This forum is dedicated to helping people with questions about installing radio equipment in vehicles. This can include antenna installs, electrical wiring questions/problems, and mounting systems. Pictures of installs are welcome.
Note: Discussions regarding lighting, sirens, and other equipment now has its own forum in the 'off-topic' section below.
I just picked up a PMAE4032A combination GPS/NMO mount and it appears that I maybe missing a part and was hoping maybe someone could confirm that for me. A picture of it is below. Looks to me like I'm missing the center pin, keeping in mind this is sold as a mount for the 406-420MHz band. Shouldn't it look more like the second picture?
Yes it is missing the center pin / contact, but it shouldn't look exactly like the second photo (typical NMO).
Your first photo appears to have a gold female contact at the bottom of the recess.
A few manufacturers are making mounts for higher frequencies (up to 6GHz) that instead of a simple round contact, they actually have a recessed contact similar to an SMA connector. Larsen / Pulse's version is NMOHF.
I suspect that this mount can be used for two different types of antenna. For low frequencies (below 1GHz), there should be a pin with a round contact at the top plugged into the mount, looking very similar to what you would find on an NMO mount. However, from 1 to 6GHz, a the antenna base/coil would have a mating connector that would plug in.
Regardless, you are missing something. Unless this mount came with an antenna that would "plug in" to the recess, you should have gotten an adapter for use with regular antennas. Was this new or used? There seems to be a lot of scratches on the brass for new, almost as if something was pried out.
Or I am seeing things and the mount is simply broken.
