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Under-canopy Headache Rack Ground Plane

When outfitting my 2015 Nissan Frontier I wasn't interested in putting visible antennas and drilling holes in the factory sheet metal.  Since the truck is equipped with a tall fiberglass canopy ("camper shell") I decided to basically use the canopy a a poor man's radome.  Took an old headache rack from a smaller truck, modified it to fit within the shell and to accommodate a pair of modded telco rack shelves to serve as ground planes.

I went with a sheet metal mount, drilled a 3/4" hole in the rack shelf as far forward as I could with the angle of the fiberglass canopy.  It's a bit more aft than I would like but I can always fabricate an extension for the shelf by cutting up a second shelf, or possibly make something to go between the two separate shelves to extend the ground plane.

To get the cable to the radio I used a factory plugged hole in the forward wall of the bed, through a hole drilled in the plastic cabin pressure vent (so the vent remains functional, didn't just push through the vent) and I pulled the unterminated cable through, and soldered on a PL-259 connector.

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Lscott

Posted

That’s not a bad solution. No wind load to worry about. With the antenna out of sight it’s a good stealth install. 

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