Screwdriver antenna installation. Ideas?

I would like to install a screwdriver antenna on my Tacoma. Has anyone else done this? Any advice and/or pictures showing how you did it would be appreciated.

 

Like this:

http://iook.org/itc/screwdriver_ant.htm

 

I installed one on my Nissan I had right to the sheet metal. I've been considering doing the same to the Tacoma....

 

umm...why?

 

That is hilarious. Not quite what I'm looking for but hilarious.

That is an option, but I would rather not cut holes in the bodywork, but I might after the new wears off.

Because Screwdriver antennas are the most efficient mobile HF antennas there are.

 

"What we have here is a failure to communicate"

Seriously... non-radioheads are going to think that you are asking for exactly what was posted in the link above.

 

can't believe everything you see/read

 

I haven't installed one on a Tacoma, but my boss has one on his Tahoe. I think some metal pipe was clamped with antenna mounting hardware to the crossmember of his receiver hitch. Then another piece of pipe was clamped at a right angle (and vertical) to the previously mentioned piece so they form an "L." The antenna was then attached to the second piece of pipe. If he's in tomorrow I'll try to get a picture and post it.

 

Found this on a ham forum talking about one on a tacoma maybe this helps:

First of all, the Little Tarheel II is a pretty small antenna. You've got options. Your solution would likely work because of how small the antenna is and how low you're talking about mounting it. There are other solutions though.

First, your truck has those bed rails in it. There are two ways you can use that. The first is to make a bracket for the antenna that will slide into it. The other is to buy the "cargo divider" from Toyota. That's a steel gate that slides fore and aft in those channels. Mount the antenna to that.

Next is the grounding issue. That bed is platic which means you can drill through it at any point you want without fear of weakening it nor causing any rust. You can also use the bolts that are already there that hold the bed on. I would think that the combination of the cargo divider and the bed mounting screws would get you radiating pretty well.

I don't know - the Little Tarheel isn't much smaller in terms of windload than the standard 40 meter Hustler with the short mast. And, I can tell you that a 3-magnet mount won't hold it at 70 MPH at least on I-35 in Iowa a year or so ago. It did work with 20 meter resonators. But then, there is the grounding issue, which is absolutely critical to mobile antenna performance on the lower bands.

I didn't realize that the Tacoma I test-drove recently had a plastic bed. Thanks for the heads up! The car I want to replace won't support a good ball mount because the sheet metal is too thin.



Also found this about half way or better down they have a screwdriver antenna mounted in the pic:

http://www.repdesign.us/gpage2.html

 

Good grounding is very important and they work best if the coil is above the roof line. I think it is Eliminator antennas that make a nice bumper bracket with a side brace very strong. The LIL Tarheal is very highly rated by those that own them. I use Ham sticks with an auto tuner because I'm to numb to remember the antenna is back there when I pull into the garage and would rather total a $29 stick then a $400 antenna. For you CB guys with the screw driver antennas we can communicate across the globe on any given day on dozens of bands and still talk to our neighbors 10 miles down the road. Yes it is a Ham radio thing.

 

I always said I was going to do a 102" whip and an autotuner next time I did HF mobile.... that might be a way to go too....

 

Medic, could you post a link to that forum you found?

I have seen the mounts welded to the trailer hitch before, a couple guys around here have theirs mounted like that. I have the OEM hitch reciever on my truck so I could have a mount welded to it. I do have a SGC 235 autotuner, I could mount it in the bed and ground it to one of the bolts that attach the bed to the frame and install a whip on the bed rail, I may try that and see how it works.

 

This is how I mounted my 102" whip for 10 meters.

It meters at 70 watts out and 1/2 a watt reflected. My radio is a 70 watt Kenwood TK-6110 commercial radio modified to transmit on 10m and 6m.


Could mount a screwdriver antenna to it as well.

 

Wow 52.525 is a real stretch for a TK 6110 we had a couple of them in the county's school buses. What are you using to tune the whip?

 

Nice photo.......at a cemetery?

 

Here ya go:

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?189950-Screwdriver-Antenna-Question-with-Toyota-Tacoma

 

Thanks for the link Medic, I may try to resurrect that thread and see if anyone there had any luck.

Barefoot, that is the way we mount a HF antenna to our truck at work. But I don't want to have to disconnect my antenna to pull a trailer.

 

The trailer hitch is a compromise and they are not the best ground. There is a lot of the antenna blocked by the tail gate if you can get the tuning coil above the roof your golden. I use different ham stick style fiberglass for each band all tuned up ready to go the screw drive ones are great but I would kill it with in a week. Here is the mounting I use and all though the tie down tracks showed a good ground I looped them all together and I had some #4 copper left over from another project it is zig zaged across the frame under the bed for a conunterpoise

 

Thats true. I think I am just going to use a 102" whip and an autotuner as I had originaly planned.

 

Most of the better tuners will tune a random wire with a 1:1 balan so they should have no problem tuning a whip. The $400 Icom whip is 2.5 meters (about 96") so they are pretty close.
There is not much metal in the rear of the truck I love my plastic bed but it's a poor ground plane that's why I used the wire under the bed.