2001 Volvo S40

[tiawah466]

Just started work on my 2001 Volvo S40, putting in a VHF Motorola HT 1550 XLS Convertacom. I just have the trunk lip Antenna mount on for now. Trying to decide which Antenna to use. A quarter wave or the phantom. If I use the phantom I am going to repaint it to match the color of the car better. Let me Know what you all think. Back to the garage to find a hole in the firewall.

 

[oregontreehugger]

I kinda like the way it looks with the Antenex Phantom coffee can.

 

[tiawah466]

My goal on this install is no holes drilled anywhere. Got my power and ground run though the firewall, #10 THHN Stranded for the power and ground. The battery has a heavy duty stryafoam insulator box that covers the whole thing. The VHF 50 Watt amp is installed under the passenger seat. One other problem is this car is one giant airbag. They are everywhere. I am being extra cautious to not damage any of the system.

 

[tiawah466]

I moved the antenna to the center of the trunk. I was running into clearance issues with the trunk lip mount. Was able to run the coax along the bottom of the lid untill it met someother cables going into the trunk.

 

[CommShrek]

The only problem I've had with the Phantom is that they are unity gain aren't they? The antenna is going to be noticable regardless if what you go with. I think the "phantom" looks very out of place on that Volvo. I would go with a more traditional antenna that would offer better performance.

Basically, I'd put performance over cosmetics but not in an extreme way. Antennex makes a very good product for public safety use.

 

[RESCUE4NFD]

Volvo

Go with the WHIP...............

 

[n7lxi]

Look for a STI-CO antenna. Very nice, low profile. The flexi-whip is what I'm using, and it'll look great on that car. http://www.sti-co.com/flexi.asp

 

[tiawah466]

I looked at the STI-CO and decided that that is exactly what I need, the rear glass hits the antenna when the trunk is open and the flexibility will help that.

 

[crazyboy]

Whip!!

 

[Rayjk110]

Definately, whip, you will get better range.

I had one of those little can antennas on a CDM1550 in my car - and a standard 6"ish nmo made it better than the can thing.

 

[radio10-8]

Whip it good!

 

[qball]

Cellular look-a-like

Another suggestion...

All of the antennas mentioned so far are unity gain. Something that will look a whole lot less out of place would be a cellular antenna. So, why not go with a MAXRAD cellular look-a-like/diguise antenna. From experience they work fine. You can get it in black from Tessco for around $20.00. Your net outcome will be the same because it's a unity gain as well.....it will look better though.

http://www.tessco.com/products/displayProducts.do?groupId=360&subgroupId=46

 

[OpSec]

I'd vote for a whip, but it needs to be black.

 

[tiawah466]

I am going to use the whip for now, I was going to use a glass mount but the glass is factory tinted with metalic stuff.

 

[intrepid97]

Get a black antenna here....

http://www.antenex.com/

 

[CommShrek]

I have a brand new black Antennex Dual Band antenna that I don't need. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[tiawah466]

Thanks for the offer CommShrek but I am going to use the whip I have at the moment. The project kind of stalled out for a little while. I got the material to make the mount today and when my shop cools off this evening I will be getting more done.

 

[Yokoshibu]

yeah the glass mount whip will be great... if you have a SWR meter or know someone who has one hook it up and tune it if you can! I tuned my MFJ whip and it goes down to 1.1:1 and 2:1 on the low and high ends of the band I use - but it is tunable witch is a big plus

I run a lowpro antenna specialists GPS (amplified) reciever a glass month and 2 nmo mounts .... if you repaint a lowpro antenna make sure you buy paint that is non metallic... if you dont you basically create a nice dummy load!

 

[tiawah466]

Here are the last photos, all I have to do is find the allen head set screw that I dropped. It goes where the bolt is sticking out of the mount. I also have to cut off 3 mounting bolts that are too long. Other than that it is done and works. The booster amp and powered speaker are under the seat and I could not get a good photo of them.

 

[W9WSS]

Can Antenna Vs. Whip

I've used the Antenex "can" (known as "transit-style") antenna for just my scanner, and it did NOT work all that great. It's just not wide-spectrum enough to cover all the freqs you'd want to monitor. If you put the large can (VHF) antenna then it will work mediocre, however, the best antenna that works fantastic is a plain old 18" VHF quarter-wave whip. NMO mount (I have five mounts drilled in my CVPI roof and trunk) works like a champ with my BC780XLT on ALL frequencies. Low-band VHF (25-50 Mhz), VHF, UHF, and even 800 Mhz. Get the whip with the wound coil in the middle, it will improve your 800 Mhz reception. But the straight whip works almost as good on 800.