Doing some work my Nissan Frontier, currently I am running GMRS and a HH Yaesu FT1, both operate through mag mount antennas. I'm installing a roof rack on both the cab and the my shell, which means I can't use mag mounts anymore. I'm also looking to swap from my HH to a Yaesu FTM 400. I was thinking of installing separate Diamond K9000, one on the front rack for the GMRS radio, and one on the back for Yaesu. Doing some reading on other forums and a couple FB groups, people have very low opinions of the K9000, that is has a very short lifespan, high failure rate. Looking for some other opinions.
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Diamond K9000
- Thread starter colodak
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Diamond Antennas are just cheap ham ones from overseas and wouldn't really purchase this motorized one anyway. The bettter ones are from Laird or Larsen, but they don't have a gimmick mount like this for a good reason.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Is this like an overlanding style rack, or lumber rack?
Challenge is that getting a good ground plane with antenna mounts is an issue.
I agree, skip the hobby grade crap. Consider your ground plane and how you are going to mount the antenna.
If garage clearance is the issue, then there are some good options. You can get dual band antennas that are about 19" tall for your ham radio and a 1/4 wave UHF antenna that'll be around 6 inches tall. Some antennas can have springs at the base which can be helpful. Thin 1/4 wave whips will flex when parking in the garage and not damage anything.
Challenge is that getting a good ground plane with antenna mounts is an issue.
I agree, skip the hobby grade crap. Consider your ground plane and how you are going to mount the antenna.
If garage clearance is the issue, then there are some good options. You can get dual band antennas that are about 19" tall for your ham radio and a 1/4 wave UHF antenna that'll be around 6 inches tall. Some antennas can have springs at the base which can be helpful. Thin 1/4 wave whips will flex when parking in the garage and not damage anything.
I worked in a few two-way radio shops (now retired), and we switched our customers from Laird to EM Wave antennas. The Laird branded antennas developed a crack in the plastic base in 90% of the customers' mobile installs. The EM Wave's are far superior to Laird, as they are rubber coated, even the springs, and carry a better warranty. I have one or two Laird's, and will be changing them out to EM Wave in the near future.
Here is the link to EM Wave antennas E/M Wave - Antenna Design
and here are a few dealers that will sell them to the customer:
www.theantennafarm.com
shopwiscomm.com
EM Wave will not sell them directly to the customer. You must buy from a reputable dealer such as the dealers above.
Here is the link to EM Wave antennas E/M Wave - Antenna Design
and here are a few dealers that will sell them to the customer:
The Antenna Farm, Your two way radio source
The Antenna Farm : - VHF & UHF Mobile Radios Radio Accessories VHF & UHF Hand Held Radios Antennas Mobile Antenna Mounts SWR/Power Meters Adapters Coaxial Cable Two Way Accessories Antenna Accessories DC Power Supplies Coax Cable Accessories Connectors Aviation Radios Repeater Systems Towers &...
www.theantennafarm.com
Search Results - ShopWiscomm
shopwiscomm.com
EM Wave will not sell them directly to the customer. You must buy from a reputable dealer such as the dealers above.
I guess you could call it an overlanding style rack. It's a combination of issues I'm dealing with, two different low parking garages that I have to access, my own garage, as well the car wash I go through will no longer allow me to go through without removing my antenna, my GMRS antenna I have it unscrewed and a weather cap on the base, the 2/70 antenna is there all the time. This is a touchless wash, but they have four spinning jet sprayers on overhead beams, this past weekend one of the spinners hooked my antenna, never happened before, yanked the base loose and caused the sprayer to stop, which shutdown the line. The current antenna I'm using is about 20" tall (forget the brand, got it from HRO), it's toast now though. My pickup is tall enough that it's a pain to pull the antenna down and lay it on the backseat, and once this new rack is installed in a few weeks, it will be even harder.
I've looked at a couple of different of those small 1/4 wave, I'm curious how they work in the back country though, I've seen a couple reviews on them that they are fine urban areas, but hit/miss in mountains or rural areas. Hence why I was looking at the K9000, it can handle up to a 40" antenna, and with the electronic controlled folding feature, I could center it on my rack for better ground plane, and fold it over for those low clearance places.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
You may find that most car washes won't want you in there with any sort of rack on top. I'd check that and make sure it's even an option. Around here they are not allowed, at least at the few car washes I used to go to.
Doesn't matter if you have the fold over mount, it's going to catch on something. Only way to be really safe is to remove the antenna and put a cap over it. A small diameter quarter wave will usually survive, but I wouldn't trust it, at least not with my own trucks.
As for the antenna, that's all I run on VHF, a basic quarter wave.
Higher gain can be a problem in rugged terrain as the antenna radiation pattern is usually pushing it out towards the horizon, and not as much goes up. If you are in the mountains, you may find that a 1/4 wave works better.
I've got them on my personal trucks and my work truck.
Nice thing about NMO mounts is that you can try out different antennas. A simple 1/4 wave is going to be about $10, so easy enough to try and won't break the bank.
On my UTV (Polaris Ranger) I have a 1/2 wave Laird on the roll cage. Works well and puts up with the less than ideal ground plane pretty well.
I'm not sure how the K9000 would provide a good ground plane when the base of the antenna will be several inches above the vehicle body.
I've been running Larsen antennas for 30 years on full size trucks. That includes long road trips, parking garages, off road, tree branches, large bugs, even a bird or two. I've never had one fail me.
Recently, I've been trying EM Wave antennas. I have one on the wife's truck and one on my own truck, and so far I really like them.
As for the Larsen antennas. I've taken a few of them through low parking garages without issues. Even one that was low enough that the spring at the base took a permanent bend. My dad used to pull his full size Chevy into the garage every night with a 1/4 wave whip on the roof. Hundreds and hundreds of times without issue.
I'd find a place to mount two NMO mounts. Then get one of the Larsen NMO-2/70 antennas for your dual band radio, and a 1/4 wave or 1/2 wave antenna for your GMRS radio.
I ran the Larsen NMO-2/70SH, the 19" tall model antenna, for many years, no problems. When I was active on GMRS, all I used was 1/4 wave whips. I tried higher gain antennas once, and I didn't notice any difference at all. The 1/4 waves worked well around here where there's a lot of mountains and the primary GMRS repeater we used was on top of one of them.
Doesn't matter if you have the fold over mount, it's going to catch on something. Only way to be really safe is to remove the antenna and put a cap over it. A small diameter quarter wave will usually survive, but I wouldn't trust it, at least not with my own trucks.
As for the antenna, that's all I run on VHF, a basic quarter wave.
Higher gain can be a problem in rugged terrain as the antenna radiation pattern is usually pushing it out towards the horizon, and not as much goes up. If you are in the mountains, you may find that a 1/4 wave works better.
I've got them on my personal trucks and my work truck.
Nice thing about NMO mounts is that you can try out different antennas. A simple 1/4 wave is going to be about $10, so easy enough to try and won't break the bank.
On my UTV (Polaris Ranger) I have a 1/2 wave Laird on the roll cage. Works well and puts up with the less than ideal ground plane pretty well.
I'm not sure how the K9000 would provide a good ground plane when the base of the antenna will be several inches above the vehicle body.
I've been running Larsen antennas for 30 years on full size trucks. That includes long road trips, parking garages, off road, tree branches, large bugs, even a bird or two. I've never had one fail me.
Recently, I've been trying EM Wave antennas. I have one on the wife's truck and one on my own truck, and so far I really like them.
As for the Larsen antennas. I've taken a few of them through low parking garages without issues. Even one that was low enough that the spring at the base took a permanent bend. My dad used to pull his full size Chevy into the garage every night with a 1/4 wave whip on the roof. Hundreds and hundreds of times without issue.
I'd find a place to mount two NMO mounts. Then get one of the Larsen NMO-2/70 antennas for your dual band radio, and a 1/4 wave or 1/2 wave antenna for your GMRS radio.
I ran the Larsen NMO-2/70SH, the 19" tall model antenna, for many years, no problems. When I was active on GMRS, all I used was 1/4 wave whips. I tried higher gain antennas once, and I didn't notice any difference at all. The 1/4 waves worked well around here where there's a lot of mountains and the primary GMRS repeater we used was on top of one of them.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Not sure where you are located, but out here in California, Cal Fire runs on VHF. With all the mountains, desert, valleys and various terrain, they are running 1/4 wave VHF whips on all their vehicles.
I have seen Bureau of Land Management running 1/2 wave antennas.
Way out in the plain states, it's often common to see 5/8th's wave antennas since they'll have an edge on the flat lands.
But mountains, it's usually more common to see 1/4 wave antennas.
Also, they have a much broader bandwidth than gain antennas. Easy to get a 1/4 wave VHF antenna to give you 2.0:1 or less SWR across the VHF spectrum from 144 up to 174MHz.
On UHF, it's even wider.
I have seen Bureau of Land Management running 1/2 wave antennas.
Way out in the plain states, it's often common to see 5/8th's wave antennas since they'll have an edge on the flat lands.
But mountains, it's usually more common to see 1/4 wave antennas.
Also, they have a much broader bandwidth than gain antennas. Easy to get a 1/4 wave VHF antenna to give you 2.0:1 or less SWR across the VHF spectrum from 144 up to 174MHz.
On UHF, it's even wider.
The car wash I use doesn't care about racks, they have an 8'6" clearance the entire length of the tunnel, with a max 8' vehicle height permitted, the main reason they don't care is because they are touchless (except for tire scrubber) so they don't have to worry about brushes getting hooked on things.
Once I get this rack completed in a few weeks, I'll have to look things over again consider my options. Drilling through the cab roof won't be much of an option, as later in the year a rack assembly will be mounted to it as well.
Once I get this rack completed in a few weeks, I'll have to look things over again consider my options. Drilling through the cab roof won't be much of an option, as later in the year a rack assembly will be mounted to it as well.
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