Mobile antenna ground plane

[MarkEagleUSA]

It's been a long time since my CB days and I'm now looking into mobile scanning with my new BC246T.

Do scanner antennas on a vehicle need to be grounded to the body? I have an SUV with a roof rack and would like to somehow mount an antenna on it. It's not grounded to the body (plastic mounts) and just want to know if I can proceed or would a magnetic or permanent mount on the body itself be superior?

Thanks in advance.

 

[N_Jay]

It's been a long time since my CB days and I'm now looking into mobile scanning with my new BC246T.

Do scanner antennas on a vehicle need to be grounded to the body? I have an SUV with a roof rack and would like to somehow mount an antenna on it. It's not grounded to the body (plastic mounts) and just want to know if I can proceed or would a magnetic or permanent mount on the body itself be superior?

Thanks in advance.

Yes a ground is important, but not as important as on a CB.

I fixed mount is best, and teh roof rack vs the mnag mount is probably a toss up.

 

[soupster]

ground plane

I just added a ground wire to my austin spectra.I had it attached the trac rac which was not attaced to the bed. I thought it would make a difference but I have not noticed anything better so far.

 

[N_Jay]

Re: ground plane

I just added a ground wire to my austin spectra.I had it attached the trac rac which was not attaced to the bed. I thought it would make a difference but I have not noticed anything better so far.

A ground is only a ground when it gets to the ground, everything else become part of the antenna.