2 meter antenna

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motorman105

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Has anyone used a "through the glass" antenna for their 2 meter mobile? Do they have acceptable performance? I'm sure a magnetic mount would be better but if I could get good results with the "through the glass" antenna I'd prefer it.
Remember...I've had my ticket a week so go easy on me.
Thanks
 

itsmevoss

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I have tried a couple different ones and have not had the best of luck with them. You also need to remember that if you have any tint on your windows they will not work.


Aaron
 

fineshot1

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Has anyone used a "through the glass" antenna for their 2 meter mobile? Do they have acceptable performance? I'm sure a magnetic mount would be better but if I could get good results with the "through the glass" antenna I'd prefer it.
Remember...I've had my ticket a week so go easy on me.
Thanks

Although I have one on one of my vehicles(was no other choice) I really would not even bother with them.
I have over 30 years experience with vhf/uhf mobile and base station antennas and think they leave much to be desired. For transmit they do not seem to radiate well although they seem to do fine for receive. If I were you I would go with a good 5/8 wave gain antenna, or if you are in an area with a lot of hams close by and can get away with using a 1/4 wave (both mounted to the car body for good ground effect) I would go with one of them.
 

WouffHong

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Tint

I have tried a couple different ones and have not had the best of luck with them. You also need to remember that if you have any tint on your windows they will not work.

Aaron

Agree with their mediocre performance in general, but OEM tints have little effect EXCEPT "passivated" or Deposited-metal tints. Some aftermarket tints will actually show conductivity with an ohm-meter on mid-scale settings. ;-)

Just went through it this week.. settled on back to magnet-mount on XYL's HHR (moved now and then to prevent water under magnet messing up her nice new HHR roof AND my face!! :) :) )

Mac
 

SCPD

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Trunk lip mount

Has anyone used a "through the glass" antenna for their 2 meter mobile? Do they have acceptable performance? I'm sure a magnetic mount would be better but if I could get good results with the "through the glass" antenna I'd prefer it.
Remember...I've had my ticket a week so go easy on me.
Thanks

I do know one person who runs a Larsen glass mount two meter antenna on the back glass of his pickup truck, and is happy with it. It's about 3' long. He does seem to make the repeaters full quieting from 20-30 miles away. I've attached a pdf here of a Larsen trunk mount you may consider. You drill three holes on the inside of your trunk. No visible holes once the trunk lid is closed. I used one of these years ago, and quite frankly, I think you'll get better range than a thru-the-glass antenna. Look at NMOTMB and NMOTMBB on page 10 of the attached pdf.

http://www.larsen-antennas.com/docfiles/ASB9/Mounts.pdf
 

zz0468

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I installed one on my wife's Prius for her FT7800 (no holes allowed!) and it works just fine. Watch the window tinting issue, carefully align the coupler with the antenna base on the opposite sides of the glass, and follow directions for tuning. They can work moderately well.
 

AK9R

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I have a Larsen KG2/70 glass-mount dual-band antenna for sale. PM me if interested.
 

burner50

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I'm gonna have to go against the grain here....


A friend of mine NØHXN uses a Larsen Thru Glass 5/8 wave 2M antenna, and it works better than my 5/8 wave Larsen NMO150.

I cant explain why, but that antenna will really get out! I couldnt believe the result!
 

AK9R

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A friend of mine NØHXN uses a Larsen Thru Glass 5/8 wave 2M antenna, and it works better than my 5/8 wave Larsen NMO150.
The Larsen KG144 glass-mount VHF antenna is a 1/2 wave, not 5/8 wave.

What kind of mount is your NMO150 on?
 

kb2vxa

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One man's meat is another man's poison, I have heard plenty of both being every installation is different. Mag mounts aren't much better, some work great and others are problematical as well. The only tried and true method is the through hole mount, NMO or otherwise. There are exceptions to the rule, some think they can put them anywhere without considering the ground planing surface but that's another thread somewhere around here if you look for them just as you should have with this one and saved the trouble of asking a worn out question.
 
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kb0nly

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The Larsen KG144 glass-mount VHF antenna is a 1/2 wave, not 5/8 wave.

What kind of mount is your NMO150 on?

I was just about to point that out and ask the same question. The NMO150 is a very good antenna and i used to have one on my mobile, never a problem except for the center pin plague.

Make sure you unscrew the antenna and give the little center tab a slight pull so that it makes good contact with the center of the NMO mount. Otherwise you have a nice air variable capacitor built into the mount.. LOL

I had that problem one time after removing the antennas for the car wash, put it back on and couldn't figure out why it was working but not as good as before. Took it back off and though that tab wasn't making contact, bent it out a little bit and put the antenna back on, end of trouble. Tram and a few others make a NMO antenna with a spring loaded center pin, those work nicer, i wish Larsen would go to that style as their antennas have always outperformed the others for me except for that darn contact tab.
 

W6KRU

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I usually put a little dab of Penetrox on the center contact of the Larsen NMO antennas before screwing them down on the mount to minimize the chances of a weak connection. A little pull as suggested never hurts either.
 

AK9R

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On the surface, I would think that a NMO150 that is properly tuned for the operating frequency and installed on a properly-installed NMO mount would easily out-perform the glass-mount antenna.

The NMO150 is a 5/8 wave antenna and is dependent on having a proper ground plane. It should be installed on a metal surface that is at least 1/4 wave in radius from the center of the mount. Larsen's NMO mounts have serrations on the bottom of the mount that are supposed to cut through the paint on the underneath side of the surface and make a good ground. If the mount is somehow insulated from the ground plane surface, I don't think the antenna will work very well. Larsen's glass-mount antennas are 1/2 wave designs and are not dependent on having a good ground plane.

Other problems that might crop up with an NMO mount is a bad coax or a poorly-installed connector at the radio end of the coax.

Also, I assume you are comparing apples to apples with regards to the radio. In other words did you use the same radio to demonstrate that glass-mount antenna "works better"?
 

burner50

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ugh....


i'm not going to get into this right now.. Lets just say that everything is operating properly on my setup.


The thru-glass gets out just as well if not better than my Larsen NMO150. I cant really explain it...


It is mounted on a side window of an extended cab chevy half ton truck.
 

ranger821

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Thru the glass ones just do not perform like you would expect them to. NMO mag mount in the center of the roof if possible or have a proffesional mount a nmo in the roof of your vehicle. kind of hard if it's a new car to drill a hole in the top.
 
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