I have used more than a few mobile antennas on my truck, but one really stands out as the best for EMCOMM as well as general VHF/UHF use.
It's the Comet CA-2X4SR. This antenna is very wide banded and besides working fantastic with VHF/UHF, it also transmitts and receives the GMRS and other Land Mobile bands like it was made just for their frequencies.
My antenna is never above 2 to 1 SWR outside of the VHF/UHF frequencies (1.2 to 1 on the regular VHF/UHF). It has 3.8 DBi on VHF and 6.2 DBi gain on UHF.
Except for a couple very tall antennas that cost well over $100.00, this is quite a bit of gain, much more than the average mobile antenna.
I have mine mounted with the NMO mount. Yes, I had to drill a 3/4" hole in the roof of my truck, but there is not another mount that works as well as a mount that is fitted right to the metal of your vehicle. There are caps available so that when you take it off to sell, you hardly see where the mount was and of course you run the coax under the headliner. You will pick up quite a bit of range with an NMO mount over using a magnet mount or other type, especially the luggage mounts, they are really bad.
Bottom line, if you want an antenna that will work with most frequencies without excessive SWR, one that really talks, is a fold down and worth every penny of the cost (About $60.00), this is the antenna to have.
It may be marketed to the EMCOMM hams as the antenna to have, but even if you just use a standard VHF/UHF radio, from experience with other antennas, I don't think you will do better. If now or at a later date you decide to put a commercial GMRS radio in your vehicle, or your a Fireman-Search & Rescue etc. not on a trunked system, your all set for that also without turning your signal into useless heat and burning up the finals in your radio from excessive SWR.
It's nice to have your message get through from a distance rather than unreadable static.
My Best, John
It's the Comet CA-2X4SR. This antenna is very wide banded and besides working fantastic with VHF/UHF, it also transmitts and receives the GMRS and other Land Mobile bands like it was made just for their frequencies.
My antenna is never above 2 to 1 SWR outside of the VHF/UHF frequencies (1.2 to 1 on the regular VHF/UHF). It has 3.8 DBi on VHF and 6.2 DBi gain on UHF.
Except for a couple very tall antennas that cost well over $100.00, this is quite a bit of gain, much more than the average mobile antenna.
I have mine mounted with the NMO mount. Yes, I had to drill a 3/4" hole in the roof of my truck, but there is not another mount that works as well as a mount that is fitted right to the metal of your vehicle. There are caps available so that when you take it off to sell, you hardly see where the mount was and of course you run the coax under the headliner. You will pick up quite a bit of range with an NMO mount over using a magnet mount or other type, especially the luggage mounts, they are really bad.
Bottom line, if you want an antenna that will work with most frequencies without excessive SWR, one that really talks, is a fold down and worth every penny of the cost (About $60.00), this is the antenna to have.
It may be marketed to the EMCOMM hams as the antenna to have, but even if you just use a standard VHF/UHF radio, from experience with other antennas, I don't think you will do better. If now or at a later date you decide to put a commercial GMRS radio in your vehicle, or your a Fireman-Search & Rescue etc. not on a trunked system, your all set for that also without turning your signal into useless heat and burning up the finals in your radio from excessive SWR.
It's nice to have your message get through from a distance rather than unreadable static.
My Best, John
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