Date:         Thu, 29 Sep 94 17:16:05 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         sas@opus.xyplex.com (Scott Sminkey - Sustaining Eng Group)
Subject:      Antennas (was re: massive oil leak (77 camper))

Somebody wrote:
>and ham radios and cellular phones <has anybody REALLY got one of these in
>their bus>>?

Yes, I've got TWO ham radios in my camper!  I'll describe the installations
here for anyone else that might be interested.

One radio is a VHF/UHF (2m/70cm) FM transceiver for local communications. I
mounted it on the side of the passenger seat just in front of the seatbelt
buckle thingie and pointed it up and leaning toward the driver's side as much
as I could. That radio is about the size of a CB so a CB could be nicely
mounted there, too. This radio is the one I use while I'm driving and would
be the one I'd call for help on if something happened. (A funny story here:
The first time I used the radio on the 25 watt power setting, the Vanagon
coughed and sputtered and almost died. Of course, I had no idea why and
almost ended up calling for help with the very radio that caused the problem!
It appears that it was interfering with the ECU!) The power cord has a very
short run to the battery which, of course, is under the passenger seat. The
antenna for this radio is mounted in the center of the luggage compartment.
I ran the coax antenna cable under and along the edges of the glued-in rug,
toward the front, then under the dashboard, along the outside of the right
front window pillar, and under the headliner.

The other radio is a low-power HF radio (2-30MHz) for worldwide communications.
I keep it stored in one of the camper storage compartments and usually use it
when I'm camping somewhere. I have a power connector dangling out of the
battery compartment which I hook up when I need to. I use the swingout shelf
as a table and sit on the bench seat to operate. The antenna for this radio
is a ball mount on the left (driver) rear side panel just below the air scoop.
(I took off the plastic air scoop cover to get at the inside of the body panel.)
The coax for this antenna is routed down into the engine compartment then thru
the various camper compartments until it comes out in the small compartment
next to the fridge. I pull the coax out of that compartment when I want to use
the radio. Sometimes I take my high-power HF radio (100 watts) out of my home
setup and put it on a wooden stand I built between the front seats so I can
get better range.

As for the antenna installations, I am a big believer in permanent installations,
i.e., drilling holes. Permanent antennas always outperform thru-the-window
antennas and magnetic mount antennas scratch the body finish. (Not that
there's any place to put a magmount on a camper!) The HF antenna is a Hustler
stainless steel ball mount that required a 1 5/16 inch hole and three holes for
bolts. The mount has a cork gasket that seals water perfectly. The VHF/UHF antenna
required careful use of a hole saw to remove a large round piece of the fiberglas
luggage rack. I then used a special 3/4 inch (I think) hole bit to make the hole
in the metal body. The special bit is very nice because is has a stop ring to keep
you from plunging thru into the headliner when you all of a sudden break thru the
metal! I used a Larsen NMO mount here because the NMO mount is used in all kinds
of radio applications like ham, commercial, and cellular. The mount has a water-
tight rubber gasket on it to keep out water. The ham VHF/UHF antenna element also
has a watertight rubber gasket on it to keep water from getting inside things.
After almost 50,000 miles and 3 1/2 years, there is absolutely no rust on either
mount.

For the CBers in the group, either installation would work well, depending on the
size and mounting requirements for your antenna. I use the Hustler fold-down mast
on the rear mount with resonators that thread onto the top of the mast. There are
a couple of 11m/CB resonators available.

Finally, here's the ASCII picture I adapted from Sami and somebody else to show
you what it looks like!
                                                          o
 73, Scott WO1G                                           |
  91 Camper        o                                      |
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        |  |           ||  Scott Sminkey   WO1G           |  |
        |  |        -- ||  Xyplex, Inc.                   =  |
        |  |           ||  295 Foster Street             (*) |
        |  |           ||  Littleton, MA 01460               |
        |  |      _____||  sasminkey@eng.xyplex.com          |
        |__|    //     \\  (508) 952-4792   //     \\        |
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