Review on 🚗 Enhance Your Pickup Truck's Connectivity with FireStik SS-194A Bedrail Stakehole Antenna Mount - Stainless Steel by Matthew Riley

I wanted to fit a quad band antenna to my new truck but didn't want to punch holes in it. My Diamond CR-9800 antenna has a SO-239 mount and I couldn't find an inexpensive mount for it. The Firestik mount is constructed of heavy gauge stainless steel and has 4 10-32 x 1" stainless steel screws and a 3/8"-24 whip mount. I had to make some simple assembly modifications for my purposes. 1) Enlarge the hole to fit the PL-259 connector (I used the bracket and cable from the Diamond 400 bracket). With a step drill, some oil and medium speed it wasn't difficult. 2) Put longer screws in the panels so I can tip the mount into the stake hole since I didn't have access to the bottom of the bag. Only problem was finding longer 10-32 screws at my local BORG. Removing the two screws farthest from the mounting hole allowed me to easily slide the bottom panel into the pocket and then tighten the screws a bit. The quality of the attachment was such that the other two screws went straight into the bottom panel without even moving to get into the holes. I'm a very happy ham. You must run a ground wire to the body as the car's paint does not allow you to reach the good ground you need for low SWR and good communication and I had no intention of scratching my truck on bare metal . The folks at Firestik tell you about their antennas in some special boxes. Attempting to move the mount actually moved the entire truck a bit, no flex was noticed. I would recommend using some Loctite just as a general principle to prevent vibration loosening. My trunk lid holds like there is no bracket and there don't seem to be any leaks, flexing or other issues. Overall, this is a solid mount, easy to install, and half the price of other mounts.