Breaker 19...

I have an old CB radio from a few cars back... considering the amount of interstate driving I'm doing (especially at night) and desire to know where the speed traps are BEFORE my V1 tells me it's found one... I'm considering putting the CB in the MINI - at least for my inter-state interstate trips.

Problem is, there's no good place to put a magnet-mount antenna...

Anyone running a CB on their cabrio? If so, what did you do for an antenna?

So far, options I'm considering are:
1) glass mount antenna that looks like an 80's car phone antenna on steroids. Can remove the whip when not needed. But still have a nasty thing stuck to my glass - not car-show-friendly. And doesn't provide the ground plane effect of a mag mount.

2) Making a mount to attach to my rear metal bumper from underneath (no cutting of bumper cover) and attach a whip or base loaded antenna.

3) Similar to 2, but make a mount for the rear tow hook hole...

4) Mag mount in the middle of the bonnet (not really).

Any other ideas or considerations?

Thanks!

 

Far be it for me to give you advice concerning minis but I would think I would either make a mount coming utilizing the tow hook hole and use a magnetic antenna base.... that way, I'd be able to remove both when not in use.

I agree that if you do a lot of highway driving between states, a CB can be helpful. I'm just too vain to have a gawdy antenna permanently mounted to any of my vehicles.

I thought I saw one of the new portable GPS units that gives you continuous updates on speed traps. (not sure how that works but...)

Good luck, I'm sure if you're putting it on your car, it will be done correctly.

Mark

 

crush - love any and all advice - and really love your suggestion.

Yeah, a little tow-hook-mounted steel platform to hold a mag-mount whip would be awesome, I think... quick and EZ on, should be secure, EZ to remove when I need to open the boot, no damage to paint, all good. I think I'll play around with this concept.

 

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while....

Not that you're not capable of doing it but if you need any help, feel free to stop at one of my bodyshops, we can weld or paint something for you should you need it.

Mark

 

I'm always looking for an excuse to fab something... (gotta use all that stuff in my shop once in a while)... but thanks!

 

Sounds like a brilliant idea to me. Hope it works for you Blimey.

 

I took a mirror mount and bolted it to the tow hook.



Happy Motoring,
Jack

 

You know there is an unwritten rule that says your antenna amy not exceed the length of your car, right?

 

No rule broken here.
The car is 143 inches long, the antenna is 102 inches.

Happy Motoring,
Jack

 

The tow hook mount looks interesting...

Thru-glass just doesn't cut it in terms of performance on the ham bands (usually 144 and 440 MHz). For HF work (3.5 to 30 MHz) on the Jeep I use a tuner-fed 108" stainless whip with a bumper hitch mount. I also have antennas (plural) hard-mounted to the roof for 6 meters (54 MHz) as well as 144/440 MHz.

Still cogitating as far as the mini is concerned. Not willing to get out the drill and chassis punch just yet and put holes in the sheet metal! I keep looking at the spoiler on the back and thinking there should be something I could do to mount antennas to that...

One downside of tow hitch mounts, and I'll assume by analogy the tow hook mount...

A number of years ago I got rear-ended in the Jeep. Not a very high-speed collision, the (fairly new) Jetta behind me didn't quite stop in time; not enough to trigger airbags, but she hit the trailer hitch hard enough to mess up the front of her car pretty well.

And because she hit the trailer hitch, and not the bumper on the Jeep, there was major damage to the unibody construction, to the tune of around $5000. The body shop guys told me if she'd hit the bumper instead, the damage would have been under $1000, as the impact would have been taken by the bumper instead of the body of the vehicle.

Cheers--

 

That rocks!

 

nice to see a creative low key setup on some german cars...have had a k40 trunk mount without the magnet on my e46 M3 for some time now which I use for road trips and occasional local chatter with my buddies who are in the cb/ham scene. I've been considering something like this though...