed down CB magmount.  10m is opening up but I haven't managed to make a single contact lately, so I'm thinking about improving my HF antenna setup.  The Shark FM mini looks appealing - a good compromise of size, performance, and price for my situation.  I'll start with just one for 10m, but in the future I plan to buy a more capable HF radio with more bands, and can add more antennas at that time.

I don't mind drilling holes in this car (which should make K0BG happy ) - after all, I've already got one hole for the NMO mount.  In fact, I've been reading Alan's web site extensively for inspiration.  It seems my best options are either a ball mount on the side of the car, or a mount through a hole in the trunk itself.  The trunk mount actually appeals to me more, but I haven't seen much in the way of 3/8 x 24 mounts that just go through a hole in the metal.  I'm also concerned about damaging the trunk lid itself with the force of the wind on even the Shark FM going down the highway for extended periods of time.  I know there are some trunk lip mounts available as well, but I don't mind putting another hole in the car for my HF antenna.

Any suggestions and/or parts sources?

[K0BG]

You need a decent ballmount, and they're hard to find. I might have an older GE laying around—I'll have to look. Are you interested?

[KJ1H]

Quite possibly. I know from your web site that a good ball mount is hard to find these days. Feel free to drop me a line privately to make arrangements, if you have one available. Thanks!

[AC4RD]

... new mobile ham shack. A Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor has a lot more room for this stuff than a Miata.

I used a Shark mini on 20meters for a bit, trying it out.  Mounted on the roofline, it worked better than I expected it to.  But for most signals, it was still a couple of S units weaker than a hamstick-style antenna mounted down lower.  I found I needed to hear someone at S5 to S7 to have a good chance of working him, with the Shark mini.  (Your own install may produce better results than mine, of course.)

The Crown Vic reminds me ...  I got a new Chevy Impala in 2000, the first year the new model Impala came out.  Mine was plain white.   I didn't think about the fact that several local police departments were also using white Impalas, until after I had the antennas on the roof and trunk--one each for VHF, HF, and 6 meters.

After the antennas were mounted, I found people slowing down when I came up behind them, moving over to let me by, and that sort of thing.   It took me a while to realize they thought my Impala was some sort of police vehicle.  :-) 

[KCJ9091]

Hustler SSM-1.  Shop around, you should be able to find them for under $50 spring included.