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Ever walked around your vehicle too many times to ponder modification options? That is where I am at the moment. I am hesitant to pull the trigger on a mount and antenna without some feedback from some more experienced hams. See, my predicament is that I don't want to drill holes into the Challenger for a center-roof mounted whip and do not want to scratch it up with a mag mount (plus speed is a factor. *wink wink*). I understand that option would provide the best ground plane but...it's a Challenger. That is my road warrior, man! Now I will try not to be too much of a princess about it. I would like a lip mount of some kind that is of a lower profile than some of the adjustable lip mounts that I have seen out there. Some of those things are just bricks. I have been eyeing the MFJ 346M Trunk Lip Mini-Mount on DX Engineering's site but there is a bit of a slope on the trunk and hood so the minimal adjustability on the mount would mean a slanted vertical whip which I of course don't want either. I saw another method that perhaps one of you can give me a little feedback on. I saw someone remove their shark fin antenna on the roof (rear-center of roof) and replace it with a fairly sleek looking nmo mount that has a shark fin'ish look. That was the EM Wave EM-MG11006-SP on theantennafarm.com. I would need to drop the headliner a bit to access the existing hole to replace the sharkfin with that EM Wave mount. It covers the existing hole and has a gasket to seal it all to avoid leaking. I know this effects the ground plane but perhaps someone can think of a nifty counterpoise method to regain the ground plane a bit while also maintaining a sleeker look. Wondering if I can run some wires from the mount between the roof and the headliner to achieve that idea or if I am overthinking it.

Regarding antennas, if I am going to go with a lip mount of some kind, I would probably go with a higher gain antenna since there is that space from the hood/trunk to the top of the roof. If I go with the shark fin replacement method, I am thinking of sporting a shorter dual-band whip (most likely 1/4 VHF and 5/8 UHF) for on the move operation and swap that out with a larger antenna if I am in a location where I can be idle for a while or if I need more gain on the move. I have also seen the Compactenna but I see conflicting reviews all over the place. Some guys love it and some say it is junk. It is pricey but might be a nice sleek option if it is worth it. Not sure if some of the negative reviews are just fuddish and $140+ is a little steep for me to burn at the moment.

I am utilizing a transceiver a friend gifted me a while back. The Yaesu FT-8800R (50W at high power). I would like to get the separation cables and bracket for headless unit operation. Mount and antenna options would also dictate where I mount the transceiver in the car. I can access terminals for the battery in both the front and back of the car (battery physically in the trunk but remote battery terminals under the hood as well)

Take a good look at a Dodge Challenger's dimensions and let me know your thoughts based on what I just threw at ya. Pictures included of car and a few of the mount options I am pondering.


-KE2DPW