Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Comet HD-5M Lip Mount

Category: Antenna parts, accessories, incl. baluns, hardware, etc.

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Comet HD-5M Lip Mount
Reviews: 2MSRP: 69.95
Description:
Universal adjustable lip mount, 16' 6” deluxe cable assembly
with SO-239/PL-259 connectors. Quality appearance and low
loss coax cable assembly. Installs easily in only minutes to
virtually any lip on a vehicle. Trunk lid, truck rear doors,
SUV and van rear doors, hood lip, etc…
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cometantenna.com/products.php?CatID=1&famID=9&childID=14
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0023
W4FID Rating: 2017-07-14
must be properly installed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
FIRST there is a fairly small amount of wind resistance and momentum this mount can withstand. HamSticks may be too much momentum at highway speeds and semi truck turbulence. For sure screwdrivers or bug catcher coils are. Mid size or smaller 2/440 thin diameter light weight antennas are what this is good for.

SECOND you MUST have the little cup point screws into the car's metal. They are small points so the contact area is minimal at best. You have to get thru the paint into METAL. Some trim pieces, deck lids, spoilers, etc are fiberglass or other non metal. That won't provide a ground. And some trim pieces are not electrically connected to the car's body. The car's body, frame, engine, ect are a capacitor plate. The car's tires are the dialectic. The earth is the other plate. The antenna is capacity coupled to ground. ONLY if all the metal parts are electrically connected.
KA2DEW Rating: 2017-07-13
no ground? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The mount permitted me to align the antenna exactly how I wanted it. The mount seems to survive highway driving holding a 4.5' tall Diamond CR8900A Quad Band Antenna. I drove over rough roads and took tight corners and it stays on the trunk and stays vertical. It didn't turn my trunk lid into a pretzel. All good so far.

The coax cable has thin stuff, like RG174, for about 6 inches. Long enough to go from the SO239 mount into the inside of the trunk. Then it has a metal fitting which transfers to an RG8X or something much like it. Then 12' or so to a PL259. That's just great and I could put my own PL259 or N on the coax myself to shorten it so it plugs into the FT8900 in the trunk.

My only complaint is a big one. It doesn't seem to ground the antenna to the car. In fact, there isn't any continuity between the screws which dig into the bottom of the trunk lid and the shield on the SO-239 the antenna is screwed into. That's sort of the point of having the screws dig into the bottom of the trunk lid. What gives? Even a mag-mount has a better ground than this!

I guess I'll be stripping back the insulation on that RG174 stuff and hooking it to a lug to some screw someplace? This seems much kludgy-er than I was expecting for $70-ish.