Antenna mount for 2025 Jeep Gladiator Mojave?

[WRTC928]

What's a good antenna mount for the 2025 Jeep Gladiator Mojave? IIRC, the hood is aluminum, so it should provide a decent ground plane, but the way the hood wraps down toward the fender makes me wonder if a regular hood lip mount will work. Does it need something special? Is a hood lip mount even the best way to go? I'm planning to put a 52" antenna on it, so it needs to be sturdy.

[WRYZ926]

A mount on the spare tire is popular. You will want to use an antenna that does not require a ground plane with the spare mount for best performance.

All antennas are a compromise, the trick is to decide which compromise you can live with and still get the performance you want.

[WRUE951]

47 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

What's a good antenna mount for the 2025 Jeep Gladiator Mojave? IIRC, the hood is aluminum, so it should provide a decent ground plane, but the way the hood wraps down toward the fender makes me wonder if a regular hood lip mount will work. Does it need something special? Is a hood lip mount even the best way to go? I'm planning to put a 52" antenna on it, so it needs to be sturdy.

i used a cowl mount on my JK that worked well.  Check out Cool-Tech, i belive that have one for the Gladiator.  

[SteveShannon]

46 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

What's a good antenna mount for the 2025 Jeep Gladiator Mojave? IIRC, the hood is aluminum, so it should provide a decent ground plane, but the way the hood wraps down toward the fender makes me wonder if a regular hood lip mount will work. Does it need something special? Is a hood lip mount even the best way to go? I'm planning to put a 52" antenna on it, so it needs to be sturdy.

If you do choose a ground plane antenna, mount it to the center of the roof. That’s the single most effective place to mount an antenna, but it brings with it other challenges: is the roof metal? If not you’ll need a sheet of metal to provide the ground plane. Is the roof strong enough to withstand the vibration of the mount and antenna? Do you go through car washes? Etc.

[marcspaz]

If you are mounting an antenna that large, i would drill a hole in the top of the bed rail over the tail light and hard-mount a UHF mount. (Or NMO).

 

The only other option would be to use a lip mount on the hood. Something like this... ot the Diamond version. 

 

https://www.cometantenna.com/product/coment-hd-5m-heavy-duty-rs-840-lip-mount-w-dlx-166-coax-gold-uhf-conns/

 

I'll take a couple pictures of mine in about an hour and show you what I have (both) for GMRS and Amateur Radio  

[marcspaz]

8 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

If you do choose a ground plane antenna, mount it to the center of the roof. That’s the single most effective place to mount an antenna, but it brings with it other challenges: is the roof metal? If not you’ll need a sheet of metal to provide the ground plane. Is the roof strong enough to withstand the vibration of the mount and antenna? Do you go through car washes? Etc.

 

Fiber or fabric roof. That's not an option. For a fiber roof, mounting some type if reflector for a ground plane doesn't work. The material is too thick for it to be inside and it's ribbed up top, which adds a whole new level of aggravation.

[nokones]

19 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

What's a good antenna mount for the 2025 Jeep Gladiator Mojave? IIRC, the hood is aluminum, so it should provide a decent ground plane, but the way the hood wraps down toward the fender makes me wonder if a regular hood lip mount will work. Does it need something special? Is a hood lip mount even the best way to go? I'm planning to put a 52" antenna on it, so it needs to be sturdy.

Here's three options for the Jeep.

The lip mount on the hood is a Laird Lip-Mount and Phantom antenna, and does not need anything special. This Phantom antenna is used for UHF DMR.

The mount on the driver's side near the A pillar is a Laird non- ground plane for VHF and the mount is a Rugged Radios mount.

The glass-mount on the rear glass is a Larsen and used for UHF. I get great performance with the glass-mount antenna.

All of these options can apply to the Gladiator.

The Midland antennae are great if you are just transmitting on GMRS freqs. If you are transmitting on a mix of GMRS and Business Radio Service freqs use the Lairds and Larsen antennae, do not use any of the HAM crap stuff.

[WRTC928]

2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

If you do choose a ground plane antenna, mount it to the center of the roof. That’s the single most effective place to mount an antenna, but it brings with it other challenges: is the roof metal? If not you’ll need a sheet of metal to provide the ground plane. Is the roof strong enough to withstand the vibration of the mount and antenna? Do you go through car washes? Etc.

One of the reasons I always go with an NMO mount is so I can remove the antenna for car washes. Full disclosure: It's not my vehicle; I'm helping a friend figure out what to do. 

[WRTC928]

2 hours ago, nokones said:

Here's three options for the Jeep.

The lip mount on the hood is a Laird Lip-Mount and Phantom antenna, and does not need anything special. This Phantom antenna is used for UHF DMR.

The mount on the driver's side near the A pillar is a Laird non- ground plane for VHF and the mount is a Rugged Radios mount.

The glass-mount on the rear glass is a Larsen and used for UHF. I get great performance with the glass-mount antenna.

All of these options can apply to the Gladiator.

The Midland antennae are great if you are just transmitting on GMRS freqs. If you are transmitting on a mix of GMRS and Business Radio Service freqs use the Lairds and Larsen antennae, do use any of the HAM crap stuff.

Those are all useful options. I'll show them to the owner.

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, marcspaz said:

 

Fiber or fabric roof. That's not an option. For a fiber roof, mounting some type if reflector for a ground plane doesn't work. The material is too thick for it to be inside and it's ribbed up top, which adds a whole new level of aggravation.

Thanks!  I feared that might be the case. 

[WRTC928]

2 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

A mount on the spare tire is popular. You will want to use an antenna that does not require a ground plane with the spare mount for best performance.

I used the Diamond SG7900 on my truck where the ground plane is practically nonexistent and it works fine. I bought it because DX Engineering said it didn't need a ground plane, and then found out it is actually a ground plane antenna, but I'm not going to argue with success. It's one of the options I'll suggest to my friend.

[WRYZ926]

Just now, WRTC928 said:

I used the Diamond SG7900 on my truck where the ground plane is practically nonexistent and it works fine. I bought it because DX Engineering said it didn't need a ground plane, and then found out it is actually a ground plane antenna, but I'm not going to argue with success. It's one of the options I'll suggest to my friend.

That's great if it works for him.

All antennas, even the no ground plane antennas, will benefit from a ground plane. That being said. Plenty of ground plane antennas still work with a less than optimal ground plane underneath.

[marcspaz]

 

Couple quick pics.  Ignore the body damage..  it my offroader.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WRYZ926]

I use to run a CB antenna on a metal toolbox that was mounted to a homemade wooden flatbed. The tool box was definitely not big enough for a proper ground plane for CB/11m but it still worked.

A few guys run a Yaesu ATAS antenna or other types of screw driver antennas on the bed rails of their trucks and Gladiators without issue. HF definitely needs a bigger ground plane than VHF or UHF.

[WRTC928]

32 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

That's great if it works for him.

Obviously, we'll do some testing with my antenna before she spends the money for one.

 

33 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

All antennas, even the no ground plane antennas, will benefit from a ground plane.

There's no doubt about that, but we have to work with what we have. Modern vehicles have so many non-metallic parts that it's often hard to find a decent ground plane. Literally the only ground plane on my truck is the roof. The hood is fiberglass. I'm going to install an NMO on the roof at some point; I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[nokones]

1 hour ago, WRTC928 said:

Those are all useful options. I'll show them to the owner.

All three antennae shown are removable. The front two are on NMO mounts.

[nokones]

15 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

Obviously, we'll do some testing with my antenna before she spends the money for one.

 

There's no doubt about that, but we have to work with what we have. Modern vehicles have so many non-metallic parts that it's often hard to find a decent ground plane. Literally the only ground plane on my truck is the roof. The hood is fiberglass. I'm going to install an NMO on the roof at some point; I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

If you do not have an adequate metallic surface then it is imperative that you use a non-groundplane antenna. They will perform very well if you go with a Laird or Larsen.

[WRTC928]

15 hours ago, nokones said:

If you do not have an adequate metallic surface then it is imperative that you use a non-groundplane antenna. They will perform very well if you go with a Laird or Larsen.

The hood is aluminum IIRC. Hopefully that will be adequate if we mount it on a fender or hood lip mount. A lot of people seem to get good results that way. Since I already have the SG7900, it will cost nothing to find out.

[marcspaz]

Just remember the corner caps are plastic. You should have the mount forward on the hood about 6 or 7 inches for a good ground plane. 

[Lscott]

18 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

I used the Diamond SG7900 on my truck where the ground plane is practically nonexistent and it works fine. I bought it because DX Engineering said it didn't need a ground plane, and then found out it is actually a ground plane antenna, but I'm not going to argue with success. It's one of the options I'll suggest to my friend.

I tried the Comet CA-2x4SR and the Diamond NR240CA on my roof rack mount. Both antennas are 5/8 wave designs and need a ground plane. When I tested them, just for fun, on the rack mount I didn't expect them to work for crap. Big surprise both worked rather well. Apparently there is enough coupling, likely capacitive,  from the mount to the rack rail and car body to work.

https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/613-nr240ca-roof-rack-mount-swr-and-photojpg/?context=new

The steel band holding the mount to the rail has a sheet of rubber under it so there is no direct metal to metal contact.

https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/473-close-up-of-mobile-mount/?context=new

The SWR sweep for the Comet was very similar but with a bit higher values.