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Mobile Antenna Mounting Spot

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spider87

Member
Aug 2, 2010
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I see people saying they mount their antenna in the middle of their roof on their vehicle. My question is, does it make that big of a difference? I have mine magmounted to my trunk and I can hear people chatting and I can talk to people. Would I notice a huge difference in clarity or anything if I moved up to there? I am asking because my antenna came with 10ft of cord and it is currently fairly tight where it is an my radio already doesn't reach the front of my car. Therefore, I can't really move it up at all. However, if I would notice a huge difference then I would gladly get a little more cable or something to move it up a bit.
 

It's not really worth it.

If you want a real gain, go with my soon-to-be mobile antenna route:

Fab a mount to clamp onto your tow hook, and run a 102" whip. :tongue:

-Richard-
 
I can't say you would notice a huge difference, but it is usally prefered it is mounted in the center of the car. By the way how is the antenna working for you, how many miles are you getting out?
 
You might want to keep this in mind when mounting an antenna ...........

mobile_pattern.jpg
 
It's working pretty well. I hear people all of the time and I have talked to 2. One was a sheetz truck that had just passed me and another was a guy that I saw had an antenna on his truck (I assume it was him) We were driving in opposite directions and in my hilly area I'd say probably got ... maybe a mile? It's not GREAT but we were each on the other side of a dip. I haven't gotten the guts to do a breaker/radio check yet... I'm still a little nervous about it for some reason even though it's anonymous. Any tips to be less nervous? lol

EDIT: lol robb stop following me "hounding" me about the SWR!!! Is there a way to buy used and know it will be accurate?!?
 
spider87 said:
It's working pretty well. I hear people all of the time and I have talked to 2. One was a sheetz truck that had just passed me and another was a guy that I saw had an antenna on his truck (I assume it was him) We were driving in opposite directions and in my hilly area I'd say probably got ... maybe a mile? It's not GREAT but we were each on the other side of a dip. I haven't gotten the guts to do a breaker/radio check yet... I'm still a little nervous about it for some reason even though it's anonymous. Any tips to be less nervous? lol

EDIT: lol robb stop following me "hounding" me about the SWR!!! Is there a way to buy used and know it will be accurate?!?
Click to expand...

Tips to be less shy : PICK UP THE MIC AND PUSH THE PTT!

If you hear a conversation you can interject something into, by all means do.

If Ch19 is free and clear, don't bother saying breaker, it just makes you look like a fool. Just get on and "Can I get a radio check really fast fellas?".

Just spend $20 on a Workman meter. It'll be accurate enough, anything less than ~1:2.0 SWR is fine and dandy. If you want to be fancy, get a meter that can do SWR, Modulation, and Wattage. VERY handy to have around.

Tips from a guy "who's been there":
1.) Swing kits are crap, don't waste your money.
2.) There's no use spending $25 to squeeze 15w out of a Cobra 29, when you can get a 100w amplifier off of craigslist for $50.
3.) DO NOT EAT THE MIC. Keep it about 1 hand-length away from your mouth.
4.) 102" stainless or 96" fiberglass whip > coil loaded antennas.

-Richard-
 
mounting on the roof is the preferred way since it gets the antenna as high as possible and it also ensures that the coil for the antenna is above the vehicle also . its provides maximum transmit and receive performance . mounting it in the center of the roof gives the most omnidirectional pattern for that TX and Rx . mounting towards one end or corner or side of your vehicle will make the TX and Rx favor the opposite end or corner or side . will in make a huge difference for your particular install ? that depends on a few things . but , you should notice some positive effects on your TX and Rx .


what antenna are you using and what vehicle is it on ? also if Robb is right and your antenna hasn't been checked for correct vswr (and tuned correctly if it wasn't acceptable) you definitely need to do that . you can damage your radio or amp with a poorly tuned antenna .
 
BOOTY MONSTER said:
mounting on the roof is the preferred way since it gets the antenna as high as possible and it also ensures that the coil for the antenna is above the vehicle also . its provides maximum transmit and receive performance . mounting it in the center of the roof gives the most omnidirectional pattern for that TX and Rx . mounting towards one end or corner or side of your vehicle will make the TX and Rx favor the opposite end or corner or side . will in make a huge difference for your particular install ? that depends on a few things . but , you should notice some positive effects on your TX and Rx .


what antenna are you using and what vehicle is it on ? also if Robb is right and your antenna hasn't been checked for correct vswr (and tuned correctly if it wasn't acceptable) you definitely need to do that . you can damage your radio or amp with a poorly tuned antenna .
Click to expand...

I know he's right but I've explained previously the radio was $5 and while it would cost more to find another one, it would not be a huge loss to have it die if the antenna is that out of tune. Not to the point where I'm going to spend above what I'm comfortable spending getting an swr meter.

office, where can you get these 'workman' meters? I haven't seen them around. I'm going to do some ebay shopping in a bit here for one because $20 > $45 (in my eyes not in amounts) haha
 
Workman SWR is ordered!!!

Also:
Radio: Midland Weathermax III purchased 2-3 years ago at a garage sale for $5
Antenna: Metra CB Antenna ($24.99 from Advanced Auto Parts lol)

CB Antenna by Metra - Part CF-CB70/AT-CB70 - Advance Auto Parts

According to the web page, it's "Designed for optimum performance for citizen's band radio" lol

The guy told me him and his buddy used it 4 wheeling "the one time" haha
 
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