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Dual band antenna suggestion for fiberglass car?

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vincent9993

New Member
Nov 14, 2013
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Looking at installing a Yaesu FT-857D and dual band (2m/70m) antenna in our street legal dune buggy.

It's a fiberglass body over a shorten VW floor pan. What would be the ideal antenna and setup to look for?

DSC_4172-2.jpg


Still very rookie and currently studying for my exam.
 

vincent9993 said:
Looking at installing a Yaesu FT-857D and dual band (2m/70m) antenna in our street legal dune buggy.

It's a fiberglass body over a shorten VW floor pan. What would be the ideal antenna and setup to look for?

DSC_4172-2.jpg


Still very rookie and currently studying for my exam.
Click to expand...

Why and 857 if you are only going to use vhf/UHF?

In your case I would go with a dual band antenna that is a half wave on 2m or one antenna for each band, using a dedicated half wave on each one. They will be less effected by lack of ground plane.
 
Personally, I would not put a 897 in an open dune buggy, as it would be only too easy for someone to steal it. Especially if the only use for it in the buggy would be for 2m/70cm. I would get another radio that has 2m/70cm function only. Easier to conceal and remove and take up far less space too.

Motorcycles use a 2m/70cm antenna attached to the frame and it works quite well.
In fact, for the many Ham Yuppie techs here working in Silicon Valley (CA), it is a common thing.

All you would have to do is attach the antenna to the vehicle frame or even the windshield frame (which is what I would do, as it would get more height above ground this way and be more effective) so that it would have a sufficient ground plane below it. Or perhaps even mount it on the roll bar behind the seat. A clamp-on bracket for the window frame; but the roll bar attachment may need drilling and might not be an option in this case.

Nice buggy - BTW.

Just my $.02 . . .
 
Last edited:
If you are looking for a mount you can do what I did. I attached a bracket to an exhaust clamp that would fit my roof rack tube and used that. You should be able to do the same thing. Depending on the size of the tubing you may be able to use a mirror mount like a cb radio would use
 
Whatever you decide on, that dune buggy is bitchin'! Looks like a modern version of the old Myers Manx to me. Way cool, bud! (y)

73,
RT307
 
Thanks for the feedback and compliments guys. As far as the rig is concerned, I'm still debating my options - thanks for the advice.

I could def get a mount on the middle of the roll bar and install a 1/2 wave antenna. I was concerned that the pan (floor) would have been too far away from the antenna to act as a good ground plane.

The rear bumper may also be an option I suppose similar to the Motorcycles.

Anyone have a Diamond part number they recommend in the 1/2 wave for dual band op?

BTW RT307, thanks for the compliment. The buggy is actually an authentic new Meyers Manx called the Kick-Out-S.S. and we put 16,000 miles on it this year driving coast to coast.
 
Beetle said:
16K miles coast to coast? It's not that far from the coast of Portugal to the coast of China!

You should have made a left turn at Albuquerque! :D
Click to expand...

Perhaps I should also invest in a GPS?! lol

The coast to coast trip ended up being 7,300 miles (6,700 planned) but we had a few other tips that took us to 30 different states this year.

If anyone wants to waste some time feel free to check out our trip recap:
TheSamba.com :: View topic - Montreal 2 California - The Kick-Out crossing (6,700 miles)

Back on topic, what do you guys think of the Diamond NR770HBNMO mounted in the middle of the roll bar?
Diamond Antenna NR770HNMO Dualband Mobile Antenna|NR770HBNMO [DIA-NR770HBNMO] : @ Radioworld Toronto
 

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