Antenna suggestions for my dad’s F150?

[ClemsonSCJ]

My dad had a pretty extreme case of Covid back in September and quickly got to a point where the doctors basically told us there was little to no chance he was gonna make it, and if he did he was basically going to be a vegetable. Here we are about 6 months later and he’s just a few weeks from going back home. He’s 100% “upstairs” (no brain damage like they were certain would be) and he’s slowly getting all the physical stuff back. They now believe in about 6 more months to a year he’ll be back to his same state before he got Covid, so I guess doctors are basically the same as weathermen.

Anyways, I’ve had his truck since he went into the hospital just to keep it moving a little here and there, keep the maintenance up, and I’ve been doing a lot of the stuff he wanted to like a leveling kit and other random upgrades. He had mentioned a CB before but he’s not really into radio like I am so I probably am not gonna drop a bunch of money on getting a top of the line setup.

The biggest limiting factor is going to be the antenna setup. For example, on my Grand Cherokee I went with a NMO mounted whip that’s pretty tall (I believe around 49”). That isn’t gonna be something he’ll want mounted on the roof of his truck, so the 2 options I can’t decide between is a small magnet mounted antenna on the roof, or a longer antenna on the bed rail (preferably a stake hole mount). I would prefer to go with a President brand antenna since they offer an upgraded warranty if you pair their radios with their antennas. How diminished is the performance going to be if I put something like the “RW Maryland” antenna on the bed rail vs like the “New Virginia” or “Wyoming” on the roof? I have a K40 3ft superflex antenna already...do you think any of the President antennas will outperform that given my current mount options?

If mounting on the bed rail, is it better to go towards the back of the bed away from the cab or is being closer to the cab more beneficial?

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Funny, just today I was shopping looking at President McKinley and saw the 5 year extended warranty offer with a President antenna.

Personally I would go for the offer just to get the warranty, and buy and install a Larsen NMO antenna center of the cab. And then find a new home for the President antenna. That said, the likelihood of needing a warranty at 3-5 years is low. Maybe the mike will need replacing, thats about it.

You should get the SSB radio for your dad.

 

[K4EET]

My dad had a pretty extreme case of Covid back in September and quickly got to a point where the doctors basically told us there was little to no chance he was gonna make it, and if he did he was basically going to be a vegetable. Here we are about 6 months later and he’s just a few weeks from going back home. He’s 100% “upstairs” (no brain damage like they were certain would be) and he’s slowly getting all the physical stuff back. They now believe in about 6 more months to a year he’ll be back to his same state before he got Covid, so I guess doctors are basically the same as weathermen. <snip>

Hi @ClemsonSCJ, it is great news to hear that your dad has won what apparently was a very close battle with the COVID-19 virus. As we all know, this virus is not to be ignored. My wife's uncle has just had a very similar experience and is now on that same rather long road to a full recovery. As for the CB radio setup, I agree with @RFI-EMI-GUY that your dad deserves a CB radio with sideband capability. The President McKinley is a very popular rig that I believe would serve your dad well.

<snip> The biggest limiting factor is going to be the antenna setup. For example, on my Grand Cherokee I went with a NMO mounted whip that’s pretty tall (I believe around 49”). That isn’t gonna be something he’ll want mounted on the roof of his truck, so the 2 options I can’t decide between is a small magnet mounted antenna on the roof, or a longer antenna on the bed rail (preferably a stake hole mount). I would prefer to go with a President brand antenna since they offer an upgraded warranty if you pair their radios with their antennas. How diminished is the performance going to be if I put something like the “RW Maryland” antenna on the bed rail vs like the “New Virginia” or “Wyoming” on the roof? I have a K40 3ft superflex antenna already...do you think any of the President antennas will outperform that given my current mount options? <snip>

You say that you would prefer a President brand antenna to "cash-in" on the additional warranty that they offer for the radio. Not a bad deal and the only company that I know of that offer such a deal. The choices of antennas that you gave are:

• Small Mag-Mount on Cab
• RW Maryland on Bed Rail - 5/8th wave base loaded at 57.9 inches tall
• New Virginia on Bed Rail - 1/4 wave (?) at 19.7 inches
• Wyoming on Bed Rail - 1/4 wave (?) at 26.8 inches
• K40 3 foot SuperFlex Antenna on Bed Rail

For me, it would be a toss-up between an antenna on top of the cab (actually preferred) and the RW Maryland for the warranty. If the New Virginia antenna comes in a mag-mount configuration, that could perhaps be used on the cab.

<snip> If mounting on the bed rail, is it better to go towards the back of the bed away from the cab or is being closer to the cab more beneficial?

Mounting on the bed rail is going to give you a lopsided semi-directional signal towards the front of the vehicle. You would want the antenna away from the cab if it is mounted on the bed rail to prevent as much shadowing by the cab towards the forward direction as possible. I gather that your dad's pickup does not have a cross-bed storage box with a stationary plate in the middle. While not an ideal mounting location, it is a location of choice for many installations.

If mounting on the bed rail in the rear-most stake hole, the radiation pattern for 11 Meters will be somewhat directional favoring the front of the vehicle. Additionally, the beam will be minimally skewed diagonally across the vehicle. What I mean by that is a rear mounted antenna on the passenger's side bed rail, the main lobe will be minimally skewed to the left over the driver's side front of the vehicle. Conversely, for a rear mounted antenna on the driver's side bed rail, the main lobe will be minimally skewed to the right over the passenger's side front of the vehicle. There will, of course, be a corresponding rearward lobe slightly smaller than the forward lobe.

Fortunately we are dealing with a 27 MHz signal versus a 440 MHz or higher signal whose radiation pattern would be much more pronounced in this situation. Ideally, the preferred mounting location for the antenna would be the center of the cab in most cases.[/QUOTE]

 

[ClemsonSCJ]

Funny, just today I was shopping looking at President McKinley and saw the 5 year extended warranty offer with a President antenna.

Personally I would go for the offer just to get the warranty, and buy and install a Larsen NMO antenna center of the cab. And then find a new home for the President antenna. That said, the likelihood of needing a warranty at 3-5 years is low. Maybe the mike will need replacing, thats about it.

You should get the SSB radio for your dad.

I would love to get him the McKinley, that’s what I just put in my Grand Cherokee and I love it. I just don’t think he’s gonna take the time to learn the features and actually be able to use side band or anything else that doesn’t have a direct knob to control. Plus he’s more concerned with the footprint of it and I showed him their website and he’s dead set on the President Bill. For where he’s wanting it to go, that radio will work out well and I can set all the features up for him on the first go round (NB/ANL, Hi-Cut, color, ASC, etc) so that way all he’s got to worry about is turning it on, controlling the volume, the channel, and possibly the squelch if he’d like.

I tried explaining all the additional features my radio has but he feels the same way as me that it may be a bit much for what little he will use it. The truck this is going into his not his daily driver, but more or less his “luxury” vehicle. He’s got an old beater Durango that his daily diver to get to and from work, and he mainly just uses the truck to drive to their beach house at Myrtle Beach and pulling their boat to and from the lake. That’s the main reason he’s wanting the CB is for the interstate drives to the beach and so he and I can communicate back and forth when I go with him, and when we all go to the lake. So 19 will likely be his channel of choice with some other random channel for us to communicate back and forth as a secondary. So I just don’t think the SSB feature will be necessary for him.

 

[ClemsonSCJ]

Hi @ClemsonSCJ, it is great news to hear that your dad has won what apparently was a very close battle with the COVID-19 virus. As we all know, this virus is not to be ignored. My wife's uncle has just had a very similar experience and is now on that same rather long road to a full recovery. As for the CB radio setup, I agree with @RFI-EMI-GUY that your dad deserves a CB radio with sideband capability. The President McKinley is a very popular rig that I believe would serve your dad well.

You say that you would prefer a President brand antenna to "cash-in" on the additional warranty that they offer for the radio. Not a bad deal and the only company that I know of that offer such a deal. The choices of antennas that you gave are:

• Small Mag-Mount on Cab
• RW Maryland on Bed Rail - 5/8th wave base loaded at 57.9 inches tall
• New Virginia on Bed Rail - 1/4 wave (?) at 19.7 inches
• Wyoming on Bed Rail - 1/4 wave (?) at 26.8 inches
• K40 3 foot SuperFlex Antenna on Bed Rail

For me, it would be a toss-up between an antenna on top of the cab (actually preferred) and the RW Maryland for the warranty. If the New Virginia antenna comes in a mag-mount configuration, that could perhaps be used on the cab.

Mounting on the bed rail is going to give you a lopsided semi-directional signal towards the front of the vehicle. You would want the antenna away from the cab if it is mounted on the bed rail to prevent as much shadowing by the cab towards the forward direction as possible. I gather that your dad's pickup does not have a cross-bed storage box with a stationary plate in the middle. While not an ideal mounting location, it is a location of choice for many installations.

If mounting on the bed rail in the rear-most stake hole, the radiation pattern for 11 Meters will be somewhat directional favoring the front of the vehicle. Additionally, the beam will be minimally skewed diagonally across the vehicle. What I mean by that is a rear mounted antenna on the passenger's side bed rail, the main lobe will be minimally skewed to the left over the driver's side front of the vehicle. Conversely, for a rear mounted antenna on the driver's side bed rail, the main lobe will be minimally skewed to the right over the passenger's side front of the vehicle. There will, of course, be a corresponding rearward lobe slightly smaller than the forward lobe.

Fortunately we are dealing with a 27 MHz signal versus a 440 MHz or higher signal whose radiation pattern would be much more pronounced in this situation. Ideally, the preferred mounting location for the antenna would be the center of the cab in most cases.

Sorry I think I confused us all in my original post. So the New Virginia and the Wyoming (which I keep finding myself wanting to call the Montana, so if you hear me say Montana in the future this is the one I’m talking about) are both magnet mounts. If I go with either of those, they are short enough and easy enough to temporarily remove for car washes and what not that I’d do a center of the roof mount (center-ish, unfortunately like me he too has a sunroof). I would only do a bed rail mount if I went with a longer full-sized antenna like a whip or fiberglass over 2ft. He’s not going to want anything over 2ft attached to the roof, however he’s fine with it being attached to the bed rail and sticking up past the roof line greater than 2ft.

I guess my question was geared towards “which is a lesser preferred, compromised setup?” 1) Having a shorter, magnet mount antenna but with a proper ground plane, or 2) having a better quality antenna (in President’s case they are all base loaded whips) with the base mounted on the bed rail, below the roof line making the ground plane less than ideal? More simply put, does the mounting location play a greater role than the antenna itself or can the quality and size of the antenna make up for its compromised mounting? Which is the main reason I through my K40 into the mix of options since I know it’s top loaded coil and that would be above the roof line. I also don’t have to do the stake hole mount, I can also mount center of the bed at the cab to give it a bit more of an omnidirectional radiation pattern. I can honestly do that with any of the whips, I just didn’t think it would matter much with those since they’re base loaded and the coil is already below the roof line so using the roof as a ground plane is out already.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

[N1AGH]

More info is needed. What year is the F-150? Aluminum body doesn’t work for a mag mount. Does the truck live in a garage? Antenna height may be an issue. Stake hole mount may interfere with other use of the truck bed. I found mounting an NMO mount at the side of the hood in front of the driver best for my 2019 F-150 that lives in the garage at night. Also it made running the coax easier. Actually finding and mounting the radio was much more difficult than deciding on the best antenna location.

 

[FLA727]

Would you consider a bed rail mount that Breedlove has? The have a couple of different options. I have a President McKinley in my Silverado and paired it with the RW Texas. The antenna mount I used was this one EXTENDED FRONT BED RAIL BRACKET #301 along with the SO-239 stud mount. This mount does not require any drilling into the bed so it can be easily removed leaving no holes.

 

[TailGator911]

So good to hear your dad is bouncing back. I had covid about a year ago this month and it really hit me hard with complications. I've had an amputation, heart attack & heart surgery, developed afib, infections, blood clots, etc. 2020 was a bad year for me, as is 2021 so far. I think having hobbies (radio) is a pleasant distraction from health problems. I kept a backpack at my bedside in the hospital with my SDS100 and AnyTone AT-878UV and I kept myself busy and occupied and had what fun I could. So get your dad whatever you think he'd like and introduce him to something new to take his mind off of his medical issues, I'm here to tell you that it works.

 

[cralt]

Plus he’s more concerned with the footprint of it and I showed him their website and he’s dead set on the President Bill.

I have the Bill and its a good radio. The auto-squelch makes it fool proof and it has NOAA weather. Hears good and has scan. Only suggestion would be a good external speaker. The built in one is really small and down firing.

I would go Larson NMO 27. In order of preference Roof, bedrail a few feet from the cab, or front fender mount. There are no shortage of bolt on fender mount options for F150. Putting a base loaded antenna on the bedrail right next to the cab may not work. If thats where it has to go then I would look at a firestick top loaded one.

 

[ClemsonSCJ]

More info is needed. What year is the F-150? Aluminum body doesn’t work for a mag mount. Does the truck live in a garage? Antenna height may be an issue. Stake hole mount may interfere with other use of the truck bed. I found mounting an NMO mount at the side of the hood in front of the driver best for my 2019 F-150 that lives in the garage at night. Also it made running the coax easier. Actually finding and mounting the radio was much more difficult than deciding on the best antenna location. View attachment 100225

It’s a 2011 so no aluminum body. And it stays parked outside. Drive thru’s would be about the only thing he would go through regularly but that wouldn’t be anything he’d need to take it down for.

I definitely like that idea. I considered doing it on my Jeep and actually looked at my dad’s truck hood yesterday with that idea in mind. The only issue I have with that is I would be super OCD about having the antenna pointing straight up vs off at an angle on whatever direction the hood is angled. Something I’ve seen done but never tried myself is bending the whip where it meets the base, but I don’t know that I would be comfortable trying that.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I would love to get him the McKinley, that’s what I just put in my Grand Cherokee and I love it. I just don’t think he’s gonna take the time to learn the features and actually be able to use side band or anything else that doesn’t have a direct knob to control. Plus he’s more concerned with the footprint of it and I showed him their website and he’s dead set on the President Bill. For where he’s wanting it to go, that radio will work out well and I can set all the features up for him on the first go round (NB/ANL, Hi-Cut, color, ASC, etc) so that way all he’s got to worry about is turning it on, controlling the volume, the channel, and possibly the squelch if he’d like.

I tried explaining all the additional features my radio has but he feels the same way as me that it may be a bit much for what little he will use it. The truck this is going into his not his daily driver, but more or less his “luxury” vehicle. He’s got an old beater Durango that his daily diver to get to and from work, and he mainly just uses the truck to drive to their beach house at Myrtle Beach and pulling their boat to and from the lake. That’s the main reason he’s wanting the CB is for the interstate drives to the beach and so he and I can communicate back and forth when I go with him, and when we all go to the lake. So 19 will likely be his channel of choice with some other random channel for us to communicate back and forth as a secondary. So I just don’t think the SSB feature will be necessary for him.

Sounds like the Prez Bill will be a good choice as the local AM communications will be sufficient for interstate travel. If you dont go the Larsen/ NMO mount route, a strong mounting point with good grounding to the bed/body will be necessary for reliable tuning.

 

[mmckenna]

I know, not what you want to hear, but I think talking him into a permanent NMO mount dead center on the cab roof is worth it. Newcomers usually balk at it, but I've never run into someone who did it and regretted it.

But, if it's totally out of the question….
Bed rail mounts always annoyed me. I used to have an antenna mounted off the back side of a cross bed tool box. It was always in the way.

Anything mounted off to the side of the vehicle is going to give it a lopsided ground plane and make it directional. Maybe not a big deal for a casual CB user if they only want to listen to local traffic on the interstate.

About 30 years ago I did use a 90º bracket mount off the hood channel on a truck. Worked well enough, and kept it out of the way of the truck bed.

If it was me:

ATFO09LD-3/4 Antenna Bracket 3/4'' Hole

Antenna Bracket 3/4' Hole Designed to mount on the bolt closest to the windshield Mounts between hood and fender Extra secure mounting 14 gauge stainless steel Fits '09 to '14 Ford F150/Expedition/Raptor

www.westmobilemounts.com

or

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=264_268_1045&products_id=4092

Those will put the antenna mount in front of the cab and use existing mounting bolts.

Since the underside of the NMO mount will be exposed, you need to use a specific style mount:

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=264_266_291&products_id=1125

The underside of these is sealed. You should absolutely put a piece of marine grade heat shrink tubing over the coax where it enters the mount.

Then just get the well proven Larsen NMO-27 antenna.

Routing wiring into the cab is easy, there's a couple of posts on this site about how to get through existing firewall grommets. While you are running the coax, also run the power cable and make sure you power the CB directly off the battery. Also, ground the chassis of the radio as close as you can to body steel. That'll help prevent a lot of the common noise issues.

Best wishes to your dad. I had to go through a very long recovery from an illness many years ago. It's a long difficult road, but it makes us stronger people. I'd not wish it on anyone else, but I'm thankful for what it taught me.

 

[ClemsonSCJ]

I know, not what you want to hear, but I think talking him into a permanent NMO mount dead center on the cab roof is worth it. Newcomers usually balk at it, but I've never run into someone who did it and regretted it.

But, if it's totally out of the question….
Bed rail mounts always annoyed me. I used to have an antenna mounted off the back side of a cross bed tool box. It was always in the way.

Anything mounted off to the side of the vehicle is going to give it a lopsided ground plane and make it directional. Maybe not a big deal for a casual CB user if they only want to listen to local traffic on the interstate.

About 30 years ago I did use a 90º bracket mount off the hood channel on a truck. Worked well enough, and kept it out of the way of the truck bed.

If it was me:

ATFO09LD-3/4 Antenna Bracket 3/4'' Hole

Antenna Bracket 3/4' Hole Designed to mount on the bolt closest to the windshield Mounts between hood and fender Extra secure mounting 14 gauge stainless steel Fits '09 to '14 Ford F150/Expedition/Raptor

www.westmobilemounts.com

or

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=264_268_1045&products_id=4092

Those will put the antenna mount in front of the cab and use existing mounting bolts.

Since the underside of the NMO mount will be exposed, you need to use a specific style mount:

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=264_266_291&products_id=1125

The underside of these is sealed. You should absolutely put a piece of marine grade heat shrink tubing over the coax where it enters the mount.

Then just get the well proven Larsen NMO-27 antenna.

Routing wiring into the cab is easy, there's a couple of posts on this site about how to get through existing firewall grommets. While you are running the coax, also run the power cable and make sure you power the CB directly off the battery. Also, ground the chassis of the radio as close as you can to body steel. That'll help prevent a lot of the common noise issues.

Best wishes to your dad. I had to go through a very long recovery from an illness many years ago. It's a long difficult road, but it makes us stronger people. I'd not wish it on anyone else, but I'm thankful for what it taught me.

I’m gonna keep working on talking him into the Larsen on the roof. But in the mean time, I think I’m just going to get a bracket to mount the K40 in the center of the bed by the back window. If I make sure it’s grounded to the cab, will it radiate ok off of the roof?

I suppose my biggest question now is, if the roof mount is an absolute no, will a base loaded antenna like the Larsen perform better than the K40 mounted in the same location (coil at the top of the bed, about 2ft below the roof line) or will the top loaded coil of the K40 make it perform better in that location?

 

[mmckenna]

The coil shouldn't do much radiating, so unlikely it'll make a difference.

I'd avoid 'back of the cab', but that's a personal thing.

 

[Ravenkeeper]

My dad had a pretty extreme case of Covid back in September and quickly got to a point where the doctors basically told us there was little to no chance he was gonna make it, and if he did he was basically going to be a vegetable. Here we are about 6 months later and he’s just a few weeks from going back home. He’s 100% “upstairs” (no brain damage like they were certain would be) and he’s slowly getting all the physical stuff back. They now believe in about 6 more months to a year he’ll be back to his same state before he got Covid, so I guess doctors are basically the same as weathermen.

Anyways, I’ve had his truck since he went into the hospital just to keep it moving a little here and there, keep the maintenance up, and I’ve been doing a lot of the stuff he wanted to like a leveling kit and other random upgrades. He had mentioned a CB before but he’s not really into radio like I am so I probably am not gonna drop a bunch of money on getting a top of the line setup.

The biggest limiting factor is going to be the antenna setup. For example, on my Grand Cherokee I went with a NMO mounted whip that’s pretty tall (I believe around 49”). That isn’t gonna be something he’ll want mounted on the roof of his truck, so the 2 options I can’t decide between is a small magnet mounted antenna on the roof, or a longer antenna on the bed rail (preferably a stake hole mount). I would prefer to go with a President brand antenna since they offer an upgraded warranty if you pair their radios with their antennas. How diminished is the performance going to be if I put something like the “RW Maryland” antenna on the bed rail vs like the “New Virginia” or “Wyoming” on the roof? I have a K40 3ft superflex antenna already...do you think any of the President antennas will outperform that given my current mount options?

If mounting on the bed rail, is it better to go towards the back of the bed away from the cab or is being closer to the cab more beneficial?

Mine is in the passenger side forward stake hole, was on my previous truck too. If you run with this location, you should be fine with at least a 4' antenna.

CB Radios for Pickup Trucks

Covers the most popular CB radios, antennas and mounting locations for pickups. Everything you need to know to get a CB installed in your truck.

www.rightchannelradios.com

 

[firemun]

More info is needed. What year is the F-150? Aluminum body doesn’t work for a mag mount. Does the truck live in a garage? Antenna height may be an issue. Stake hole mount may interfere with other use of the truck bed. I found mounting an NMO mount at the side of the hood in front of the driver best for my 2019 F-150 that lives in the garage at night. Also it made running the coax easier. Actually finding and mounting the radio was much more difficult than deciding on the best antenna location. View attachment 100225

Just curious why you mounted on the hood versus back a few inches on the fender? I have a 2018 F 150 lariat. I mounted a NMO on the fender and it worked great.

 

[ClemsonSCJ]

The coil shouldn't do much radiating, so unlikely it'll make a difference.

I'd avoid 'back of the cab', but that's a personal thing.

Ok I got him to cave on one condition. Can the Larsen be run through a car wash with the base still attached? Obviously he’s gotta remove the whip, but with nothing else on the roof is there any risk of it getting snagged or pushed over? I do it all the time with mine, but I also have the roof rack about 3 inches in front of the base so the base only sticks about 2 inches over the roof rack. In his case it will be the base all by its lonesome with nothing around to “shield” it.

 

[mmckenna]

Ok I got him to cave on one condition. Can the Larsen be run through a car wash with the base still attached? Obviously he’s gotta remove the whip, but with nothing else on the roof is there any risk of it getting snagged or pushed over? I do it all the time with mine, but I also have the roof rack about 3 inches in front of the base so the base only sticks about 2 inches over the roof rack. In his case it will be the base all by its lonesome with nothing around to “shield” it.

Probably.
The coil is about 4" tall, so not much larger than most of the 'shark fin' antennas that many cars have on their roof tops.

As you know, the NMO right in the center of the truck roof is going to outperform anything other than a full 1/4 wave whip. It's going to look cleaner and more professional.

 

[cralt]

Ok I got him to cave on one condition. Can the Larsen be run through a car wash with the base still attached?

Why? Its NMO. You just grab the coil and unscrew the whole antenna from the NMO mount. When done just put it back on by hand. Just make sure you don't lose the little Oring that lives in the bottom of the Larson's plastic coil. And if you get wax on the NMO center contact clean it off


2 different cars but antenna off vs on.
When the antenna is off you wouldn't be able to see the little flat NMO mount at all if its up on the cab roof. The mount looks like a few half dollar coins stacked up.




They make little protective caps that go on the NMO mount if he want to run a long time with the antenna off or sell the truck. He can even paint match it. .

 

[ClemsonSCJ]

Why? Its NMO. You just grab the coil and unscrew the whole antenna from the NMO mount. When done just put it back on by hand. Just make sure you don't lose the little Oring that lives in the bottom of the Larson's plastic coil. And if you get wax on the NMO center contact clean it off
View attachment 100633 View attachment 100640

2 different cars but antenna off vs on.
When the antenna is off you wouldn't be able to see the little flat NMO mount at all if its up on the cab roof. The mount looks like a few half dollar coins stacked up.
View attachment 100638View attachment 100639



They make little protective caps that go on the NMO mount if he want to run a long time with the antenna off or sell the truck. He can even paint match it. .

View attachment 100636

I have the Larsen NMO2/70B and the Laird CB27 on my Jeep so I’m very familiar with the NMO setup. My Larsen has the gasket that goes around the outer edge of the base so it’s easy to take on and off without worrying about the gasket. The Laird, however, has the oring gasket and it can be a pain to keep it seated in the channel and keep it from binding up as you tighten it. That’s why I prefer to just pull the whip and leave the base.

Also, part of his Covid recovery is relearning essentially everything. He’s slowly getting back grip strength but I doubt he‘ll have enough power in that hand for a while to be able to twist it on and off. Dexterity he’s got, just no grip strength. I do already have some of those rain covers though. I would probably have him put that on if he did run it through the car wash without the base on.

After looking into multiple options and considering multiple factors, I think we’re gonna go with the President Mississippi antenna. I can mount it on an NMO mount on the roof and it has the ability to fold over if he just needs to pull in the garage the few times that he does. It’s short enough that he doesn’t have to worry about hitting much of anything daily driving, and I think its capabilities will be a good match with the Bill radio and will serve his needs just fine. And an added plus is the 10 year warranty on the antenna and the added 3 year warranty to the radio.