Re: under running board antenna

Posted by HH56 On 2019/6/26 14:36:29

Both rods are suspended in clamps with insulating material between the mounting pad that is screwed to the car or running board support and the supports directly holding the rods. The antenna rods are clamped in their support pieces and thus insulated from car metal. The original insulator is probably a rubber compound while the repro antenna says it uses a polyurethane material. Point is with the insulating material at each support point the rods are not touching any car metal.

The stainless strip in the back is screwed to a point on the rear pair of rod holding clamps below the insulators and connects one rod to the other essentially making one longer rod. As long as the strip does not touch the car running board or support metal the curve side doesn't make a difference.

The center wire of the antenna lead is connected below the insulating material via a screw into a rod support clamp so connects to the end of a rod. I don't think it would make a difference as to whether it connected to the inner or outer rod but there might be a provision for the connecting or terminal screw on a rod clamp so look for one support that might be different.

The woven braid around the outer part of the antenna lead is twisted together and either brought out looking like a wire or has an ordinary piece of wire soldered to it. The woven braid is the shield for the antenna lead and is fastened to the mounting support above the insulator which connects it to the car metal thus grounding the shield. Make sure the point the mounting support connects to the running board and where the shield connects to the support is clean metal because an intermittent or bad ground can cause static.