3rd Brake Light Antenna Mount

Working on gauging interest for a new antenna bracket design.

The story behind this is that I have a regular cab with limited roof real estate. I didn’t want to mount the antenna through the roof, but I didn’t want to degrade performance by mounting it lower on the bumper or on hood mounts. So, we use the two bolts that hold the 3rd brake light, and mount the antenna as high as possible, while interfering with as little as possible.

The mount will be made of stainless steel, with two laser cut gaskets. The thickness of the gasket will compensate for the thickness of the coax and will act to seal without leaking. This uses the 3/8" Laird NMO mount and will be included as part of the kit.

Curious who might be interested in something like this?

 

does it means i have to remove the headliner?

 

I am just amazed at that CAD rendering. Wow. I need to learn CAD.

Where exactly does it ground to?

 

Like the idea. Since I have a topper, I wouldn't mine the coax running down behind cab. Waiting on further development.

 

You don’t need a ground with a UHF/VHF as far as I know

 

Right, but some guys would want to use CB which requires a ground plane.

 

It looks like a good solution for guys who have reception issues with mounting their antennas on their tailgate hitches. When I look at it I get concerned about how the cab / roof handles inertial forces of the antenna. Even with a flex mount it seems like it would take some significant impacts when going over long patches of washboard. Then again I'm not an engineer. Like the design though. Slick.

 

it sure looks like it. I was working with @TacoStandCT on his 'better bed lights' and it was the same thing. I'm not sure if he's doing much production on those lights for 1st gens anymore.. it's very involved process just to remove the third brake housing. I love the lights though.

Here's a write up on how to remove the HL
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/installing-better-bed-lights-on-the-1st-gen.440036/

 

imagine hitting a bridge if you forgot to remove the antenna.

 

I'm more concerned about the parking garage at the mall...

You could hook up a flex mount, but impacts to the cab were my initial thought when I saw it as well - it would be cool to get an extra roof and do some load testing on it to see how bad you have to hit the mount to get it to deform the cab material or if it even happens at all before the mount itself bends

 

imagine the aerodynamic issues it would cause when someone wants to fly through the desert.

WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH!!!

Whats that Sam!?!? Can't here you over how awesome my truck is flying right now!!

 

Keep in mind this is designed for UHF/VHF antennas. They're shorter, and much lighter. The inertial force of them swinging around is minimal. I've even driven through parking garages with mine in by mistake, and this bracket wouldn't have any issues with it.

 

HAM works much better with a ground plane as well, which is why this is ideal. It mounts the antenna at a height where the roof still acts as a ground plane, but is not interrupted by a windshield or cab, like they would if mounted to the hood or bumper.

Being grounded, and having a ground plane are different things.

 

So this wouldn't be for a CB antenna?

 

This is designed for a UHF/VHF or dual band with NMO mount.

It could likely be adapted for CB use, but honestly CB sucks donkey balls. HAM is so inexpensive these days, and the license is so easy to get, i will never bother with CB again.

 

If you can make this for a 2nd gen, take my money now!

 

I have a thread going in the 2nd gen section, just need a 3rd brake light to use for dimensions etc.

 

What if I want to listen to trucker talk on the freeway? It's entertaining lol

I will get a ham eventually. Right now I'm finishing school so my time commitment is limited and I already have a cb w/ a 4 foot firestick from the previous owner so I wanted to at least mess around with that. There's still a mount on the tailgate hitch - I really like this design though, I'll keep it in mind when it's time to go uhf

 

Got 1 sold here.
I was up in the air about doing something similar in the door jam like light bar brackets mount but this works. Nice job.

 

For all you CB dorks;

$43 tram-browning BR-140-B CB Antenna, 26.5MHz–30MHz, NMO Mounting, Black

https://www.amazon.com/BROWNING-26-...qid=1516739201&sr=8-2&keywords=nmo+cb+antenna

NMO mount antenna that works on the CB frequency band