Last Friday while sitting in the parking lot of my building, I tried contacting NR4CB or AB4UG to wish them a happy wedding day.  It didn’t happen.  I could barely hear Connie, could tell someone was there (but couldn’t make out the words) when Eugene was on.  It didn’t help that other stations were 2 kHz above and 2 kHz below.

I got to thinking about running mobile HF again.

This could work.

It looks like I need to fashion a pair of brackets – one would be simple, and the other complex a little.  I do have the mobile bracket for my 706, so I can always use that as a guide for holes.

It seems far simpler when it is a sketch on a post-it note than when it is a piece of sheet metal that has to fit.

Another thought with the brackets is that I don’t *have* to have the radio there.  I need the head there, but I do have the head separation kit, so I can always put the radio elsewhere and run power and antenna to it.

The other thing I looked at was the antenna.  Like every other self-respecting ham, I feel as if antennas should be big.  I was concerned about this 20m antenna and a quick look at K0BG’s website confirmed my suspicions.

Someone gave this to me. I’m considering giving it back once I have a better alternative.

The antenna is so small compared to 5 meters (roughly a 1/4λ for 20 meters) that it has to be basically a dummy load on a stick.  I’m not sure if the bridge above me helped or hurt; I had thought about driving up to Mt. Adams, but for various reasons I couldn’t stray too far.  I’ll have to try again.  I need to run the antenna wire (I’m not sure other vehicles would like the idea of me having that coax flapping around, and I can’t have the tonneau cover open like it is when I’m stationary.

The last consideration is power, but it isn’t a huge consideration.  I have a power line that is safe for 20 amps (as much as my 706 needs), but I don’t want to have to unhook/rehook power connectors (those ARE live, after all).  I’m thinking I need a miniature power distribution center with two pair of fused power poles and a master switch, and maybe a battery shutoff.

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I’ve decided that since I have free reign over the attic, I need (and want) an antenna farm up there.

What I Have

Currently, only one antenna exists in the attic: an 80-10m trap dipole.  It works pretty well and can be tuned on 160m and 6m, but it is limited in direction.

What I Want

Everything!  Well, almost…

Since my dipole lacks the NE and SW parts of the country, I want to build another and place it perpendicular to the current one.

I also want to install 2m and 70cm rigid dipoles (horizontal) on rotators.  That will be interesting considering the issues with the roof structure.

Last, I want vertically polarized antennas for 6m, 2m, and 70cm.  Sometimes I need those bands.  More often, I want those bands.

The Plan

Since I’m talking about three antennas that connect to the HF port of my rig and an additional four for the VHF port, I want to have only two expensive coax feeders.  I’ll also do something to remote switch the antennas.  I’ll probably run a CAT5 line with the antenna lines to help with this.

The Extras

In addition to the antennas, I want to put HSMM-Mesh in my attic.  That will require another CAT5 line as well as a POE injector (which I’ll likely build myself).

The diagram isn’t exact, and I haven’t compared my logbook to where I think my dipole hits well, but it’s close enough.

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