Need to go HF Mobile quick. Need advice, fast!

[cockpitbob]

I have a Yaesu FT-857 (100W) all band mobil that's only seen base station use. Next week we are driving 9hrs to PA (and back). The Original 13 Colonies special event is that week. My son and I want something to do and I want an excuse to get the wife to drive. I need an antenna setup.

This needs to be a temporary installation, and I need it done by Saturday am. We are taking the wive's van and later I'll transfer it to my SUV (no trunk lids). No drilling holes in the wife's van, so the RG-58 gets shut in the door. Both vehicles have a receiver hitch if that matters. I don't see myself talking HF while I'm driving so the radio and antenna won't spend lots time on my car after next week. Yeah, it's going to be a really sub-optimal setup, but I'm OK with that. It's for casual use.

Since this needs to happen fast and will get very little use after next week I've eliminated the expensive complicated stuff like auto-screwdrivers and whips with autotuners. Having 40M, 20M and maybe a 3rd band should keep us entertained. I guess I'm OK with pulling over to change bands.

So, what kind of mount and antenna can I get and install in a few days?

 

[n1oty]

Hamsticks of the appropriate bands and an HF magnet mount. They are compromise antennas and QSY requires stopping to change antennas, but certainly meet your requirements.

 

[cockpitbob]

Well, I had to get things on order today to be ready by the weekend so I just pulled the trigger. I'm just going with a Comet lip mount and MFJ ham-sticks for 40M and 20M. About $100 all rolled up. I was hoping for something like a manual screwdriver or a pluggable jumper like the Multi-ranger or Opektech but there wasn't time. And at $16ea for the hamsticks, this was cheaper anyway. I also bought a 2nd 40M stick and MFJ's dipole mount so I can have a 40M mini-dipole for portable operations.

I'm not sure if the performance difference between mag mount and lip mount is significant, but the guy at HRO said with the 4 set screws cutting through the paint I'll have much better grounding with the lip mount. Besides, both cars roofs are about 6' up which would put the top of the stick way up.

I'll post how it works on our drive this weekend.

Thanks for the advice John.

 

[Realtor MA]

When will you be on? Maybe we can QSO.

Well, I had to get things on order today to be ready by the weekend so I just pulled the trigger. I'm just going with a Comet lip mount and MFJ ham-sticks for 40M and 20M. About $100 all rolled up. I was hoping for something like a manual screwdriver or a pluggable jumper like the Multi-ranger or Opektech but there wasn't time. And at $16ea for the hamsticks, this was cheaper anyway. I also bought a 2nd 40M stick and MFJ's dipole mount so I can have a 40M mini-dipole for portable operations.

I'm not sure if the performance difference between mag mount and lip mount is significant, but the guy at HRO said with the 4 set screws cutting through the paint I'll have much better grounding with the lip mount. Besides, both cars roofs are about 6' up which would put the top of the stick way up.

I'll post how it works on our drive this weekend.

Thanks for the advice John.

 

[cockpitbob]

When will you be on? Maybe we can QSO.

I'd love to. We hit the road sometime late this Saturday am. Got a favorite frequency on 20M?

After that we start hunting for colonies in the Original 13 Colonies special event. Last year we hit all 13 colonies and got the Clean Sweep certificate. This year my boy is in baseball camp for all but Saturday, so he's going to be operating for much of the drive to PA

 

[n1oty]

HF mobile is a different animal compared to regular HF operation from your house. Your transmitted signal will always be smaller than everyone else. The trick is to cut signal robbing ground losses and maximize your ground plane. The ideal location for a mobile HF antenna is as high as possible (minimizes ground losses) and centrally mounted on the vehicle (for best omni pattern). Off-center simply results in a skewed pattern, but that is how I've run HF mobile for a few years now. The biggest problem you may encounter with HF mobile is high noise floor in the receiver on certain bands due to poor grounding between car body parts. RF grounding car body parts and sections helps a lot. Shielding fuel injectors helps too. For the short term, just pre-check which bands are noisy and which are not in the vehicle with the engine running.

 

[cockpitbob]

N1OTY, any opinion on mag mount vs. lip mount? The guy at Ham Radio Outlet thought since the lip mount's 4 set-screws ground by cutting through the paint I'd get better results with that. But as you point out, being high and centered is better. OTOH both our vehicles are 6' high so I also figured I would be whacking a lot of tree branches if I mag mounted it to the roof.

This rig will probably go in my wife's van once a year, so I'm not bonding all the doors. I'll bond everything on my SUV though. I can't wait to see how things work in the van. And it has a lot of road noise so I need to remember to turn the mic gain down.