looking at putting a trunk lip mount on my hatchback. i have a 108"
whip and am worried that, if i hit anything, it'll damage the lip of
the hatchback. any comments? thanks all

On Sat, 05 Feb 2011 07:32:07 +0000, Jim Higgins
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:24:11 -0500, bpuharic wrote:

looking at putting a trunk lip mount on my hatchback. i have a 108"
whip and am worried that, if i hit anything, it'll damage the lip of
the hatchback. any comments? thanks all


If slight bending of the metal of the hatch is a concern, you probably
don't want to attach a 108" whip to it. It will put quite a strain on
th metal at highway speeds. I speak from experience. Mine was
slightly bent from a Hustler whip much shorter than 108". The
distortion was at the trailing edge of the mount, not at the lip of
the hatch. Perhaps that suggests a solution to prevent the problem by
spreading the load at this point.

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info

bpuharic wrote:

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info


How about using a bicycle carrier and attaching the antenna to it? The
load would be better distributed.

On Sat, 05 Feb 2011 11:05:25 -0600, joe wrote:

bpuharic wrote:

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info


How about using a bicycle carrier and attaching the antenna to it? The
load would be better distributed.

that's actually a pretty good idea...may interfere with the
hatchback...someone here had the idea of a luggage rack, but grounding
may be an issue..

no good solutions!

joe wrote:
bpuharic wrote:

yeah i think you're right. may have to drill holes...

thanks for the info


How about using a bicycle carrier and attaching the antenna to it? The
load would be better distributed.


I've done a variety of schemes like that. A removable bike rack that
straps to the trunk lid works fairly well.

I've also built something that clamps onto the towing/tie-down lug.
That works pretty well if the lug is in the correct orientation.


A light duty trailer receiver works really well, and when you pull the
antenna off, it's very inconspicuous. I did something like this by just
bolting a piece of 1x1" square tubing to the bottom of the spare tire
well to make a sort of receiver. The antenna mount slides in and it's
held in with a couple of removable hitch pins.

pictures (although not very good on the detail you're looking for)
http://home.earthlink.net/~w6rmk/mobile.htm