Ham Radio

["Murray Fisher" <murrayf@xxxx>]

Thanks to all the respondents to my query re installing Ham Radio gear in our DeLorean.....several hams answered and also some who were interested in installing CB rigs, Laptop computers and even one non hand held GPS! I was surprised at the interest. 

Of course none of us want to deface or detract from the original car in any way so there are challenges. For starters, I sort of stole a commercial idea in an older DeLorean World magazine of a little dash mounted console that was velcroed in a neat symetrical location over the central console....I built a light weight plywood form that tapers toward the front and is about six inches high at the rear (facing you). I had an upholsterer pad and cover it with naugahyde which matches the dash covering perfectly....he even put "french" seams on the leading edges just like on the DeLorean. Although of course it is not "original" by any means, it matches the car perfectly and removes easily with no marks....Actually I have used it for several purposes....I made it so the front panel is depressed about an inch and can put in different panels easily. I sometimes use it for a little color TV that I have and other times have used it for my 2 meter radio and also a low band radio that has a remoteable front panel. It is a little challenge to get 12 volts to it direct from the battery, but not difficult. 

The ideas of mounting gear on a panel just laying on the package shelf are good too, with close access to the battery.

A Mag mount antenna is useless on our stainless steel bodies. I thought possibly a 4 magnet job over the T bar would reach thru to some steel in its magnetism, but no such luck.

I am looking into a trunk lip mounted fold down antenna for the body frame around the engine louvre cover. I have one in my car that folds down out of sight into the trunk.

On other cars I have built a support concealed under the rear bumper area that slips in, like a trailer hitch...I actually used a small trailer hitch receptacle for this purpose....with low band antennas this requires the usual "fish line" tied to a couple places forward for support at speed. All of this is quickly removable. This is necessary as ham antennas usually have big loading coils that present a big resistance to forward movement and tend to lean back a long ways! A two meter antenna probably would not need this "guying".

I have bored a hole in the center of the roof of many a brand new car, but not in the DeLorean!! That location makes for a top notch ground plane in all directions. We hams are dedicated to our hobby as much as DeLorean owners are! 

It is difficult to get a good ground plane on our cars so we need to resort to artifical grounds for this purpose. Boats that are made of fibreglass use this idea. 

Like someone mentioned, there used to be and probaby still is, a power antenna that worked on both AM/FM and CB. This might be a solution for an antenna for a ham that wanted 10 meters, as this is close to the CB freqs. 

FWIW dept and thanks to everyone for the input.

Murray W7NSU
Vin: 05962 Lic: DMC-XII
Washington State 


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