Antenna Spring Questions

Question

Howdy. I have a Wilson 4G Omni-directional outdoor antenna to mount on the roof luggage rack tubing on my motorhome. The antenna comes with a sheet metal mounting bracket that screws to the base of the antenna. My concern is driving under low hanging branches and possibly knocking it off.

I have seen spring mounts for CB and other antennas, and Wilson has a truckers antenna that has a spring, so I am wondering about adding a spring to my setup.

Firstly, I am not particularly knowledgeable about this sort of thing, so keep that in mind. The
antenna I have is 75 ohm and the coax connects directly to the antenna. If I screw a spring to the antenna coax connection, how do I then connect the cable? Is there a pass-through inside the spring?

Or do I have it all wrong in my head about how this works? Any ideas appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Jim B.

yc_1 · Answer

No, adding a spring to the coax will change the characteristics.

If you wanted to add a spring you would want to connect it to the metal mounting bracket.

This antenna is not that tall so I suspect you would be taking off other items on the roof if limbs are an issue.

mrwizard · Answer

you would have to add a spring to the mount
not to that antenna
that is a good antenna, folded dipole no ground plain plate needed

where on the roof rack is it mounted
street/drivers side is safer than curb side

or you could get one of these
this is what i have, but i put it inside the overhead cabinet on the drivers side

it does need a steel/iron surface to stick too, has a magnetic base
the bracket from antenna is probably steel, but its too small a surface area for a proper ground plain
a vehicle roof car/truck or something like a 12" serving tray/scrap metal plate

spring loaded multi-band wilson cellular booster antenna

wa8yxm · Answer

To Spring mount that antenna you will have to remove the existing mounting bracket and make another one that is flat. No bend. The new bracket needs to have 4 holes. 3 matching the 3 that attach to the Unit and you need to have the plate extend out one side a bit and drill a 3/8 inch hole (or about a 1/32nd larger) there.
Now a 3/8 Fine thread as I recall bolt goes into the large spring, and it mounts with a 3/8 Fine stud to a new mount. (Ball type) you will need to get at a CB shop.. That's for the big spring.

Small spring 3/8 becomes 1/4 as I recall.. but check the spring.

deepdoc1 · Answer

Thanks for the replies, I think I have the idea now.  I'll make up a revised bracket to use probably a light duty antenna spring, and mount it on the driver's side.  When counting the height of the railing on the roof, the antenna does stick up a little higher than the a/c, so a spring will give me some extra comfort level.

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