Part 2: The Dutch Star Motorhome.

otorhomes offer lots of space for radio installation but the biggest problem is finding a route for the antenna feed line and control cable.  From my experience with the Shasta MH antenna install, it seemed natural to try and use the frame rail route again.  Alas, the frame is not so accessible on this unit being con-tained within the storage area.  The area over the black, gray, and fresh water tanks is particularly inac-cessible on this coach.  I decided to look for another route.

Under the storage bays, I disco-vered two 1.5" square steel tubes running longitudinally from behind the front wheels to in front of the rear wheels.  My first thought was to run the cables within the tubes but they are sealed on both ends and I decided to leave them that way.  What then?  Ah ha, said I!  "How about tying 1" electrical conduit to the steel tubes?  So that is what I did to provide the cable route.  The steel tubes provide scrape protection for the plastic tubes as well. 

I ran a 1" conduit on one side of the left tube for the coax and a 0.5" conduit on the other side of it for the control cable.  Each has a 45 degree elbow on the front end for road spray protection and is open at the rear for drainage.  Rather than using U channel brackets for the conduit, I elected to snap tie them through the upside down "U" cross channel supports spaced about every 3 feet.  The tie is looped around one conduit then over the channel to the other side and looped and tied around the other.  Very secure and allowing return to original condition with no traces upon sale of the motor home.

In the front end, the cables are run up to the exposed frame, into the front cabinet, and then though the fire wall to the drivers foot well.  At the rear, they also run up to the frame, within its channel and to the rear wall.  This coach has about a 1" step out of the rear wall below the ladder with a 45 degree downward face.   I gritted my teeth, told myself that a rubber plug would make the holes look like they were planned and drilled though the rear wall for the cables.  They are now snap tied to the ladder rails up to the antenna.

The over-the-counter CB antenna bracket I used on the Shasta would not work on this coach because of  its support configuration so I used a 1.5"x 1.5" aluminum angle piece U-bolted to the ladder rails and then bolted an L shaped aluminum CB antenna bracket to the left side of the ladder to support the Screwdriver antenna assembly (see photos).  It is placed high enough for the top of the fixed tube to be just above the top of the ladder allowing a clear plane above the motorhome roof for coil exposure.  The supplied Unbalanced to Unbalanced Transformer seems to provide the best match for this installation so I bolted it to the vertical face to the angle piece on the coach side.