Sunday, February 16, 2020

RF Bonding my Tundra

I picked-up some 7GA tinned RF bonding strap to bond the Tundra's cab, pickup bed, hood, and the HF antenna to the vehicle chassis:



Jetstream 23520 Grounding braid, 1" wide, 20ft, 7ga

Amazon link

Gigaparts

I purchased from Amazon ($30, free Prime shipping), GigaParts ($20, plus $8+ shipping). Others?
(disclaimer: the link above for Amazon will contribute a small amount to The Ole Virginia Hams radio club, not to me). Again, buying from Gigaparts looks to be cheaper by ~$2 after shipping as of right now.

I started with the HF DIY antenna mount, it's made from different commercial pieces, a DIY Tundra Bed Rail Mount (Home Depot bracket/screws), and steel bed rail mounts from eBay (buy SS instead).

HF Mobile Antenna Mount/Bonding

Today I mounted my mobile HF antenna I plan to use for the VaQP (Virginia QSO Party).



I removed the factory bed bolt down hook, used SS-30 Pure Copper Lubricant (really? they could not call it Protector or some other thing??) anywhere different metals meet and where metal and the bonding strap reside.

This seemed to work per pre/post antenna analyzer measurements. I still have to RF bond the rest of the vehicle (tail gate, bed on all four corners, cab, doors, hood).



73, kk4zuu

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