Hey mmckenna,
As usual, your analysis is always appreciated. You mentioned about ".....without seeing where it is mounted..." well, it's there, in the pictures a couple of posts before this one. You'll see it in the upper right corner of a side glass, that's just above my slider/stationary drivers window. It is clean, nicely placed mount. It's not in the way of anything, viewing outside or otherwise. And yes, there is tint built into the glass. I have no idea what the chemical makeup of the tinting INSIDE the glass is. Only a Winnebago engineer or, maybe even the glass/window supplier to Winnebago would know.
But, suffice to say, the SWR is so far out, that, there's really nothing that can be done, with that antenna and it's mounting system. So, "out the window" (so to speak) it goes. Now, here's the latest bulletin. My very well seasoned ham veteran buddy came over this morning and we pulled the motorhome outside so in our tests, we'd not be bouncing radio wave signals off the garage walls. My newly acquired SWR meter was still hooked up. He did the SWR test and confirmed, it was a hair over 10.1:1. NOT GOOD. So, He had his own meter that would analyze antennas and it would also inject different frequencies to see what an installed antenna likes, and dislikes. The best he could get was 4.1 : 1. So, we came up with another idea. I asked what he thought about a mag mount antenna with some sort of a short element.
He looked at me and said, "wait here". He went to his truck came right back with EXACTLY what I just asked for. It's a Tram, mag mount with an NMO mount base. Attached to that mag mount is a Diamond, NR 72BNMO dual band antenna that, is only 14" tall. He suggested that we try it and see what happens. Well, I happen to have a large metal plate secured to that fiberglass roof. And, sitting on that plate are my two air horns. So, I plopped that mag mount antenna, right in between those two air horns and ran the cable/coax inside to the radio. Now, before we did any actual radio testing, we did a SWR measurement. Guess what, 1.4:1 YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
So, we did a couple of transmissions to some local folks and, they thought we were standing right next to them. I used both low and high power. Now, even though I'm not a big fan of mag mount antennas, this one seems to be performing outstandingly and, it's only as stated, about 14.5" high. And, during those tests, both SWR and actual transmissions and receptions, it really didn't seem that my air horns, one on each side of the antenna, did any harm. So, as of now, I've ordered that Diamond NR 72B NMO antenna, along with the Tram 3 5/8" mag base with NMO mount with 17' of cable. Oh, and a couple of PL 259 ends. So, I should receive that order sometime tomorrow. Now, I know it's probably not what some of you might have done but, again, this is a motorhome, not a regular vehicle. Access to cable/coax, mounting, cable/coax runs, and all that, are the main challenges here. I'm not looking for a top tier performing system here. I'm just wanting to be able to get out some, and maybe talk to other RVers as we travel some and, maybe establish some local contacts when we find a campground in an new town or city some place.
Scott
Oh, and RRR, I most certainly appreciate your input here too. In the onset, since I had a small, Larsen glass mount waaaaaaay back quite a few years ago that was on the side of one of the windows on my VW beetle and, at that time, it seemed as though it worked great, I thought I'd be able to get away with it this time too. Well, as I've reported, it just didn't happen. I gave it the old "college try" as they say. So, I'm moving to plan B.
Scott
