e60ral
Banned
probably because of CBI, just get the CBI mount then:
5th Gen Antenna Bracket | CBI Offroad Fab
5th Gen Antenna Bracket | CBI Offroad Fab
lets see them CB Antenna Mounts
- Thread starter jam23r1
- Start date
CBI requires trimming - f that
e60ral
Banned
so rago fab has a design patent for their bracket (they do cite other brackets which look substantionally similar to me but i guess they were different enough the examiner), it looks like the light bracket could work for an antenna since it's just a slit. If you really like that design just buy the ditch brackets then sell the other one.
RagoFabrication
New member
Hello!!
I’m very sorry about your frustration regarding the information you were looking for. I believe there was some confusion on my employees part regarding your question and I will definitely speak to her about it.
Our company offers two antenna mounts. When you originally asked about trimming she assumed the rear mount. She should have clarified. I’m sorry about that. We do always point customers to our install videos to eliminate confusion on our installs. Definitely not because we do not want to help, it often clarifies most questions and concerns.
The ham antenna mount is 3/4” which is the industry standard size for ham.
It is our company policy not to give out any measurements due to patents and duplication. It may seem silly to some but we had our whole entire product line duplicated by a competitor which lead to costly litigation.
Currently we do not offer any customizations to our products since we manufacture in bulk. If we do start offering customization, we wouldn’t be able to alter our patented products.
All of our ditch brackets are made in pairs and that’s why we sell them in pairs.
Once again, I’m really sorry for your frustration and will talk to my staff about this inside my to ensure better customer service in the future.
Melissa Rago
Hi thanks for reply, I actually have no qualms about the confusion regarding "its on the video" etc. I am just looking to find a solution that works for me and want to get as much info prior to purchasing as possible and the information I needed was hard to get. I still plan on purchasing one of the two Rago mounts since they require no trimming.
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e60ral
Banned
so let's say i have a light with a 3/8" post, how can i figure out if it will fit in your light bracket?
FWIW
I understand NOT wanting to purchase an antenna and cable when you already have one but this new Rago ham mount looks like the cleanest solution I have seen. It will work well for my ham and also my CB as NMO CB antennas are available so I could run one on each side of my hood.
I understand NOT wanting to purchase an antenna and cable when you already have one but this new Rago ham mount looks like the cleanest solution I have seen. It will work well for my ham and also my CB as NMO CB antennas are available so I could run one on each side of my hood.
04rnr
New member
20170821_184853 by travis pierce, on Flickr
20170821_184926 by travis pierce, on Flickr
20170821_184847 by travis pierce, on Flickr
did you set the SWRs? if so what reading are you getting?
BlackCloud
Member
It does look good. How far do you think you can transmit and receive w/ this setup design?
^^^^ This
I run a pair of these (one on either side); passenger's side is a Browning BR-140-B CB antenna, driver's side is a Browning BR-180-B (soon to be replaced by a BR-1713-B for GMRS specific use)... The CB side lives with a NMO cap on the mount unless in use; the VHF/UHF side lives with a Browning BR-2445 for the normal day-to-day.
For what it's worth, I used a small piece of 3M clear vinyl between the topside of the hood and the underside of the mount to protect it, the underside (where the screws are) remains metal to metal
BlackCloud
Member
That's the best thing I've seen yet. Does a Browning mount only work w/ a Browning antenna or can I use a Firestik?
Also, what's the other hole with yellow cord all about?
You can use any NMO antenna, and technically the mount is made by Tram, although other ones exist.
Plenty of adapters exist to adapt the generic 3/8-24 CB mount to NMO as well.
Not to step on jhguth's toes, but I believe the yellow cord is to connect to a battery charger... At least it looks identical to an accessory to my Noco charger.
57buick
New member
Then I decided to eliminate CB and just use my HAM radio in which case I used a Diamond mount attached to my rack that I can just twist the knob and lay it down on the rack and go thru the car wash or whatever when I want. When you fold it down you tighten the knob so its not flopping around its solid whether its standing up or laying down.
Attachments
yep, yellow cord is a battery charger
you can connect a "normal" antenna to a NMO mount using something like this adapter
the big advantage of NMO is that it's so easy to remove or swap antennas, no tools required. i take mine off and put a weather cap on when i want to go through a car wash or park in a low clearance parking deck.
i'm not a fan of firestik antennas personally (i had one, gave it away), they don't flex enough for me. i like that BR-140-B because it's very flexible, you don't need to worry about tree branches or anything.
BlackCloud
Member
Thanks guys. I think I'll forego the Firestik again. I like the cap idea so I need only mount the antenna for road trips.
Anand: Would you post pics of your comms setup please.
I'll apologize before hand for partially derailing this thread with this post...
So, it hasn't been fully tidy'd up as of yet (I still need to cut/fab a cover over the radio bodies and a better "holder" for the mics when not in use); but here's a few quick pics of the setup:
Radios: Midland MXT275 for GMRS | Uniden CMX760 for CB
Antenna Mounts: Tram 1246-B Trunk Lip NMO
Antennas: GMRS Daily - Browning BR-2445 | GMRS Trails - Browning BR-1713-B-S | CB Trails - Browning BR-140-B
Both antenna coax come in on the passenger side firewall grommet, across under the dash and down the center tunnel. A small (1/2") hole was drilled in the bottom of the center console cubby for all the wires to come in and the little piece of carpet at the bottom was trimmed to match. Radios are jointly powered off of the 12v outlet in the center console, each with CAT6 extensions so their remote mics plug in at the side of the center tunnel (GMRS on drivers side, CB on passengers side, aligning with their antenna sides). I still need to secure the radio bodies into place, currently they are just held in by friction/space constraints. And I still want to make a little cover over them.
The remote microphones have Magnetic Mic adapters on them and there is a Scosche Magic Mount on the center tunnel behind the shifter to hold whichever one is in use. I'm a huge fan of the whole line of Schosche Magic Mounts and use them for all sorts of things.
Carefully inspection will notice that the center cubby is the generic storage spot for all sorts of communication stuff... It holds the smaller GMRS antenna and the cap for the CB side when the larger antennas are in use; it also holds my Uniden BCD396XT scanner (as well as it's 800Mhz antenna and 12v adapter), my Garmin inReach Explorer+ (plus it's magnetic mount, backpack mount, and USB charge cable), and my Motorola Minitor V pager.
My Baofeng UV-5R lives in the cubby sometimes, and just laying in my drivers side door the rest; it is programmed with all the FRS/GMRS frequencies (yes yes, technically this isn't "legal" use) and has a remote speaker mic and super short Diamond UHF antenna on it. The 12v battery adapter, full size VHF/UHF antenna, and adapters to connect either it or the scanner to the NMO mounts lives in one of the bags in the cargo area.
Next step for communications stuff will be a Wilson weBoost 4G-M; it will get an adjustable angle NMO mount on the rear hatch, which means the scanner will probably get it's own matching rear hatch NMO mount and get an antenna left on there all the time as well.
