Ham Radio Antenna Recommendations for my Razor.

[Dusty]

It has been brought to my attrition that I have been slacking in mounting a ham in my Razor. This is the radio I will be using.https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?c...51389D979FE1311373&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0
This is my Razor. Both racks are made of steel but the top rack has an aluminum floor. It’s all bolted to the chassis and I could easily ground it all. I’m looking for something that I can take down or off to get the razor under my car port. Any ideas @NYECOGunsmith

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Go get a piece of galvanize sheet steel, doesn't have to be think, and then screw or pop rivet it to the aluminum floor of the rack, the bigger the better, but a 2'x2' square would do, centered up if you can, and stick a good mag mount antenna to it, call it good.

This antenna, plus the mag mount would be top of the line for gain for the 2 meter side, and if you ever needed it, it would also function on 70 CM with even more gain.
COMET-NCG CSB-790A Antenna Mobile Dual Band 2m-70cm, CSB790A (hamradio.com)
Mag mounts for a large antenna like this need to be pretty hefty in size and magnet power, something like:
MFJ MFJ-335BM GigaParts.com

See reviews for antenna here:
Comet Mobile VHF/UHF Vertical Antennas CSB-790A (dxengineering.com)
You could go with a mag mount for it, as I described above, or fabricate a NMO mount through that sheet aluminum floor of the rack if you wanted to go that route. The NMO mount would use the aluminum as the ground plane.
NMO mount like this:
Comet Antennas AD-25M GigaParts.com

Either way, it offers the fold down feature and good gain, 5.1dB/7.7dB 2m/70cm. An added bonus, it will handle up to 150 watts should you decide that the 80 watts in the Yaesu FT2980R are not enough.

 

[Dusty]

Is it just me or is it odd that a good brand antenna is almost as much as the radio? I just bought a new Diamond for the 8900, yep $100.
Thanks for your input, it’s time I get a radio in this machine. Don’t tell anyone, but I still don’t have a HF rig. Such a slacker I am.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Old HAM saying, "A good antenna is a poor man's linear amplifier".
For HF antennas, you can easily build as good or better an antenna than you can buy.
For VHF and UHF, you can do the same, except maybe for a mobile antenna. But for a Base Station VHF or UHF, you can easily build a great antenna, cheaper than you can buy one.
I build all the above all the time for friends, family, new hams, etc. Just need to know a few simple math formulas, and have a good antenna analyzer, I have two, an older MFJ 259, and a newer Comet CAA 500 Mark II .
I'm too cheap to buy one of my family's products.........
Bird Electronic - Bird AT-500 Analyzer - Antenna Tester 2-520 MHz - IN STOCK - LIMITED QUANTITY #2283 (martinrfsupply.com)

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Here are a few of the 2 meter / 70 cm home made antennas I have built for myself and others.
Efficient 2M Antenna Disguised in a Satellite Dish (w6nbc.com) it is omnidirectional, vertically polarized.

Here's a 2 meter slot cube I have built several of, tunes up pretty well on 70 cm as well, omnidirectional, vertically polarized.


Copper pipe J pole


2 meter loop antenna round or


Square

Some ideas for other 2 meter home brew antennas I have made that work just fine

2 METER ANTENNAS - CHEAP AND EASY! (hamuniverse.com)
Build it: 2 meter 1/4 wave ground plane antenna - KB9VBR Antennas (jpole-antenna.com)
Amateur Radio Antenna Projects (ac6v.com)

 

[Dusty]

That’s really amazing stuff. Someday

 

[Dusty]

You sure are good at spending my money Steve.? Anyway, I ordered a radio, antenna, mount, and coax this morning. I didn’t think about it, but from where the top rack stops all the way to the front is one big sheet of aluminum. It’s my shade/ground plane now.?

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Buy once, cry once.
If your life may EVER depend on a piece of gear, obtain the best there is, hang the cost.
It will instill confidence in you , hopefully get you to practice with it, and be less likely to let you down when you need it most.
Applies to guns, 4x4's, survival gear, tools, and even wives!
Notice I said "OBTAIN", not buy, you can't buy a good wife...........the payments never end if you try to!

 

[Dusty]

It turned out decent.

 

[NYECOGunsmith]

Looks good. Give me a call when you want to test it to see if you have programmed in the repeaters correctly.
Suggest you start with these ones:
The Johnny repeater, located atop Mt. Schrader in Pahrump, 145.490 (-) PL 123
West site repeater, located at the west end of Charlston Park in Pahrump, 145.130(-) pl 100
PARRA repeater, located up off Blagg, 147.150 (+) pl100
Amargosa Valley repeater, 146.760 (-) pl 123.
Beatty repeater, located on Sawtooth mountain outside of Beatty, 145.430(-) pl 100,
High Potosi repeater, located atop mt. Potosi, 146.880 (-) pl 100, covers Pahrump Valley and the Las Vegas valley.

 

[Dusty]

Will do, these new radios are super easy to program. So far anyway.

 

[Dusty]

I was listening to the Johnny repeater earlier today. I’ll get the rest of these programmed.