kidphc

most marine atennas take into consideration the lack of ground plane. Either by 1/2 design or by using part/all of the coax as the ground plane. Here is a good place to start narrowing down you choices. Although these are VHF design. I do not endorse either site. Simply to start pointing you in a direction. West Marine UHF marine antennas. defender Marine antennas

its a great antenna. Built like a tank more so then a lot of the other available antenna especially compared to it's chinacom couterparts.

Ditto don't think there are gain settings. Guess the closest you will get is to adjustments is how far is the mic from your mouth. Could shove cotton in the mic hole to lower modulation or drill the hole to increase modulation. I prefer just moving the mic.

I just can't condone it nor would I do it. Sure its just collecting data for open WIFI systems. Not like Apple and Google don't do it as "location services' Just the thought the data is used for potential (more then potential should say likely) pedophile and dark web use. I just found it an interesting aspect of the radio hobby. Not like you need to be licensed to collect these data points.

The image that started it all. Posted on Reddit. Now reading about wardriving. Such a hobby amateur radio is, although wardriving isn't specific to amatuer radio. The reddit post.... linked to the owners response.

Cell mountOn my 2000 LC. I have mounted the radio bodies to the glove box and 3rd row molle panes. The mics magnetic mic mounted to the center console molle panels. Now for the heads. The FTM400XDR head is mounted above the rear view mirror which was 3d printed by a member in PETG on IH&MUD.com for the Landcruiser. My CDM 1250 remote head is 3m body tape (VHB)\ in front the coum shifter. THIS IS WHERE IT MAY WORK FOR YOU. I have a cell phone mount that I used a RAM bolt through 1"Ball. Mishmashed with Ram entions connected to a17mm ball that I connected to a wireless cell mount. Well in your case. Case if you have a driver side door handle if you pop off the plastic cover you can take a bolt and measure it. why? because the ball mount will require most likely a slightly longer screw and may even require you to fabricate a spacer. With a Ram X mount you can mount your head in the same location. I dislike suction cup mounts. I have had very expensive electronics fall off the windshield. However, another universal suction cup mount may work for the head. If you have a center glove box or center console you can fabricate a simple wood mount to slide into said space and mount the radio body to it. Or even under the rear bench if you have a king cab or crew cab. You will be drilling holes But not into the body or interior of the truck. Picture of cell phone mount. Ram ball mount I used https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J43I56/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Also if you don't want to work with hardline for 100 foot runs LMR600 can work well. Hardline is still less lossy. Have you tried adding an extension to your mast mount? This could help with far receive. Having a good antenna helps, but uHF really likes height. Even with that said, its a matter of luck sometimes. Sounds like you were experiencing some light ducting in the early morning, that wasn't there at night.

Love this thread!

I have an 8Ft fiberglass antenna in my attic. Fortunately, I have a vent right over my ground location and it was the shortest run. Lately, everyone is trying simplex more. I can hear them but its noisy since the antenna is indoors. i however, plan on installing a mobile antenna on the peak of the eaves of roof side. Which again would be a straight run down to the grounding point. Why is this important? Ground wiring or installations shouldn't have 90 degree bends. Plus it will reduce the cost of the install by using the shortest amount of LMR400 or Heliax, which will end up being a majority of the cost of your install. I plan on using a mobile nmo base mount. They really are for temporary installations. The maintenance is higher, which is a problem. Why not a base vertical? 3 letters HOA. Should hide a tons better then a 1 inch round white fiberglass tube. From the front of the house it is about 54" to the installation point. So really 2 downsides. One N type connector, and maintenance up. The mount i plan on using. https://a.co/d/beQaNDn This is an option as well. Do you even know if the vent pipe is steel or aluminum? If it is aluminum, not going to work. With bends in antennas, it can cause a impedance shift at the bend throwing you out of the band you are trying to use. We often don't want bends in our antennas. You see tractors all the time with their antennas at 45 degrees, since the antenna bends when driving. They do it to keep the Swr swings low. You are going to take a compromise antenna, and make the install a compromise, couple the metal roofs proximity and you are making another compromise. I expect a thread on why you are only getting 1 mile on simplex at 50 watts and can't talk to a repeater without hash when it is 5 miles away.

If using programing software and a cable You would program the frequency in the software, use the selection usually under tones for DPL next to it should be a pulldown to enter the Tone. CTCSS or PL is a subaudiable tone that is carried with your transmission, usually at the beginning. DPL is just DIGITAL PL tone. Usually, they will have a slight delay, so give a 1-2 second pause after clicking the PTT before you speak. This delay is caused by machine decoding the tone. For front panel programming on the radio, it is much the same, just have the manual in front of you so you know where the items are in the menu.

I get similar with and Diamond X200a it's abou 8.5 feet tall in my attic about 35 feet up, with LMF400. HIt Warrenton GMRS repeater from Potomac, MD. which is about 37.4 aero miles as well as Towson GMRS repeater (41.9 mies) at 50 watts. No swr readings, to hand off.

Local repeater because of myself and Rolund (a local super user, why he's a regular on about 7-8 repeaters) pretty much have to have a Round Robin system ,since now a days our little conversations have attracted more than a handful of users. Jokingly, said we should just assign a net controller or at least some system so we do not double as much. FYI. Rolund has been on the Harrisburg repeaters and is a regular on the Mount Holly, Ellicott, and Towson nets. It really depends on the repeaters and the personalities that use it. Some won't even respond unless you know them or are asking for a radio check. You get the same thing with ham repeaters. Just keep calling out on the repeater and have conversations. You'll probably end up with some people with like minded thoughts. That is how it starts, then it goes into in person meets, and spending holidays with them...lol Also look at the GMRS zello groups, there is someone usually looking for somebody to talk to.

Intresting read. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

2x24sr definitely is a very big compromise antenna. I think At mid GMRS Band around 465, it was about 2.1 SWR. The Laird 5/8 over 5/8 hasn't been cut, but by the factory cut chart 472 is right around 1.75 in its stock form. Still waiting on adapters, will take measurements later. The Laird completely kills the Comet in everything from weight, construction, and rigidity. If you have held a 2x24 you know it is heavy antenna that feels unbalanced(like it is a sword or something) when in the hand, the Laird feels about 3x heavier. I might get rid of the 2x24sr, because good grief the antenna is so stiff the mount is always shimmying. Yes the Laird 5/8 is 2x-3x the cost of the Tram or its competitors. I feel it is justified. Plus the famous Laird center contact pin, no more bending tabs. Even the center pin on the Laird makes the Comet push center pin, feel like a chintzy toy out of a gumball machine.

So some reporting to do from real world, only about a week or so. Repeater is on top a water tower (about 100' up) at about 427 feet in elevation for the base of the watertower. Comet 2x24sr (hood shoulder mount) Using the FTM400XDR The Comet 2x24sr I received a lot of reports of breaking up, barely getting through the noise floor (40 watts), in/out with receptions. and a lot of dead spots when connected to a very good repeater. Dead spots, lots of static Was able to test with a repeater in Glenmount MD, to Frederick, MD. Got about 30.36 miles (48.4 km) of rolling hills, elevation changes sometimes up to 100 feet. Spotty, but was making it in with 15watts hashing getting bad. 1/4 Laird Unity antenna: (on roof 18" in front of rear hatch lip) Using a CDM1250 Decent, very small, tip barely clears the roof rack. Much better reception and transmission when compared to a shoulder/hood mounted Comet 2x24SR antenna. reports of a lot of scratchiness and but legible. Laird B4505CNS 5/8 over 5/8 No Ground Plane. (on roof 18" in front of rear hatch lip) Using a CDM1250 So far my favorite. Until i start clipping garages and such. Best reports (Sound like you are sitting next to me.) Little to no scratchiness even at low power Area I call the Mormon Temple Curse, is a dip and snakes around the Temple. It is a bad dead spot for this repeater. The highway dips there and gets curve. I call it the curse, since it is where the highway snakes with high angle banks, sun peers through 3/4 of the year with the visual attraction of the temple. It is the only antenna, that makes reliable contact transmission/reception with a little scratchiness on receive and transmission. (a lot of it is the antenna location on the truck) Now i get occasional squelch breaks, and transmission from other repeaters (Towson and Ellicot city) that between 18-26 miles away depending on my local topography. T

I agree with your synopsis. Nice setup btw. I can only think of like 1 or 2 instance where this would even be useful. Even in those instance I would say a director of some sort or yagi beam antenna would perform better. Most repeater owners don't want the expense of a repeater to have a concentrated area of reception, again most. I would think most want the largest foot print around the antenna, really comes down to the purpose. I have always kinda wondered about the wagging of my antennas on my truck and it's effect on transmission and reception. But haven't noted any really doppler or picket fencing. Biggest changes always came down to my ground plane on my truck. Mount it on the fender, meh... up on the roof of the truck and it started competing with some base stations.

More notably the drivers for the LEDs. You could try some RF clip on chokes. You will need to figure out if the noise is coming in through the power leads or the coax. Wrap the cable a couple of times through the choke and clamp it. If it is coming through the power leads, hopefully the radio is connected to the battery. It could be a grounding issue or ground loop being caused.

I was using an anytone at6666 10m unlocked so I could listen onto 11m ssb. Frankly, if I remeber I was experiencing the same thing sitting still. So can't tell if it was people just off frequency. But it was a lot of playing with the clarifier to get it to sound natural or atleast the way it was suppose to be. Not like that unit has the best clarifier. Hell even find neutral on it was spin all the one way then other and try to find the middle. Kinda wish it had a center detent. Crap I wish all of the controls gain, power and squelch are all had detents. Far cry from the Ft991a at home. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Ok. Don't think I have heard that. Or did I on 10m/11m i am messing with the clarifier a lot so could be the sideband shifting.

Here is one of the best way to start. Start asking away.

Mag mounts can work really well. I hate the rust spot it left on my Suburban after 2 months of use. Not to mention the pinched coax. Personally, I say drill the hole. If in doubt, drill from the inside. It is harder to get accurate measurements, so it might no be centered properly but atleast you won't have my problem. I got lazy and paid for it. If it works for you and you are ok with the compromises. Then you do you and blank out the nay sayers.

More updates. GMRS related this time. I was about to pull the trigger on a Wooxun 1000g. When a buddy said "Nope, how many radios you need". I was promptly n 24 hours handed 4x Motorola CDM1250 pre-configured for GMRS, new brackets, new hand mics, new power lines, new NMO with Motorola 162-174 1/4 wave antenna and a link to the CPS v12.05. Which began a hunt for the remote kit, remote head wiring and programming cable, thank you flea bay for 2 of 3. He turned me onto a retired fireman buddy (Thank you Mr. Keuchler). Whom had 2x original remote head kits at a great price. 2 days later they were in hand. Then began the procrastination and got side tracked looking for a EDC hand held. Welp back to the truck. Radio brick is mounted to a molle panel on the back window. Wires being routed and tucked behind as much stuff as possible. The radio head I chose to mount below the AC controls. Looks tight but I have a clear view when the truck is in drive. Originally, I had planned for the head to be above the FTM400XDR, but due to the chunkiness of the head and associated bracket I nixed the idea. The magnet mic was removed from the AT6666 (which I still need to install) new holes were drilled into the molle panel and the FTM400XDR mic moved to the new location. Not sure if I am a fan of this Motorola mic, its a bit big for my hands. I will have to look for a replacement. Other then that I might end up fabricating an L mount (again connected to the molle) to get the radio higher and more solidly mounted. Onto the fun part... F was it fun, no it wasn't. A 30 minute job turned into 2.5 hours of OMG WTF. After measuring 6x times from the edge of the sunroof to the end of the hatch. Moving the cross bar on the roof rack to a location I marked the pilot hole Took a deep breath, and started. Why all the measuring I was trying to avoid a cross beam roof support. Well as you tell by the long winded story, FAILURE. It went from smiles to cursing in seconds, as the drill slow down, with a lack of patience I got the pilot hole through the edge of the cross beam support, YES!!!!. NOPE.... Right through the dome light, which is held on to the liner and roof with sheet metal though a different support. OH MY F GOD, you idiot. I hadn't removed the headliner, due to that being a 3 hour affair by itself, can we say Toyota overbuilt this truck in all aspects. I had to grab a 90 Degree pneumatic drill and bore the hole out from underneath, then clip away some of the support mount to get a flush clean contacting with the NMO. Little did I know the back half of the roof has slope towards the rear, so the antenna when mounted looks crooked (antenna is bent a little so doesn't help) in combination with the forward cant of the 11m antenna looks terrible. No photos of the install, just too embarrassed and not my proudest nmo install. On the way to replace the Larsen 2/70sh. Are 2 antennas, Laird Technologies 450-470 1/4 wave and Laird Technologies 5/8 over 5/8 B4505CNS. I may consider a Laird Technologies B4502NS 1/2 wave, since the 1/2 is about 10" and the 1/4 is about 6" vs the 31 odd inches of the 5/8.

I have always wondered if the swr on the Comet 2×24sr was better then the 2/70b because of the fact the engineers took the antenna bending at speed into account. So a static swr test would show a better swr on the 2x24 then that where the 2/70 would perform better (compared to itself) with a dynamic load. I have seen people claim that with a flexible antenna you can experience doppler effect from the antenna wagging in the wind. Personally, never experienced and fading in and out not even on a 7ft long mobile antenna. But who knows. 2/70sh is not cutting it in certain areas. I think it may be a signal shadowing more the multipathing issue. New properly pre-tuned antennas should be here today. The repeater in question is in Wheaton, Md over 100' off the ground, is on a water tower. It has performance the rivals or exceeds several 2m ham repeaters in the area and is down on power even comparatively, due to power caps in their respective services. Not the repeater or ita gear (old commercial repeater hardware, it was built the way it should have been.) I know the Mormon Temple, corresponding dip by it on the highway poses an intresting rf issue. Since point a (repeater) to point b the Temple sits between the two in almost a straight line, closer to point b (the highway). Recieve can be spotty but obviously transmit goes from scratchy to garbage to nada, as expected. So the question was posted for more of a study of reality vs theory, in this case internet hearsay vs reality When I get the proper 5/8th and 1/4 wave gmrs antenna I will report back. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

So a longer antenna should experience less. Trying to figure out if I want to use a 1/4 wave or a 5/8 over 5/8 on the roof. Put side of the 9" vs 31" lengths. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Any answer is more insight then no answer. Started wondering if picket fencing wouls be higher on the longer antenna due to it whipping around more and adding to the mulipath issue. Or even if the higher gain can cause issues with the ability to capture more signal, due to the surface area. But your response would say that neither really would be a differential that contributes. Thank you for your response. Curios what other operators have experienced. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk