glass sunroof bad for ground plane?

[JBThompson]

One of my upcoming additions for my Montero will be a CB. Having read a bunch on getting the most out of a rig I understand mounting my antenna on the roof is ideal. However half my truck's roof is a big piece of glass so I am concerned this will kill the ground plane and shorten the effective range. Am I worrying over nothing or is the glass an issue?

 

[Frdmskr]

Glass mounting is as bad as it gets. Consider mounting to the rear quarter panel using a ball mount. Breedlove is one of the best. An alternative is welding a bracket onto the vehicle near the tailgate or hood.


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[JBThompson]

I may need to clarify; I don't want to mount to glass. My Montero has a large sunroof that starts just behind the front headrests and ends above the second row seats. I plan to mount to themetal portion of the roof behind the sunroof. My question is whether or not the glass will be an issue Or if there will be plenty of metal to reflect the signal.

 

[CaliMobber]

Plenty of metal, the antenna will see the glass as nothing. Just put the antenna in the center of the metal you have and you will be fine. If you look at my build my Ham antenna isnt even on the roof its off to the side but seems to work great.

 

[AA1PR]

its not all that bad if you can find a 1/2 wave antenna meant for such applications, some marine antennas might be able to be trimmed to the band with proper research

 

[4x4junkie]

Plenty of metal, the antenna will see the glass as nothing. Just put the antenna in the center of the metal you have and you will be fine. If you look at my build my Ham antenna isnt even on the roof its off to the side but seems to work great.

This.

 

[AlbanyTom]

Plenty of metal, the antenna will see the glass as nothing. Just put the antenna in the center of the metal you have and you will be fine. If you look at my build my Ham antenna isnt even on the roof its off to the side but seems to work great.

Also agree.

 

[Sabre]

I mounted my ham antenna on my Montero's roof after researching this very issue. It turns out that it's a non-issue...lots of metal up there!

HOWEVER...you're going to mount it BEHIND the sunroof? Unless you're just going to stick it on with a magnet, that will kill your ability to open the thing.

 

[JBThompson]

Actually I thought of that. I plan to run a Firestik with their Firering coax and when mounted it sits about 5/8" under the mounting surface. I need to measure to make sure there is clearance for the glass when open, otherwise I will need to either weld a mounting bracket on the roof or mount the antenna ahead of the sunroof

 

[Oldmancrash]

I made mounts for both my CB and VHF radio and run them as fender mounts along side the hood. I really don't think that mounting on the roof is going to get you that much better of a radiation pattern then from a hood/fender mount of rear hinge mount. Now if your running milliwatts maybe. Just an old farts opinion. I have run roof mounts and fender mounts on CB, VHF/UHF and HF and can not say I really noticed a difference

 

[unseenone]

Mounting on the roof does make a huge difference, I know because I have one on the roof originally. It is a pain to fold up and down, so I installed one on the fender, and did lose a lot of signals compared to the other. For "normal" use though, it should be fine, but just be aware of that if you are looking for maximum performance.

I kept the one on the roof for HF, and as a back up for VHF should I need it, so it is very easy to compare signal. In the end the Fender mount is way easier to deal with..