Mr.Philo

[Guest Philo]

Looking to add a antenna to roof of pick up camper.  made of aluminum.   I need it to be easy to remove for a tarp in the winter time.   I thought about the ghost antenna being short and could leave in on full time,  But does it have to be on a ground plane.   If I could mount it to the ladder without the metal That would be great,   any thoughts?    thanks.   Philo

[mbrun]

Considering the fact your talking about putting it on a camper top and camper tops typically make the vehicle too tall already to fit into most home and commercial parking garages already, I personally would focus instead on using of a larger antenna featuring some gain, rather than a compromise short stubby ghost-type antenna. The former puts the antenna higher in the air, and its gain equates to a stronger signal, both together translate to a bit more range in many circumstances.

You could consider a mag mount for your camper top. Although the top may not have ferrous metal to leverage for securing the magnet to hold it in place, you could instead permanently adhere the base to the roof of your camper.

This past summer we helped a family member move. They rented a Ryder truck. We temporarily adhered a mag-mount to the aluminum roof of the box portion of the truck for our journey, and removed it when the journey was over. The SWR was confirmed acceptable before it was secured. Performance met our expectations.

If you do put a tall version of an antenna on, do consider a version that has a spring base so that if you do encounter low tree limbs that the antenna can bend over without damaging the antenna or ripping the base off the camper top.

There are certainly other options available that others may suggest.

Good luck.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[gortex2]

Is the antenna planned to be used while driving or parked ? If parked the FG4500 is idea for the ladder mount. I run the FG4500 on my 38' MH on my repeater. I just get on site and mount (cable stays on the ladder). Its about 26" tall. The clamp kit that comes with it is ideal for the ladder on the MH. I'll admit I have left it on a few times after leaving the race track as I forgot. Its about 6" higher than the AC units on the roof. 

If mobile as said maybe Mag mount on a metal plate ? I did this on my fathers last Class C (Winnabego). Screwed a 12x12 piece of steel plate to the roof, dircor around edges and dropped his mag mount with a 1/4 wave on it. Used it for 3 years and it worked great.