Out of sheer curiosity, you think it’s strong enough to handle pulling into and out of a garage that only has about 6” roof clearance? I’m wondering if I’m just going to be stuck storing an antenna behind the back seat and manually replacing a rain cap if I want to use the radio.
The only problem I've ever had was with a Comet CA-2x4SR. Struck a tree branch 20" above the roof and it mount came out of the roof.
I had one of these antennas, and while it performed well, it being impacted did "interesting" things to the roof of my XJ body Jeep Cherokee. (This was before the spring section model was available.)
Out of sheer curiosity, you think it’s strong enough to handle pulling into and out of a garage that only has about 6” roof clearance? I’m wondering if I’m just going to be stuck storing an antenna behind the back seat and manually replacing a rain cap if I want to use the radio.
Silly question I can’t seem to find a clear answer to: I realize this is billed as a 1/4 wave VFH/UHF antenna, but does it function as a monobander on ONLY one or the other, depending on cut length, or does it work reasonably well as a dual-band transmit antenna on both bands for a single dual-band mobile radio? I know you’re an advocate of using multiple monoband antennas with a diplexer, and I may got that route one day, but right now I’m trying to keep things simple.I've since switched back to the standard Larsen NMOQ without the spring. The whip is flexible enough to take the hit.
Right now the garage door allows only an inch or two clearance over the cab lights on my F250 (and thankfully is just deep enough to fit even with full replacement Ranch Hand bumpers front and rear). It’s frustrating because the actual garage ceiling is a legit 10’ or more (haven’t measured yet for exact height), but the door opening itself is only as tall as it was built in 1971. Maybe one day if I have the money I’ll come in and open it up higher.Can verify that antenna length and a garage door height are critical values.
Silly question I can’t seem to find a clear answer to: I realize this is billed as a 1/4 wave VFH/UHF antenna, but does it function as a monobander on ONLY one or the other, depending on cut length, or does it work reasonably well as a dual-band transmit antenna on both bands for a single dual-band mobile radio? I know you’re an advocate of using multiple monoband antennas with a diplexer, and I may got that route one day, but right now I’m trying to keep things simple.
Right now the garage door allows only an inch or two clearance over the cab lights on my F250 (and thankfully is just deep enough to fit even with full replacement Ranch Hand bumpers front and rear). It’s frustrating because the actual garage ceiling is a legit 10’ or more (haven’t measured yet for exact height), but the door opening itself is only as tall as it was built in 1971. Maybe one day if I have the money I’ll come in and open it up higher.
That sounds like it would probably be good enough for me, then. I’m not sure how the radiation pattern would be affected or what applications would be less than ideal, but that SWR sounds good to me. One day I’ll need to get a good tuner, but hopefully I’ll be able to borrow one from someone when the time comes.The radiation pattern isn't "ideal" for all applications on 70cm if you cut it for 2 meters, but it worked just fine for me. SWR was low on both 2 meters and 70cm. Below 1.3 across the band on both.
Maybe. We’ll see I guess. Right now I can’t pull into the garage due to all the stuff in it as we finish renovations before moving in. But once I can at least pull most of the way into it, I’ll see what the actual clearance is once I reach the middle of the roof. When test fitting before purchase, I pulled the mag mount with the NMO2/70SH off the top.So, 3 or 4 inches above the roof? I think you might have issues. That's a little low.
That would make it easier to ignore garage issues. But we get some bad hailstorms around here from time to time, and the new place sits immediately on a main public road. With Super Duty trucks being so popular to steal, and tailgates being popular to steal, and being so easy to break into them for any opportunistic passers-by, I’d rather go ahead and pull the antenna off if it comes to that.I'm lucky enough that my truck doesn't fit in the garage
That sounds like it would probably be good enough for me, then. I’m not sure how the radiation pattern would be affected or what applications would be less than ideal, but that SWR sounds good to me. One day I’ll need to get a good tuner, but hopefully I’ll be able to borrow one from someone when the time comes.
The biggest issue I have with mounting it though the body panel here is this is on our camping vehicle. Even with the best of intentions we have had an antenna snag a tree and get ripped off. Its much easier to make a new bracket than have a buckled/ripped body panel. Maybe for this setup it would have made more sense to use an SO-239 connector.
I think for the time being I'm going to swap to one of the heat shrunk / crimped versions of the NMO base and see how it holds up. It looks like I can get those with ATX195 coax or RG58A/U. Since my run is only 3ft in length I'm thinking the difference in loss is negligible and getting the RG58A/U with the solid PE dielectric vs the ATX195 with a foam PE is going to be my best foot forward with regards to bend radii / conductor migration? Is that correct thinking?
That sounds like it would probably be good enough for me, then. I’m not sure how the radiation pattern would be affected or what applications would be less than ideal, but that SWR sounds good to me. One day I’ll need to get a good tuner, but hopefully I’ll be able to borrow one from someone when the time comes.
Maybe. We’ll see I guess. Right now I can’t pull into the garage due to all the stuff in it as we finish renovations before moving in. But once I can at least pull most of the way into it, I’ll see what the actual clearance is once I reach the middle of the roof. When test fitting before purchase, I pulled the mag mount with the NMO2/70SH off the top.
That would make it easier to ignore garage issues. But we get some bad hailstorms around here from time to time, and the new place sits immediately on a main public road. With Super Duty trucks being so popular to steal, and tailgates being popular to steal, and being so easy to break into them for any opportunistic passers-by, I’d rather go ahead and pull the antenna off if it comes to that.
Thanks! No real issues with bending in the wind at highway speeds?Worth every penny. You'll never think of it again.