Tram1465 Land Mobile Base Ground Plane Kit

I used this for a 102” whip to turn it into a base antenna. The stock ground radials did not work well for me at all. However, it created a great area to attach some 109” pieces of copper wire into and create a better ground plane. My recommendation, ditch the stock ground wires it comes with and go to Home Depot, get some copper wire that will fit in the holes, and tighten it up. SWR went from 3.3 to 1.1 by adding the 109” copper wires. Overall good product needs a tweak but makes doing that tweak easy for the regular guy. ALSO, GET AN ADAPTER FOR NMO-3/8-24 IF YOU PLAN ON USING A REGULAR MOBILE ANTENNA

Its a good value, works well and is less visable that other options. Check the bag for loose or missing set screws, they are small and get lost easily!

I am a full timer in a motor home and also a Ham radio operator. I was wanting to mount some mobile scanner antennas in a manner that I won't have to take them down everytime I travel, and a motorhome doesn't provide a ground plane so these kits served the need and made a big difference on my reception, and can stay in place while traveling. They are of good solid construction and easy to put together and mount. I bought two and may buy a couple more for some other antennas to use while in motion for my 2 meter rigs. I am very happy with how these worked out, and would recomend them to anyone needing to convert a mobile antenna to a base where no ground plane is available.

Just what I needed for my antenna project.

I bought this kit, loved it, and immediately bought two more.Strangely, though, while the first one I ordered came with the SO-239 as pictured, the next two each came with an "N" connector instead. It turns out that for me this eliminates an adapter, so I'm thrilled actually. N connectors are better anyway, particularly in the UHF and higher bands, so I hope the next one I order comes with N connectors too. But you might not have wanted that. My suggestion is to just be prepared to put a different connector on one end of your cable if need be. It's still a great mount kit.Anyway, here's why I think these things are great. You don't have to use the ground plane at all if you don't want to, and then it becomes just a great NMO pole mount. The wire elements are all trimmable, but you should use serious dikes -- I got these just for the purpose [ http://amzn.com/B000PRWJ52 ]. They're long enough to tune for anything from VHF (1/4λ) on up, with as much precision as you can manage, anyway. I've got it down to about 1.065 VSWR so far for 1/4 wave UHF. This antenna [ http://amzn.com/B00438SJQC ] turns out made of the same stuff and so becomes an identical fifth element up top just like tuned 1/4 wave ground plane antennas are supposed to have, I guess.So please, TRAM, keep the N connectors! Or sell both, but make them unique products! Please!Regardless of the connector confusion, I'm giving 5 stars because this thing rocks and I wouldn't steer anyone away from it. Just be aware you might need to put a different end on your cable on one side. (Or use an adapter -- if you must)

I ordered this item and it was missing the set screws so I exchanged it for a 2nd one. The second one had 3 set screws and 1 radial, so I asked what I should do and they said return it and will make sure set screws are installed. Now I received the 3rd one 4 months later. It has 1 screw. I'm going to try Lowe's or Home Depot and see if they have any set screws. Obviously tram doesn't care about their customers and sending out a quality product. The only reason I kept exchanging items is because they refused to refund my money. They only would agree to an exchange but even with the exchange parts are always missing. I recommend never buying anything from tram because I've had the same issue with their antennas. I wish comet had this item because I usually buy comet exclusively and have for years. Buyer be aware of get screwed...

This is a simple ground plane kit. It is optimized for VHF and higher frequencies.As far as the set screws go, I only saw two of them when I opened the package. Uh oh. Turns out, the two missing ones was inside the holes that already had set screws in them. The holes are deep enough that you can screw in two set screws and not realize it. So, check all four holes for set screws before complaining to the manager.So, if your intentions are to use this on frequencies lower than VHF, this is not the item for you. 2 meters, 220 MHz, 440 and up, you will do fine. For bands higher than VHF/2 Meters, you shouldn't need to trim the ground plane radials. I mean, if you put your UHF NMO antenna on your car roof, do you trim your car roof to 6 inches ? No. You can always have more ground plane than you need, but not less.I can't attest to the weatherproofness of this kit. I am using mine for attic use. If it were outside, I would pay attention to the base. You may need to seal everything up. Around the connector, at the bottom of the NMO base...etc.So far, this kit has met my expectations and I am quite happy with it.

I put an 8.5 ft whip with heavy spring on this mount and it bent. See pic. I re-enforced the mount by adding a third c- clamp and removed the spring. It is holding better now but still twist during wind gust.