I am assuming that your intention is to mount V/UHF antennas on the
vehicle.... Being fully mindfull of the limitations of V/UHF, and that its
used for local repeaters and not DX, a real simple and inexpensive solution
would be to go with a glass mount antenna.... the one I run on my Tundra is
a 2m/70cm dual band "cellular look-alike"($25.00 on Ebay) on the passenger
top corner of the windshield. No holes *ANYWHERE* for antenna mounting, and
works sufficiently well, even on low level machines in rural south
Mississippi.

-n6ojn

"Gary" wrote in message
news
I'm giving serious thought to buying a new vehicle and you know it's bad
when your first thought is not the mileage or seating capacity, but where
to plumb the radio! Does anyone manufacture an adjustable bracket that
will fit into or around the luggage rack frames? I can fabricate my own,
but not having a full-featured machine shop, it might not be as pretty as
my wife would like.

Noon-Air wrote:
I am assuming that your intention is to mount V/UHF antennas on the
vehicle.... Being fully mindfull of the limitations of V/UHF, and that its
used for local repeaters and not DX, a real simple and inexpensive solution
would be to go with a glass mount antenna.... the one I run on my Tundra is
a 2m/70cm dual band "cellular look-alike"($25.00 on Ebay) on the passenger
top corner of the windshield. No holes *ANYWHERE* for antenna mounting, and
works sufficiently well, even on low level machines in rural south
Mississippi.

-n6ojn

"Gary" wrote in message
news
I'm giving serious thought to buying a new vehicle and you know it's bad
when your first thought is not the mileage or seating capacity, but where
to plumb the radio! Does anyone manufacture an adjustable bracket that
will fit into or around the luggage rack frames? I can fabricate my own,
but not having a full-featured machine shop, it might not be as pretty as
my wife would like.


I'm not inclined to drill holes if I don't have to. :-0

With regard to glass mounted antennas, I have never seen one that would
work properly over time, so I will avoid those as well.

The Diamond K515SNMO looks promising but it must live on the side rail
and not more centered. The cross members of what I am looking at
resemble an airfoil and are about 3 inches wide. Would be nice to have a
bracket that would fit over and under that cross piece and then mount to
the bracket. I might have to get some stock and go to fabricating.

.....................
.............................
.....................

"Gary" wrote in message
. ..
Noon-Air wrote:
I am assuming that your intention is to mount V/UHF antennas on the
vehicle.... Being fully mindfull of the limitations of V/UHF, and that
its used for local repeaters and not DX, a real simple and inexpensive
solution would be to go with a glass mount antenna.... the one I run on
my Tundra is a 2m/70cm dual band "cellular look-alike"($25.00 on Ebay) on
the passenger top corner of the windshield. No holes *ANYWHERE* for
antenna mounting, and works sufficiently well, even on low level machines
in rural south Mississippi.

-n6ojn

"Gary" wrote in message
news
I'm giving serious thought to buying a new vehicle and you know it's bad
when your first thought is not the mileage or seating capacity, but
where to plumb the radio! Does anyone manufacture an adjustable bracket
that will fit into or around the luggage rack frames? I can fabricate my
own, but not having a full-featured machine shop, it might not be as
pretty as my wife would like.


I'm not inclined to drill holes if I don't have to. :-0

With regard to glass mounted antennas, I have never seen one that would
work properly over time, so I will avoid those as well.

The Diamond K515SNMO looks promising but it must live on the side rail and
not more centered. The cross members of what I am looking at resemble an
airfoil and are about 3 inches wide. Would be nice to have a bracket that
would fit over and under that cross piece and then mount to the bracket. I
might have to get some stock and go to fabricating.

Also be mindfull of your overhead clearance....The glass mount, cell
look-a-like is not a problem, but a 30+ inch tall diamond on top of a
vehicle could cause some problems in drive-throughs, garages, etc.
With the antennas that currently reside on my Tundra, my clearance is
12'6"....no more bank drive-throughs, fast food, parking garages, and plays
hell with low branches and wires.

-n6ojn

Gary wrote:

I'm not inclined to drill holes if I don't have to. :-0

With regard to glass mounted antennas, I have never seen one that would
work properly over time, so I will avoid those as well.

The Diamond K515SNMO looks promising but it must live on the side rail
and not more centered. The cross members of what I am looking at
resemble an airfoil and are about 3 inches wide. Would be nice to have a
bracket that would fit over and under that cross piece and then mount to
the bracket. I might have to get some stock and go to fabricating.


There is one problem with mounting on the cross members of the rack...
After time, the cross member will be twisted due to the force on it from
the wind pushing on the antenna.
It will happen faster the higher the ambient temp, and material of the rack and
color...
The only way to keep this from happening, or to minimize the flexing, is to
mount it as close to the side rails as possible..
I would add an extra cross member right behind/before the stock cross member,
and attach an aluminum or stainless steel plate with NMO hole to mount the antenna.
The resulting setup will be much stronger, and negates the special
clamp/mount needed..

Bob N9LVU