Jeff DePolo wrote:
> Somebody, maybe Larsen or Antenna Specialists, used to make a
> "stiffener" for use with NMO mounts. It was basically an oversized
> brass fender washer with a 3/4" hole in the center. It was thick enough
> that it stiffened the body near the mount, but flexible enough that it
> would take the shape of the concave contour of the roof when you
> tightened down the NMO. I haven't seen them advertised in a while, not
> sure if they're still made.
>
> I had a Diamond dual-bander act as a can-opener to the roof of one of my
> previous trucks (Chevy Tahoe). It got snagged on a low-hanging
> ice-laden branch on the way up to a tower site. The roof gave up before
> the antenna did. I guess that says something about Diamond mobile
> antennas...?
>
> --- Jeff
I didn't quite get to the "can opener" stage with one, but I had a
Diamond survive a "tree event" on top of a Ford pickup truck years ago
also...
The mount in the roof left a large concave dent around it, with cracking
around the hole. I removed the smaller mount, drilled it out for an
NMO, and put a smaller antenna in that hole...
... and found a better place to mount the Diamond on a bracket.
The Diamond did need a few minutes of tightening of the various allen
screws after that one, but no damage to the antenna.
I've gone through two of the large Diamond dual-banders (umm... what is
that model number, the SG9000? 7/8 wave on 2m and three co-linear 1/4
waves on 70cm)... and utterly destroyed a TechAmerica clone of the same
antenna.
The big Diamond's last many years, the clone died in two.
I'm mean as hell to antennas, and I want big ones that work well, and I
always mount them up high, so I'm always hitting them on things. On the
Jeep Cherokee the Diamond antennas mixed with Comet or Diamond
articulated mounts on the liftgate seem to work best. One monster
VHF/UHF on one side, and the ATAS-100 on the other.
My dad's recent visit to HRO got a "score" for me... he knew I liked and
used those antennas and someone had put one in on consignment that had
never been opened... instant 30% discount! (Yay!) It's now in the
garage awaiting the death of the current one, which may not be too far
away... starting to see some plastic cracking in the smaller coil form,
and there's a tiny chunk missing. Must'a hit something with it again.
:-)
Nate WY0X
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