Balcony antenae mount

I passed my Technician exam. 35 out of 35. I should have my call sign between Wednesday and Friday this week.

One thing I've found is that being in my office, the small rubber duck antennae does not work. So the guys recommended a mobile magnetic mount antennae. I get both 2DB gain at 2M, and I can place it on the balcony rail.

They did not sell a bracket to mount it. Since I live in a condo, I am not allowed to buy something to permanently attach it to the balcony. Neither The Ham Radio outlet, Radio Shack, Fry's or Orchid Hardware had a ready built bracket. With some ideas in mind I wandered the hardware store. The end result is that I built a PVC contraption that I attached to the balcony. It has an iron metal flange acting as a ground plate. PVC and metal pipe use the same threading. The only pain was to seal the PVC. I used silicon caulk to plug the hollow fitting used to attach the flange.

To seal the opening, I stuffed a plastic bag into the pipe. Then used silicon caulk to fill the pipe and create a plug.

I am definitely getting signal from repeaters that I did not get a signal from before.

I used 3/4 inch PVC pipe. Here is an image of the parts.


Here is the test assembly of the parts.



Here is the installed bracket.


I used 5/8 inch clear plastic tubbing and 11 inch tie wraps to attach the bracket to the balcony. I ran each of the 2 tie wraps through a 4 inch piece of the tubing to help prevent damage to the wood. I know I'll have to replace the tie wraps every couple of years.

Once thing I can play with is to attach a larger ground plate to the antennae. The antennae is designed to take advantage of using the entire roof or trunk of a car as a ground plate. We'll see.

I'll put up another post when I get my call sign. This is Mike India Kilo Echo Yankee clear.