Universal Mount - Mobile Radio With Removable Head

Norm Huber N9ZKS - MARC August/September 1998

Here is my answer to the mounting problem of a full featured mobile radio with removable head on an old reliable Wing. It is quite flexible, so could be adapted to almost any platform.

I started by cutting most of the left storage pocket away, and placing the main body of the radio, duplexer, and heavy gage power cables in the resultant space. There is enough air leaking into the space from the cooling duct to keep the radio happy.

I took a sheet of Aluminum ( approximately 1/16 inch) and bent it into the shape shown in the drawing below.

The little pocket was an aberration caused by a design change on the fly, but became a serendipitous design feature when I found it stabilized the plastic "inclement weather" cover. I glued 2" wide Velcro to the mounting area (Hooks on the mount. soft on the back of the radio control head) so l could move the radio for theft protection or to other vehicles. 1 also attached Velcro to the back of the mike. I have found that there is usually a place in my four wheel vehicles where a piece of self sticking Velcro can be mounted allowing a clear view of the controls and easy access while driving. Makes it easy. to move the radio.

The notches at the back were to clear the bolts holding the handle bar clamp to the triple clamp allowing a good grip on the mount. The "weather cover" was made by using the plastic edge protector sold to keep plaster edges from being chipped and the plastic sheet normally used to glaze storm windows and doors. Plastic solvent/glue and knives to score the plastic for "breaking" are available at your local hardware store. If you can find a heat strip, and good plastic, you can bend one piece of plastic to form the front, top and back of the cover. That would be an improvement as the extra "angle" material obscures the view. Although, since it is only used in inclement weather, I guess the rain on the face shield is just as much of a problem.

I am currently using the standard mike and an amplified speaker mounted on the tool box cover. If I find the secret of how to maintain the controls in the mike case and pinning out the mike element and push to talk, I will mount a Heil element in the chin bar of my helmet and the push to talk on the handle bar. I'm currently thankful most of my riding is done away from traffic.

I started out with a variant of this design with the five sided cover a permanent part of the mount, but it was mounted too high (blocked view of neutral and high beam lights, obstructed key removal. and interfered with choke) and caused too many problems with control operation. I decided to make the cover removable and use it only when needed. It has Velcro in it and is wide enough to allow mounting the radio control head to one side, providing a place for the mike during bad weather.

Some Velcro on the back of the Aluminum holds the top of the cover while the bottom slips into the "pocket" to stabilize the bottom. You can reach up into the cover with ungloved or thinly gloved fingers and manipulate the controls. You can also read the channel/frequency display.

The aluminum mount was slipped between the triple clamp and the risers under my handle bar mounts and the bolts re-tightened. The attached pictures should provide a good idea of the design features. Hope someone finds the idea useful.

73. NORM HUBER N9ZKS