Since I joined the P25 crowd, I’ve kept a VHF radio in the truck almost all the time. This has been great fun, with the exception of dealing with the antenna each day. My parking garage at work is very low, and I was getting out of the truck twice a day to move it.
Yesterday I purcased a Diamond K9000 motorized antenna mount. From the comfort of the truck I can UP to use, or DOWN the antenna to safety.
During install, I noted a few things. First, the documentation for mount type is vague at best, and thus I ended up with the wrong one, though I made it work. Second, the “control” box is lame and goofy looking. Luckily it just sends 12v one way to raise and reversed to lower, so I can easily make something more desirable. The unit has limit switches, one fixed, one adjustable. This lets you set the amount of “down” and you pre-load the “up” at install time. You must hold the button on the control box down till it reaches the position you want, as there is no way to tell where it is in its travel.
Last issue I will have. I installed an NMO mount in the K9000, The K9000LRM accepts ground-independent antennas, which I do not yet have. I’m not sure how this will impact the SWR, but I’m not expecting great things. More on that later.
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