n0xmz
Member
I'm looking for a place to mount a new antenna on my car for the new scanner when I'm driving. I'm using a Uniden BCD396T and I don't want to damage this expensive toy by exposing it to too much RF. Is that even possible, I wonder?
Well here goes. There's not much room on the trunk, which is where I'd like to put it. I already have an HF Workman (Hamstick clone) antenna on a ball mount on the rear passenger quarter-panel that transmits (at most) about 100 watts. On the other side of the car is a trunk-lip mount Larsen 2/70. Estimated ERP is 60 watts at 146, 50 watts on 440. In between the two is a Larsen 902-928 MHz antenna. Estimate ERP on it is 50 watts.
The Larsen 2/70 and the Workman HF antennas are connected to an IC-706MK2G and the 900 MHz Larsen is connected to Motorola Spectra.
If I throw in an 800 MHz Motorola antenna for the scanner, can I expect anything more than possible desensing? What if I use a bigger antenna such as Rat Shack's mobile scanner antenna (mag mount replaced with NMO, of course).
I already have a 2m 1/4-wave on the hood that runs APRS at 30 watts and it desenses/overloads the 706 on 2 meters every time it beacons but it's also about 7+ feet away. You can see pics of all these antennas on my website, www.n0xmz.com. There's also a GPS receiver on the trunk but I'm not too worried about it.
As a last resort, I will explore putting one or more antennas on the roof. The problem with that is the moonroof but I suppose I can mount one or two behind it.
Hopefully, I'm worried about nothing.
Well here goes. There's not much room on the trunk, which is where I'd like to put it. I already have an HF Workman (Hamstick clone) antenna on a ball mount on the rear passenger quarter-panel that transmits (at most) about 100 watts. On the other side of the car is a trunk-lip mount Larsen 2/70. Estimated ERP is 60 watts at 146, 50 watts on 440. In between the two is a Larsen 902-928 MHz antenna. Estimate ERP on it is 50 watts.
The Larsen 2/70 and the Workman HF antennas are connected to an IC-706MK2G and the 900 MHz Larsen is connected to Motorola Spectra.
If I throw in an 800 MHz Motorola antenna for the scanner, can I expect anything more than possible desensing? What if I use a bigger antenna such as Rat Shack's mobile scanner antenna (mag mount replaced with NMO, of course).
I already have a 2m 1/4-wave on the hood that runs APRS at 30 watts and it desenses/overloads the 706 on 2 meters every time it beacons but it's also about 7+ feet away. You can see pics of all these antennas on my website, www.n0xmz.com. There's also a GPS receiver on the trunk but I'm not too worried about it.
As a last resort, I will explore putting one or more antennas on the roof. The problem with that is the moonroof but I suppose I can mount one or two behind it.
Hopefully, I'm worried about nothing.