My current vehicle has an aluminum roof, so I needed to make a robust mount for temporary Kraken use. Here is what I came up with https://hvdnnotebook.blogspot.com/2023/11/my-kraken-installation-lets-go.html
I got lots of inspiration from others in this group, so thanks and this mount idea should be easily reproduced by others here.
Currently there are spacing markers for 120, 146, 433 and 460 MHz on the arms but are not easily seen.
Looks nice! Have you tried it at highway speeds?
Looks clean! I too (along with N8RDF) am wondering if it won’t get a bit floppy in the wind (freeway speeds). I had a 40M NVIS that would start oscillating so much that it would tap the hood of my truck. I stabilized it by adding an insulated column (mine was fiberglass, yours colud be PVC) and some para cord between the tip and the column. It didn’t prevent upswings, only downward movement. But that was enough to snuff the oscillations. Basically, make five triangles with your antenna arms as the long side, the insulator as the short side, and the para cords as each hypotenuse. Good luck and keep us posted.
I thought I had mentioned that going at highway speeds was fine on the mount itself in my article…
However, what I did not mention is that after driving around all day with the elements fully extended for much of that, they seemed to be bent a little due to the speeds but I was able to bend them back easily by collapsing the telescoping antenna and then reextending them. This fixed them.
Am thinking eventually I will replace the Kraken antennas with fixed length whips via bulkheads but am not sure it a shared ground will influence the patterns. It should be ok I would think
Are you making the plans available? I can’t build anything but I might be able to have a friend put this together for me.
There are no plans to publish plans because:
1 - I do not wish to endorse specific home supply companies who stock all the used parts and get endless inquiry on better this or better that.
2 - I used the Kraken supplied excel calculator to give me rough design estimates.
3 - Am not looking to be liable for faulty assembly by those with no building skills
Happy to offer guidance as needed though but the article is probably worth a second read for thise who skimmed and missed details.