I first tried using firestiks 2 meter version of their antenna on a gatemount and while the mount works fine for the firestick cb antennas the 2 meter firestik gets totaly detuned by the spare tire touching it.


i have a little 19" larsen mag mount which works great on the hood but running the coax through an open window sucks.

the mag mount needs to still be removed at times so im thinking of using a uhf bulk head connector somewhere through the firewall on the driver side as my cb power cable runs through the passenger side hole with the foam.

i figure with the bulk head connector i can un-screw the pl259 and remove the antenna anytime i want under the hood. the other side of the bulkhead connector will have the coax to the rig.

the question is where is a good place to mount that bulkhead connector through the firewall where i can get to it easy to unscrew my coax connectors.?

http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-010213

 

I'm sure the bulkhead connector would work fine for what you want to do. I don't know why you couldn't find a spot to make a hole somewhere near the the foam opening? But personally guy, I don't think I would. Reason being.....unlike HF, vhf can get pretty touchy when it comes to swr....the higher in frequency you go the more susceptible it gets. Also, whenever you splice into coax on vhf it can get lossy pretty quick. And with you using a little 19" antenna I really don't think you have much loss to get away with. Again, I'm not saying it won't work but do you really want to do it this way....I mean, as far as performance is concerned? I guess if you just want it for trail use it would be ok, but if you are wanting to hit a repeater miles away, it "could be" touch and go with this set-up. I used to run a full sized 2m mag mounted antenna and it worked real good. If you go with a better antenna, then using the bulkhead connector may not be quite as bad. But if it was me, I would try and run one solid, GOOD quality piece of coax, and if you don't want the antenna exposed all the time, then maybe find a spot inside the engine compartment to keep it when not being in use. But that's just me, as I'm always looking to get the best performance I can when it comes to radio coms.

 

The little guy hits all the repeaters i really need . the problem is trying to pass that coax in and out of hole each time would really be a pain. its so much easier just screwing the pl259 to a bulkhead connector than fishing it through each time.

 

I have used barrels to connect two coaxes together and haven't had problems with that.
I would agree one in the best.
I also have set up my CB and HF to work off the same mount. I use one coax coming through the tailgate and then a barrel when going from CB to HF. I will admit my HF setup isn't the greatest but It does work.
Now where to install it for your location is a good question.

 

i had been hoping to use the gatemount for both my firestik 2 meter antenna and the firestik cb antenna but once the spare goes back on the 2 meter swr is off the charts.

i have a few uhf and vhf antennas already so i would like to use them ,one of which is that little larsen that fits so nice on the hood.

 

I built a couple gate mount brackets and removed the magnet off a 2m/70cm mag mount and mounted the antenna to the bracket. It does clear the spare tire by maybe 3/8" the tire is a 32.. the swr is 1.5ish...

I used a better shielded coax then normal and installed the connectors on myself. Some times the pre-built coax cables are not all the great.

no pics at the moment..

 

It does now......but will it still when you tap into the coax? It may or may not.

 

thats what im afraid of, these things can be quite lossy

 

Exactly.........that's why I said what I did in my first post. You see what I was getting at tho.....right? If you can, maybe drill a big enough hole so you can put your whole connector through it, then use a rubber grommet to seal it up. And with a little antenna like that don't you think you could just find a place inside the engine compartment to keep it when you don't need it? I don't know.......it was just a thought, at least then you wouldn't have to cut your coax and everything "should" work just as good as it does now.