More 2M Talk: Antennas

[DaveInDenver]

What about a through-the-window mount?

I've seen these, very common with cell phone antennas. They can be convenient for commuter vehicles, although you give up some efficiency with them over a hard mount. The do have higher losses as you go down in frequency. At 70cm they can work OK, but at 2m they are pretty bad. In terms of expedition duty they are also less rugged and to that extent unreliable. But on a daily driver that might see some limited trail duty they can be an option. These are will not work on solar glass (called passivated), which is glass that reduces UV and keeps internal temps down inside the car. Most cars in the past few years use this and so you might not get the two pieces to couple correctly if you have this kind of glass.

 

[jeffryscott]

thanks Dave for the fast replies. While I think it would make for a clean install, I was curious as to how durable it would be off-road with the abuse it would potentially take.

Simpler is probably better especially since its intended use is for off-road travel.

 

[Grim Reaper]

Biggest flattest piece of metal is always the best friend of an antenna. It’s called "ground plane".

It drastically increases the efficiency of an antenna. I run a mag mount on my hood right in front of my wife to piss her off..... no really with my truck (86 4Runner with sun roof) it is the largest flat conductive surface. Wife understand that. She knows it’s about the waves because I tell her all the time when she complains about it.

 

[BajaTaco]

What's the scoop on that antenna mount? What's it called, who carries it, etc?

Here are mine They are Firestik hood channel mounts. On my Tacoma, they do keep the metal a little shiny right where they are mounted.

 

[articulate]

Here are mine

Nice! Way to revive this. Since I started this thread, I may as well "close it" by showing what I've done.

My radio needed a dual band antenna, and these aren't compatible with the Firestick mounts that you have (hole is 3/8" I think). I have a Larsen NMO mount dual band antenna on a similar bracket, though:

Now I look like one of the cool kids, stylin' with my antenna up front. Thanks for the help everybody.