My Ham Radio Install

[TipsEZ]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted in this thread. I picked up a Gen 1 in the summer and finally have time next week to install my radios. I'm installing a B-Tech tri band as well as a Yaseu FT100D. In time I may install a CB, but it's pretty low on my list. I rarely do much HAM work from the house and (when I had my Jeep) really got into mobile DX.

My current plan is to mount the HF antenna to the top of the 3rd brake light so that it is up nice and high. The tri band antenna I will mount to the bed rails near the cab (as others have done) as I'm not so concerned with range on this one. IF I really need 2M or 440 range, I can just switch the Yaseu antenna out and use 50W on 2M SSB if needed.

I've got a couple of 3D printers around the house and the design ability so my hope is that I can produce something that is really clean and will withstand the abuse.

Has anyone ran an HF off of the 3rd brake light mount? I'm a little concerned with wind loading. My plan is to fab that bracket myself by 3D printing a template to drill the holes, then just fold over the steel.

 

[OriginalToken]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted in this thread. I picked up a Gen 1 in the summer and finally have time next week to install my radios. I'm installing a B-Tech tri band as well as a Yaseu FT100D. In time I may install a CB, but it's pretty low on my list. I rarely do much HAM work from the house and (when I had my Jeep) really got into mobile DX.

My current plan is to mount the HF antenna to the top of the 3rd brake light so that it is up nice and high. The tri band antenna I will mount to the bed rails near the cab (as others have done) as I'm not so concerned with range on this one. IF I really need 2M or 440 range, I can just switch the Yaseu antenna out and use 50W on 2M SSB if needed.

I've got a couple of 3D printers around the house and the design ability so my hope is that I can produce something that is really clean and will withstand the abuse.

Has anyone ran an HF off of the 3rd brake light mount? I'm a little concerned with wind loading. My plan is to fab that bracket myself by 3D printing a template to drill the holes, then just fold over the steel.

I have never used the third brake light to mount anything heavier than a short VHF antenna (on other trucks, not the Raptor) , I did end up bending one such mount and damaging the light (drove under a tree limb). So what follows is more of a guess, in regards to an HF antenna mounted there, than anything else.

I think i would be less worried about the wind loading and more concerned with the moment of inertia, particularly if you will be off road. As the vehicle rocks and rolls off-road that can whip the antenna around a good bit, and since an HF antenna is typically both longer and heavier than an VHF or UHF antenna the forces trying to bend the mount will be greater.

The other thing to consider is your total height. Adding an antenna that is 6+ feet tall (about the shortest all band HF antennas out there) with the mount and truck height you can easily end up with something 12+ feet up, and many HF antennas will push this to 13 or 14 feet. That can be an inconvenient height. That is one of two factors that drove me to mount the HF antenna at bed rail level. The other is that I can reach the whip of the HF antenna from the ground and easily remove it if needed.

T!

 

[Chiefapple]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted in this thread. I picked up a Gen 1 in the summer and finally have time next week to install my radios. I'm installing a B-Tech tri band as well as a Yaseu FT100D. In time I may install a CB, but it's pretty low on my list. I rarely do much HAM work from the house and (when I had my Jeep) really got into mobile DX.

My current plan is to mount the HF antenna to the top of the 3rd brake light so that it is up nice and high. The tri band antenna I will mount to the bed rails near the cab (as others have done) as I'm not so concerned with range on this one. IF I really need 2M or 440 range, I can just switch the Yaseu antenna out and use 50W on 2M SSB if needed.

I've got a couple of 3D printers around the house and the design ability so my hope is that I can produce something that is really clean and will withstand the abuse.

Has anyone ran an HF off of the 3rd brake light mount? I'm a little concerned with wind loading. My plan is to fab that bracket myself by 3D printing a template to drill the holes, then just fold over the steel.

Get the GJ motor sports 3rd brake light with NMO mount. I’ve had zero issues and hit low hanging branches at a good speed. The light is solid and so it the mount. It also uses factory mounting holes so no drilling required. I’ll get a close up picture here shortly.




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[Chiefapple]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted in this thread. I picked up a Gen 1 in the summer and finally have time next week to install my radios. I'm installing a B-Tech tri band as well as a Yaseu FT100D. In time I may install a CB, but it's pretty low on my list. I rarely do much HAM work from the house and (when I had my Jeep) really got into mobile DX.

My current plan is to mount the HF antenna to the top of the 3rd brake light so that it is up nice and high. The tri band antenna I will mount to the bed rails near the cab (as others have done) as I'm not so concerned with range on this one. IF I really need 2M or 440 range, I can just switch the Yaseu antenna out and use 50W on 2M SSB if needed.

I've got a couple of 3D printers around the house and the design ability so my hope is that I can produce something that is really clean and will withstand the abuse.

Has anyone ran an HF off of the 3rd brake light mount? I'm a little concerned with wind loading. My plan is to fab that bracket myself by 3D printing a template to drill the holes, then just fold over the steel.

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[TipsEZ]

I actually looked at this setup, but then realized I'm much to cheap. If I could find this setup for around a hundred bucks, I'd be much more willing to consider it. I'm having a hard time convincing myself to burn several hundred bucks on a mount that I could fab, machine, print for much less.

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[OriginalToken]

Get the GJ motor sports 3rd brake light with NMO mount. I’ve had zero issues and hit low hanging branches at a good speed. The light is solid and so it the mount. It also uses factory mounting holes so no drilling required. I’ll get a close up picture here shortly.

In general I have nothing against a well built 3rd brake light mount, however he is talking about mounting an HF antenna on it, not a VHF or UHF antenna. All band or wide band HF antennas, most using screwdriver type tuning coils, are much heavier and generally much taller than the VHF or UHF antennas that are generally seen on brake light mounts.

Below is a fairly typical HF all band screwdriver antenna (this is the Tarheel 75A on my truck, the 75A is among the smallest HF Tarheels):


And for reference here is the entire truck, with the VHF antennas up on the light bar and the HF antenna at the back, you can see that the HF antenna, even mounted lower down, is taller than the VHF/UHF antennas up on the light bar.



That lower tuning section (which electrically lengths and shortens to adjust the antenna) is 3 inches in diameter, the whip on top of that mechanical section is 6 feet tall, and the whole thing weighs in at just over 5 lbs. The entire thing, from the bottom of the black section up, would have to be on the brake light mount. The lightest, shortest, such antennas, like the Yaesu ATAS-120, Baby Tarheel, or the Diamond SD330, are about 2 lbs total weight, ~5 feet tall, and the tuning section is only ~1.5 - 2" in diameter. TipsEZ did not say which model he intended to use, but the ATAS-120 is about the lightest / smallest such antenna on the market, they go up from there. The Tarheel 75A in the above pictures is about middle of the road in size, I have a Tarheel 300 on another vehicle that is much bigger, heavier, beefier.

Unlike most VHF or UHF antennas, the bottom ~2 feet (and some up to 4 feet) of these antennas do not flex, they are rigid. Also the whip used is MUCH thicker and less flexible than the whip found on a typical VHF or UHF antenna. There is much less "give" in these kinds of antennas than found in VHF or UHF antennas.

The brake light kit you have pointed out is very robust, being billet aluminium. And I have no doubt the fixture itself would hold up to an HF antenna. What I doubt is that the mounting bolts that hold the light to the body and the very small vertical support footprint (the body under the light mount) would hold up, there is just a lot of moment of inertia in these antennas. Having run these kinds of antennas for years, decades, and seen how very stout mounts can sometimes get tweaked by them, I certainly would not try it myself.

T!

 

[TipsEZ]

Thanks for the feedback OriginalToken. I had not yet considered the shearing forces on the mounting bolts. I think I may have to look into mounting this to my bed cover instead. Thanks for the thoughts. Maybe I'l be able to post up how I did things in the spring. Work looks to be rather busy for a few weeks so home projects will get delayed.

 

[Spectragod]

I use this for antenna installs, never failed me for over 25 year’s.



Yes, I need to replace the blade.


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[John Bauer]

Hey all. I am wondering if anyone has installed a YEASU 400 xdr in the sun glass holder? Does it fit?

 

[OriginalToken]

Hey all. I am wondering if anyone has installed a YEASU 400 xdr in the sun glass holder? Does it fit?

I am working from an assumption, I do not have the FTM-400XDR, but I do have the FTM-400D. My assumption is that the two control heads are the same size. I have seen the two of them side by side before and they looked the same with very minor differences. So, based on trying to fit the -400D into the sunglass holder:

Sort of, but I would not do it myself.

The control head of the -400D is just barely small enough to fit in the sunglass holder. However, the lip of the holder would need to be trimmed off to make it all fit and in order to reach the knobs in the lower left and right corners of the control head. And the knobs at the top corners are well up in the overhead console and hard to reach. So the head will fit, but is hard to use stuffed in there. There is the potential that you will have to trim the inner part of the overhead to allow clearance of the lower right corner knob, it looks like it might be touching slightly.

You can make it work, but you have to cut things up and it still is a bit of a pain to use. But it would be tucked away nicely.

T!