Frontrunner antenna mount

[Captain Chaos]

Has anyone with the Frontrunner Slimline II tried the antenna mount? I like how it holds 180 degrees, but I wonder how well it grounds. I guess if a no ground plane antenna was used, it wouldn’t matter.

https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/int/antenna-mount.html

 

[Kent R]

I am looking at it also, my thought was to run a brass ground from the antenna base to the bare metal of the rack. That way it could still swing down.

 

[Captain Chaos]

It certainly is an attractive possibility. I’m going to try one for my gmrs antenna. I just ordered a radio through Jeep Expedition’s group buy.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Boy, did I put this in the wrong place. I meant to post in the communications forum. Oops

 

[Kent R]

Boy, did I put this in the wrong place. I meant to post in the communications forum. Oops

do you want me to move it for you?

 

[Captain Chaos]

do you want me to move it for you?

Please

 

[Kent R]

Please

Done

 

[Captain Chaos]

Done

Thanks Kent

 

[Prerunner1982]

1/2 wave antenna and you should be fine.

 

[TerryD]

With the 1/2 wave you should be good as they aren't as ground dependent, but with a 1/4 wave that mount isn't going to perform very well.

The powder coat isolates it from the rack and the rack will most likely be isolated from the body of the vehicle by paint which means that your coax will be trying to radiate.

I run a trunk lid type mount on the side of the rear gate on my X with the coax above the head liner to the front.


I had to drill extra spots to get the clocking the way I wanted it and when I got it, I disassembled it and removed all the paint in the pivot areas and put a coating of copper antiseize in them when I reassembled it. It does OK with grounding since the set screws that hold it on penetrate the paint to the metal. I used antiseize on each of them as well and have had no issues with it as a Ham, GMRS or CB mount. It's dedicated to Ham right now with a $13 Tram dual band NMO from Amazon as well.

 

[Captain Chaos]

I received my mount from Frontrunner today. It’s pretty nice. But I would expect that from Frontrunner. I do think it would work best with a no ground plane antenna. The powder coat is pretty thick and applied very well. I can see how these may require some sanding to get a ground.


The hole is to small for a NMO mount, but a PL-259 works perfectly. A small amount of drilling will be required for a NMO.


The plastic cap Frontrunner puts on every nut that leaves the factory is in the way to screw the antenna wire on, but there’s enough room once it’s removed.



It looks good mounted to the rack. There is a screw and nut to tighten on the swivel to lock it in place if so desired.



It started snowing pretty hard while I installed this, so I didn’t get the ground strap installed yet. To be continued after the snow quits!