Hi all. I just finished mounting my antenna(5'Wilson Silverload) with the AUDODGE2 fender mount. I see there are 4 small holes for (I'm guessing) additional support. Did you drill, & add screws to this, or just use the fender bolt? Any problems with this set up? Thanks.

 

I just used the bolt and it worked great for a while. Then I up graded to a Wilson 5000 on the roof. (Drilled the hole)

 

I drilled all mine and I recommend you do the same. That 5' Firestick is a lot of load on the bracket for only one bolt to hold. It will surely come loose someday if you don't.

 

I run a K40 4' super flex whip with just the fender bolt. I have had no problem at all. I have put it through car washes with brushes, and even snapped the antenna off on trees all with just the fender bolt. Maybe i am lucky but i think it is just fine that way.

 

The '03 year has a different spacing than the '04+ trucks. The bolt is over 2" from the edge of the hood on my '04.5 truck.

 

I had run dual Bajans on the bed rails... with ok success... went to the Wilson 1000 roof mount (drilled) and its been awesome! Got my SWR down to 1.05:1

 

I would have loved to do a roof mount. But I have a truck camper, so that aint happenin.

 

Can we get a pic of the fender mount? I do think it would look good, but correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't seem like that would be good for your SWR at all. Half of your wave propogation will be bouncing off the truck. Roof mount is the best for an omnidirectional antenna operating in HF.

 

I have mine mounted on the fender,and the SWR is very good. I want to say it was either 1.2 or 1.3

Thats with a cheap 4' fiberglass antenna.

 

I'll see about getting a pic, but you're right. It's not the best place for the antenna. I got my SWR to 1.8 through the 27-28.5mhz spectrum. Couldn't get it any better where it is. I may try a longer coax some time.(shouldn't change anything tho) But like I said I run a slide in camper, so a roof mount is out. And I'm not going to rig up some creative system to change to another antenna when I load it up.

 

Here's a pic of the mounted antenna.[IMG][/IMG]

 

ok, I misunderstood what you meant by "fender mounted" i thought more of the antenna would be masked by the side of the truck. Mine is in relatively the same place except behind the cab on the passenger side. SWR around 1.5 with a wilson 2000.

 

[IMG][/IMG]

 

I'm limited by the truck camper, so I guess 1.8 SWR is as good as I can get where it's mounted. I may try a longer coax some day, & see what it gives me, but it shouldn't make any difference if everything else is OK. I'm running a 9' RG58AU coax now.

 

Try it on the camper