Antenna and radio interface
View Patent ↗A novel locking mechanism for mounting a radio to an antenna. The mounting face of a radio is secured to the mounting portion of an antenna. The mounting portion of the radio has a locking ring on which a plurality of radio locking tabs are located at equally spaced positions. The ring can be fixed to the radio, or in another embodiment, is still secured to the radio but can rotate independently. The mounting portion of the antenna has a corresponding number of equidistantly spaced tension springs, which have a plurality of spring fingers. To mount the radio to the antenna, the radio locking ring with radio locking tabs is twisted so that each antenna tension spring is deflected by a corresponding radio locking tab. The engagement of the radio locking ring to the antenna spring fingers secures the radio to the antenna. The deflection force also produces a friction force. The spring fingers allow the deflection and friction forces between the tension spring and radio locking tab to increase step-wise when the radio locking ring is brought into contact with each additional spring finger. This step increase in forces allows a user, when turning the radio, to overcome the forces of each spring finger individually, instead of having to initially overcome both sum forces of one solid spring. When the adaptation of the rotating ring is used and additional polarization feature, is possible that prevents the incorrect polarization installation of the radio and antenna assembly by the user.
1. A mounting device comprising:
a radio housing with a radio mounting face including:
a radio nose, and
a locking ring that is rotatably attached to the radio mounting face; and
an antenna housing with an antenna mounting face, including an antenna feed input,
the locking ring being rotatable with respect to the antenna mounting face for being rotated into and out of a secured engagement with the antenna mounting face, with the radio nose being aligned with the antenna feed input, and
the locking ring being attached and held next to the radio mounting face, able to rotate with respect to the radio mounting face, as the locking ring is rotated into and out of the secured engagement with the antenna mounting face.
2. The mounting device of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of ring tabs attached to the radio mounting face that are displaced from the radio mounting face;
wherein the radio mounting face has a center,
wherein the locking ring is channel-shaped and is positioned adjacent to the radio mounting face, and the channel shaped locking ring has an opening that faces radially toward the center of the radio mounting face, and
wherein the ring tabs extend radially away from the center of the radio mounting face and into the opening to hold the locking ring next to the radio mounting face.
3. A mounting device comprising:
a radio housing with a radio mounting face including:
a radio nose, and
a locking ring that is rotatably attached to the radio mounting face; and
an antenna housing with an antenna mounting face, including an antenna feed input, wherein:
the radio nose is aligned with the antenna feed input,
the locking ring is secured to the antenna mounting face,
the radio mounting face has a center, and the locking ring rotates about the center and includes a first pinhole at a first radio pinhole position located at a first distance from the radio mounting face center and a second pinhole at a second radio pinhole position located at a second distance from the radio mounting face center,
the antenna mounting face has a center, and the locking ring rotates about the center and includes a first pinhole at a first antenna pinhole position located at the first distance from the antenna mounting face center and a second pinhole at a second antenna pinhole position located at the second distance from the antenna mounting face center, and
placement of a pin in the first pinholes positions the antenna for a first polarization direction, or placement of the pin in the second pinholes positions the antenna for a second polarization direction.
4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the radio mounting face has a circumference and the antenna mounting face has a circumference;
the first radio pinhole is located at a position that is 90 degrees, with respect to the circumference of the radio mounting face, from the second radio pinhole position where the second radio pinhole is located; and the first antenna pinhole and the second antenna pinhole are located at the same circumferential position with respect to the circumference of the antenna mounting face.
5. A mounting device comprising:
a radio housing including:
a radio mounting face, having a center,
a plurality of ring tabs attached to the radio mounting face and displaced from the radio mounting face,
a radio nose, and
a locking ring that is rotatably attached to the radio mounting face,
wherein the locking ring is channel-shaped and is positioned adjacent to the radio mounting face, and the channel shaped locking ring has an opening that faces radially toward the center of the radio mounting face, and
wherein the ring tabs extend radially away from the center of the radio mounting face and into the opening to hold the locking ring next to the radio mounting face;
an antenna housing with an antenna mounting face, including an antenna feed input;
wherein the radio nose is aligned with the antenna feed input, and the locking ring is secured to the antenna mounting face,
wherein the locking ring rotates about the center of the radio mounting face and includes a first pinhole at a first radio pinhole position located at a first distance from the radio mounting face center and a second pinhole at a second radio pinhole position located at a second distance from the radio mounting face center, and
the antenna mounting face has a center, and the locking ring rotates about the center and includes a first pinhole at a first antenna pinhole position located at the first distance from the antenna mounting face center and a second pinhole at a second antenna pinhole position located at the second distance from the antenna mounting face center,
wherein placement of a pin in the first pinholes positions the antenna for a first polarization direction, or placement of the pin in the second pinholes positions the antenna for a second polarization direction.
6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the radio mounting face has a circumference and the antenna mounting face has a circumference;
the first radio pinhole is located at a position that is 90 degrees, with respect to the circumference of the radio mounting face, from the second radio pinhole position where the second radio pinhole is located; and the first antenna pinhole and the second antenna pinhole are located at the same circumferential position with respect to the circumference of the antenna mounting face.