Bingfu Antenna ?

[Jphila20]

This will probably sound stupid......so don't beat me up to bad.

The picture for this antenna shows it in a horizontal "T" position. I looked and can't seem to find if that would be the correct mounting position. Anyone have one of these and is it mounted like a "T" or side ways "|--"?

I was looking to use if for the Ohio MARCS and Cleveland GCRCN systems. Work car and can't put anything on the outside.

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Thanks!

 

[KevinC]

I can't comment on the performance, but since it appears to be helical the orientation wouldn't really matter.

 

[iMONITOR]

I've seen numerous pictures of that antenna and it's always shown in the horizontal position. I had one of those a few years ago performance was so bad I gave it away.

 

[nd5y]

It looks like two rubber ducks made into a dipole.
Small diameter helical antennas have the same polarization as the axis of the spiral element. You would mount it vertically for PLMR use.
Helical elements that big are probably for VHF and would probably act as a choke on 800 MHz. The antenna is probably useless for MARCS.

 

[fourgres]

I had one too, save your money.

 

[mmckenna]

Yeah, looks like a dipole, so in the "T" configuration, it would probably be horizontally polarized, where the system you are wanting to listen to is going to be vertically polarized.

Putting an antenna inside the vehicle probably isn't going to help much more than a rubber ducky on top of the radio. Metallic window tinting, defroster, an RF noise are still going to be an issue. Getting the antenna outside is going to help more.

Have you looked at something like this?

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[Jphila20]

I have a TRX-2 and it will be under my seat so a rubber ducky would be out of the question. Might be better than a rubber ducky since it can be attached at our close to a window. May try and put it on or near the front window.
Not expensive so I'll give a shot.

 

[mmckenna]

Not expensive so I'll give a shot.

Experimenting is part of the game, so go for it. You are correct, it's likely going to work a lot better than the antenna under the seat.

Our local sheriffs office has window mount antennas for WiFi. The terminals in the cars connect to their WiFi when they pull back into the yard and upload the reports and files automatically. It's a small WiFi antenna stuck inside the window. It doesn't need much range to connect, so it works for them.
Understanding the limitations is important. It's not ever going to work as well as an external antenna, but the systems you want to listen to may be strong enough to not need that.