Portable Antenna Mast Holder
With this nifty device, I can quickly deploy a lightweight antenna anywhere. The device is made from steel, so it is quite indestructible. The whole thing fits in the trunk of a Honda, or the bed of my truck. I park my vehicle on the base, then attach the mast. The mast is a collapsible fiberglass pole (actually an old hot stick). I use my mobile dual band antenna with a NMO ground plane kit. The whole thing can be set up in a matter of minutes, and no tools are needed. This project cost almost nothing to make, all I had to buy was the stainless steel hardware and jack stand chain. I might have also had to buy the can of red spray paint, I can not remember.
The mast measures about 20 feet when extended, and about 4 feet collapsed.
Here is the parts list:
1. Part of a trailer hitch for a Buick
2. One 3 foot section of scrap steel (salvaged from a road sign pole a car crashed into near my home)
3. One 3 foot section of angle iron.
4. Jack stand chain, stainless steel eye bolts (4) and butterfly nuts (4).
5. NMO ground plane kit (purchased from Lakeview Antennas)
I use my mobile dual band NMO antenna on the mast. All I have to do is unthread the vehicle antenna, thread it onto the ground plane kit, clamp the ground plane to the mast, then raise the mast. I keep about 30 feet of coax in my truck for use with the mast.
Construction Details
The base plate (the part the vehicle parks on top of) is the trailer hitch part from the Buick. If you look at the photo below, you can see the hole in the hitch where the ball mount used to be. You can also see the cross plate with holes for a safety chain. A piece of corrugated steel was then welded onto the base plate. Next two small pieces of metal were welded onto the vertical support to allow the attachment of the stainless steel eye bolts. The angle iron is not attached to anything, it's purpose is to evenly spread pressure along the bottom of the fiberglass mast to reduce the odds of the thing cracking. To assemble the thing, all I have to do is park my truck on the base plate, loosen the butterfly nuts (I put some gunk on the ends of the eye bolts so it is impossible to loose the nuts), slide in the mast, put on the angle iron back piece, then finger tighten the nuts.
Mast and Mast Holder.
NMO ground plane kit with antenna
The ground plane elements are the three rods with the 45 degree bend. They are attached to the NMO mount with the screws you can see in the close up photo. Once the ground plane is attached, the dual band antenna can radiate properly.