VA3QV Listening more than talking

As promised in my last post.

Most of you are familiar with the “Jaw Mount” for 3/8 threaded antennas.

They are fantastic for Portable setups where you are limited in what you can set up and where. However the price is a bit steep for me for an antenna setup that would be my 4th choice.

Before we go any further…. Let me explain. My portable station antennas are as follows:

The primary antenna is a 29.5 foot (with a 17 foot counterpoise) longwire running into a 9:1 unun with a choke balun at the radio end of the 20 foot coax. It works very well for me with my XIEGU X5105.

The next antenna is a 64 foot longwire (EFHW) running into a 49:1 unun with a choke balun at the radio end of the 20 foot coax.

Both these antennas are supported by a MFJ 33 foot telescopic flimsy mast. In some cases as a vertical or others as an “inverted vee”

The next antenna would be my “Buddipole Deluxe antenna” This antenna I normally use in a horizontal configuration and depending on where you tap the coils is a 6-40m portable antenna.

As its the “Deluxe” model I do have a tripod with a lightweight telescopic mast and tripod that comes with it. You do need a little room to set it up and occasionally, if you extend the mast too high its prone to falling donw and it can be bit of a pain to tune but its really a wonderful piece of kit. Once you get it set up its a keeper.

Now as you (might) know “Buddipole” also makes a “Buddistick” which is a 10-40m vertical.

Above pic shows an early setup of mine with the buddistick clamped to a picnic table in a “Non Pota” park in Ottawa before POTA was a thing.

So…. as you might guess looking at the two pictures a buddistick is half a buddipole … All you need to make it happen is a strong solid mount to mount the buddistick to whatever is available. That is where the Jaw Mount mentioned above could come into play except for a 4th choice antenna I find it a tad expensive….

Now remember that this homebrewed mount should work well with any sort of antennas that use the 3/8 stud mount… Hamsticks to Hustlers, Buddipole parts to Wolf River coils… The only limitations is how you decide to use it,

Here’s how I came up with a cheaper way to do it….

A spare booster cable jaw clamp

The one I used (as shown above) was purchased at Princess Auto (Canada’s Version of Harbor Freight) and I paid $5.99 for the pair.

A single truckers mirror mount.

These are retailed a various prices by most Ham Dealers but also easily found at most Hamfests. I got mine at a local hamfest (unused) for $10.00

Now lets build it but first…

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You build the following at your own risk… You have enough common sense not to cut fingers, crush fingers or any other way hurt or damage yourself.

If you have any doubts….. Stop immediately….

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Here we go….

Step 1- CAREFULLY remove the insulation on one side of the clamp.

Step 2- Attach the “Mirror Mount” to the side of the clamp that you removed the insulation from.

Step 3- Using a multi meter check that the mount and the clamp are bonded together.

Don’t forget even if you are attaching to a metal pole there still could be a need for a “groundplane, radials or counterpoises. Its very east just to attach a counterpoise to the mirror mount. A simple wire with an alligator clip could connect to the mirror mount fairly easy. The idea of this mount is to help you get a mobile style antenna in the air… Don’t forget the basics… Also don’t over think it…. All its designed to do it put a mobile antenna on the air.

73bob