Any experience with Codan 3040 HF Antenna on Prado 150

[yoda_123 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close yoda_123]

I will be re-fitting my HF set up on the new Prado soon and I have been looking for anyone with either a front mount or rear set up. On my last vehicle I had the antenna mounted to the rear of the roof rack and got good results. I looked at the wheel-on-door Kaymar bracket, but they haven't got anything for the small form factor the 3040 provides. I feel the antenna will be too low on the rear door. Codan tend to promote putting them on the bull bar, looking at their material, but one incident with an animal and you're done!

I did catch sight of a Prado in Adelaide the other day who had extended the mount to be higher up the rear door, but I was going the other way and didn't get a good look. Suspect it was a homer. Ideally the base of the whip should be about level with the roof line.

All advice welcome.

[alexr Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close alexr]

You are correct, we run the 3050 on roof racks, ideally the center of the roof rack. But only works in open country and earthing the rack is an issue on a prado, not so much on Tues. we have space cases up there to protect the box from low clearance issues. But remember its there!!


Codan make a riser for the 3050 wich elevates the whip 900 mm or so if you wanted to keep it on the rear this is the best option.

Kaymar will make a riser for their bracket but they will have a lot of flex given the height and leverage.

We have been testing a new nvis set up from Barrett with better results which is a rack and nvis antenna. Check. It out on their website and is currently the best option if you are looking to purchase??

Hope this helps

Al

[alexr Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close alexr]

http://www.barrettcommunications.com...18Antenna.html

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

OK....I'll ask the possibly stupid question...... Does the rack have to be empty to use the antenna function?

[yoda_123 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close yoda_123]

You are correct, we run the 3050 on roof racks, ideally the center of the roof rack. But only works in open country and earthing the rack is an issue on a prado, not so much on Tues. we have space cases up there to protect the box from low clearance issues. But remember its there!!


Codan make a riser for the 3050 wich elevates the whip 900 mm or so if you wanted to keep it on the rear this is the best option.

Kaymar will make a riser for their bracket but they will have a lot of flex given the height and leverage.

We have been testing a new nvis set up from Barrett with better results which is a rack and nvis antenna. Check. It out on their website and is currently the best option if you are looking to purchase??

Hope this helps

Al

Hi Alex
Thanks for your reply. I was beginning to wonder if there was anyone out there! I already have my HF gear and just recently got a Black Widow rack for the Prado. My previous car was a 4WD ute that I put a metal frame inside the rear canopy with a steel trade rack on top. I mounted the 3040 on a foldable mount right at the back corner of the rack. I got great results with this mobile. I got even better results with just clipping on a length of wire and hoisting up a squid pole when camped-up for the night. I might not leave the rack on the car all the time, so I am moving away for using the rack.

You mentioned Kaymar making a riser but they did not offer any solutions when I contacted them earlier in the year. Maybe this was in response to my enquiry! I might try them again to see what they have. So it looks like I am moving towards a Kaymar WOD bracket with their HF side bracket and experimenting with and without a riser.

I see you are in SA - presumably connected to Electric Bug? Cheers

[yoda_123 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close yoda_123]

Just finishing off this thread with a success story. Here are a couple of pictures of the Codan 3040 on the back of my GX.

[yoda_123 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close yoda_123]

This second picture shows the height of the base of the antenna relative to the roof line.

[DocK Member Find all posts View Profile Close DocK]

Codan 3040 Feedback

Hi guys,

On a recent trip I bumped into the designer/engineer of the 9350, 3040 and 3046 antenna. He was out and about testing new magnetic HF aerials. He was interested in feedback from users of the 3040 so we had a chat about the aerial its design features, performance etc. For example it was tested to withstand 80G of shock, waterproof constructions etc. Great bloke - he would be happy to get more feedback so if you have issues you want me to pass on PM me and I will see he gets the information.

Couple of points I made were;
1. Lock nut on the 14mm base (he gave me a name of someone in SA who may make these so I am checking that out)
2. Earthing - double earthing - to body and chassis, electrical interference issues from the modern vehicles with LEDS, HIDs etc.

Anyways happy to pass comments on. Apparently the 3046 which can be mounted on the roof rack really easily is essentially the same as the 3040. Just that the internals are laying horizontal not vertical.

Cheers
DocK

[Nifty07 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nifty07]

Yoda,

I ran my coax and tuner cable through the reversing camera wiring in the rear door (behind the spare wheel). It makes for a much neater finish. Follow the path of the reversing camera and use some soap to help the cable slip through the grommets. Makes for a neat job, refer to my posts on this subject with the codan antenna on the rear door. I have the 9350 and NGT. I found I needed to put ferrite beads on the injector cables (near the injector) and a braid across the rear door hinges, pick up the body/chassis and a hose clamp to fix the braid to the exhaust bracket. This fixed the interference to an acceptable level on my 150.

Nifty