Mobile Antenna Farm 2.0 - Build Thread

@Lars Potentially stupid question. Did you run a ground to the stake pocket mounts?

 

For the HF Antenna I did. The VHF/UHF antennas are a "Ground Independent" end fed dipole configuration.
There is also a common mode choke on the Coax feeding the HF antenna, below the stake pocket mount in the fender.



The Tailgate will soon be bonded to the bed on both sides. The Bed is bonded to the frame at four points. The Exhaust pipe is bonded to the frame near the exit. When my step sides come in I'll be bonding the body to the frame in three places on each side. And the hood is getting two ground straps.

I have about 15lbs of Ferrite beads on order to choke noise from things like the computer harness, etc.

 

I don't run HF, but I have a short

$50 Diamond NR72BNMO Dualband Mobile Antenna

Diamond NR72BNMO that says "grounding required." I never got around to using it on my old truck, but since I ripped off my Comet on a tree, I figured it would be good to start running a shorter antenna on the new truck. Without having to go all in with bonding everything like you, do you think that just grounding the mount to the bed or frame would be sufficient?

 

bonding will help abate noise, but isn't strictly necessary for VHF/UHF unless your truck is real noisy (for instance my LED lights dramatically affect my 2m, 70cm, and AM/FM terrestrial radio)
for 2m / 70cm you need about 19" of metal around the bottom of the antenna as an RF ground. on a stake pocket mount you easily have that to the front and rear. But I'd suggest adding a ground strap similar to what I did on my HF antenna. I'm going to add straps to the other two, just because I'm grounding everything already anyway, what's two more?

 

Where did you run the strap to?

 

the one that's there now grounds both to a bolt into the fender (I think it's one of the bumper struts in the rear.) . and then down to the frame as well.

 

Swapped out the hose clamps on my 5160s in the rear today.


Still waiting on Upper and Lower Control arms, as well as Tierods for the front end.
Going to be a long five days without my truck.

 

To fix up the alignment... New Lower Control Arms. New outer tie rod ends. Camburg Uni-Ball Upper Control arms.



Not pictured, a hack job on the cab mounts. Turns out with a 2.5" lift at wheel lock the inside of the 17" rock warrior wheels rub on the outer tierod ends. SO..... 1" Bora wheel spacers are on their way for all four corners. With the cab mount chop, I'll still clear everything, I think.

 

very nice !. total chaos sells cams replacement

 

The Front Body Mounts & Pinch Weld got adjusted this weekend. There's so much more room for activities now. I also did the high speed, low drag swaybar delete mod. This one I'm not sure will stay, but I'm glad I pulled it. Three of the bolts were cancerous to the point They may have just snapped off in the frame.






There's a good inch and a half everywhere now.

 

Installed a Genesis Offroad dual battery system with two Odyssey PC25-1400 Extreme batteries today.

 

Got something delivered by a big rig today.

What's in the Box?


Sorry for Potato Photos...

 

Man this is a sexy looking truck when she's out on the beach.

 

Damn I'm jealous. I wish he would make a 3rd gen bumper.

 

the Pelfreybilt front bumper would have been my first choice, but they ONLY make a third gen bumper... He claims it would work if I kept the top cap from my factory bumper, but on my rock warrior that's one solid piece of plastic all the way down. There's no chrome or steel parts in it aside from the crash bar behind the skin.

 

I agree the Pelfrey bumper is a work of art, I was drooling on it at Jambo this year, but on a second gen I think the DO bumper is what I will go with also. I like that it eleminates that upper piece of plastic.

 

When’re we gonna see pics of it mounted? The only thing that’s kept me from looking at Demello is how the bumpers hang out on either side to accommodate flares.

 

Yeah, I need to pick up a winch before I mount this. I don't want to install it, just to pull it off and re-install it with a winch.

Hopefully this weekend.

 

How long did you have to wait from the time you ordered to the time it showed up? Had a chance to install it yet?

 

Very nice, sir.
About three years ago, I studied for the test and then never took it. Life got complicated. Now that life has calmed down a bit, I think about getting my Technician license from time to time.

 

Almost 12 weeks.

 

No time like the present... Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

 

Now that looks damn good. Got a full frontal view?

 

Here you go

 

Truck looks fantastic! Damn I sure was hoping you were going to say it was a miracle and you got it quicker somehow... I’m thinking about ordering one in the near future but the 10-12 week lead time has me questioning it...

 

Just Do It! The wait isn’t so bad and the bumper is worth it.

 

I think I am... Bumper is definitely worth it, what winch did you go with?

 

12k Smittybilt XRC (with synthetic rope.)

 

There's no going back now! Drilled 5 holes through the roof of my truck today.
I'm replacing the Comet and Diamond dual band antennas with a pair of mono-band quarter wave antennas. In my experience these work better, and are far more resistant to tree strikes. They have the added bonus of only costing about $10 each so it's easy to keep two or three spares in the truck.






Please disregard the garage. We're getting ready to move.

 

Stereo upgrades today:
* Sony XAV-AX100 head unit
* Memphis PRX3 (3.5" Co-Axial speakers) for the dash corners
* Memphis 15-SRX60C (6.5" Component speakers) Front Doors.
* Memphis PRX50C (5.5" Component speakers) Rear Doors.