Josh380
Member
I have a 5/8 wave uhf mobile nmo antenna mounted on a tram ground plane kit (base station) Are the radials necessary? I've read some information online that suggests they don't necessarily need one.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
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Quick question
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mmckenna
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Yes. The 5/8th's wave antenna design requires a ground plane.
If you used a 1/2 wave antenna design, you'd be OK without them, but adding a ground plane helps them work better (0dB vs 2.4dB gain)
If you used a 1/2 wave antenna design, you'd be OK without them, but adding a ground plane helps them work better (0dB vs 2.4dB gain)
Josh380
Member
How long should the radials be?
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Quarter wavelength would work, about 6 inches for GMRS. Longer won't hurt.
I ran a 5/8th's wave UHF antenna for GMRS/70cm amateur for a while, but couldn't tell the difference between it and a 1/4 wave even though the numbers show +3dB of gain. I had it mounted in the center of a full size truck cab and it worked pretty well. Just didn't need the extra height. I'm mostly in valleys, so the additional gain isn't necessary for what I was doing at the time.
A 5/8th's wave and a base kit like that fed with good coaxial cable will make a pretty good basic and inexpensive setup. If it's going outdoors just pay close attention to weatherproofing your coax connections. You can certainly pay a lot more for a base antenna, but a set up like this will work fine for years.
I ran a 5/8th's wave UHF antenna for GMRS/70cm amateur for a while, but couldn't tell the difference between it and a 1/4 wave even though the numbers show +3dB of gain. I had it mounted in the center of a full size truck cab and it worked pretty well. Just didn't need the extra height. I'm mostly in valleys, so the additional gain isn't necessary for what I was doing at the time.
A 5/8th's wave and a base kit like that fed with good coaxial cable will make a pretty good basic and inexpensive setup. If it's going outdoors just pay close attention to weatherproofing your coax connections. You can certainly pay a lot more for a base antenna, but a set up like this will work fine for years.
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