Antennas and mounts for your radios

OK starting a thread over here for antennas and mounts. Lots to this for you guys to learn if you are going to order your own stuff.

First thing you want is an antenna mount for your car. I like NMO because it is that standard in modern mobile communications antennas. Every one of my vehicles and 95% of my mobile antennas are NMO. You can get almost any antenna, for any frequency, use, or size in this neat NMO.

Next is where are you going to mount it? The center of a metal roof is the best...this is what I have. It will give you the best 360 degree coverage. Mount if on the left side and you will have a hard time hearing off your left side. Put it on the back and you won't hear to your rear..... Another reason why I like the roof is that it will shield your dome from the RF your 50-110watt mobile will drive to your antenna.... You know how microwaves work right? RF focused on your food! A 5 watt handheld is less critical...... Avoid magnet mounts! They suck for trees and bouncing around and besides...who has a steel roof anyway?

For thin roof mounts you can use one of these:http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalo...-mb8-1140.html

For thicker roofs of thinner tabs 3/16-1/4" thick use one of these:http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalo...abt8-1154.html

You need to know what you are going to plug the antenna into.....Mobiles almost always require a PL259 connector and you can get a little adapter cable to go from the PL259 and the other end will screw into your handhelds...I saw those on Amazon. I think the Baofeng uses a male SMA connector.....so your adapter would be PL259 to SMA female..... In the drop down menu, you can get the connector already installed for an extra $7 or so. I would recommend this to most of you who are not experienced at soldering coax. I prefer to crimp mine as the vibration can get to them over time, but that is more $$$ for tools......Just pay the $7!

If you don't want the benefits of the external antenna, there are upgrades right there on Amazon that will screw right on to your radio. They do make it a little clunky if you are going to handle it without the speaker mic, but it is worth the few extra bucks.

Next selecting you antenna....... This one is tricky! I have 5 or 6 different antennas for my car alone!!!! Short 1/4 wave ones for the trees that work better at talking out and around the the deep valleys in the mountains. Then I have longer 1/2 or 5/8 wave ones for the desert where trees aren't an issue, terrain is flatter, and I want longer distance.

This is my 1/4 wave antenna:http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalo...b132s-766.html Its about 19" tall and with the spring, it seems to hold up well. if it's tuned properly, it will work on both VHF and GMRS/FRS

This if the 1/2 wave:http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalo...322w-4469.html It's good for the VHF freq in the rugged radios, but wont work with the FRS/GMRS bands. its about 42" tall. It also doesn't require a groundplane which is better for mounting on the cage, on motorcycles, and boats where a flat sheet of metal isn't available. I use on on my toyhauler as a base antenna.

This is the dual band 5/8 wave:http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalo...1182-1567.html It will work good on both UHF/gmrs/frs and VHF. It also has a load in the middle of it that can get damaged by trees...it's about 39". It's also top heavy and will whip like crazy in the wind and when were bouncing around.

Overall, my preference is the 1/4 wave....it's short, tough, cheap, and will do the job 90% of the time. not very often you are trying to talk to a mountain top 100+ miles away and need the 5/8 wave.

Something else to keep in mind......You can spent $100's or $1000's on radios, but the antenna is the heart of your system. The difference between 5 watts and 50 watts transmit power is 3db or double the signal.....It takes 10 times the power to double your signal! OR you can double or better your signal with a good properly functioning antenna system. I have talked 80+ miles on my handheld with just an upgraded antenna! One of the antennas I use on my house is 11.7db gain and another is 20db...... That is a huge multiplication of signal in transmit and receive!

Another Great Thread

Way-Good Info and Links

Thank You Tony

Thanks Tony, great info.

Thanks, Tony!! But since I don't speak whatever language that info was in, can I just come up to your shop and buy lunch while you do whatever it was you said to my car?

Thanx for your time spent here Tony!

I got you Barry! I will help who I can get dialed in.

Great info..for me I bought the package from Rugged and they installed and tune on the spot Didn't want radio issues being inexperienced. .

I think the not knowing and cost of all this stuff is what has kept some people from getting the equipment. Rugged has some really nice packages put together, but for some it's just too much. I was hoping to find some lower cost options and the offering of help would get folks excited about communications. Not everyone is willing to spend $1500-3000 for 2way, gps, and music......

I may have to make a trip up to Redding for this help also. Going over this stuff might be over my head.

There are tons of internet writeups on these Baofeng radios....This is how I learned! Back in 2008 when I got into HAM radio, all I knew was CB, GMRS, and cell phones. Once you have the equipment in hand and can play with it, it just comes to you like driving right?

The first time you fire up the programming software it will take some learning. The Chirp software is a little different than some of the other I have used, but I got it figured out. Seems like there was a setting in there to expand the freq range and number of programmable channels. I may modify that file again as I see it's missing the "National Search and Rescue" freq......Hope we never have a need for that, but it should be in there none the less.

We ran into to a Search and Rescue group training while we were riding in AZ last year......They were impressed with our setup and commented that I had more equipment than they. Told them no offense, but I didn't ever want to be their customers!

Another thing is tuning your antenna.....You can cut it and get it close with a tape measure, but the best way is to confirm and tune on the car as every setup is different. I have SWR meters and an antenna analyzer.

Once I get the my mind back into programming, I should be able to program radios at trail rides as long as I bring my laptop. The file is in there now.

Bringing this thread TTT since 2 way radios are being discussed a bit lately....CrazyCooter layed out great info in post #1 for those who want to learn this black magic.