Not in SD (or TX)... but I had great results with my Larsen through glass 2M/440 ham antenna on my old '85 VW Golf. On my 2000 VW Beetle, not so much... the glass had metallic film in it. Didn't bother to try on my 2012 VW Beetle... figured the metallic content in the glass was probably higher and there's really no place to mount my old Yeasu in it. I'm pretty sure I still have that Larsen through glass... if you want to try it PM me and I'll give it to ya.
I'm using a Tram thru-the-glass antenna on my Silverado with it mounted on the rear window and it works fine on 2-meters.
With a 10 watt output from my Yaesu 1802 I'm into all local repeaters solidly and get about 10-15 miles on simplex.
With glass mounts just be sure that the window and its seal are robust enough to handle the wind drag from attached base. I say this from experience back in the day I used a Ranger for day to day stuff and had attached a 2m/70cm antenna on the back window..and sure enough by the next winter the base had literally pulled the glass through the weather seal and viola waterfall into the rear supercab.
Question: (The Proverbial "Dumb" Question). When you refer to "Through" the glass antenna, does that mean you have to drill a hole through the glass for wire or to mate up contact points.
Thanks all for responding. Looks like I'm going to drill. Larson makes a mount in 3rd brake light but costs more than the antenna and installation. Stay safe
Thanks all for responding. Looks like I'm going to drill. Larson makes a mount in 3rd brake light but costs more than the antenna and installation. Stay safe
I've installed a number of antennas on aluminum body Fords.
Not any different than the steel body vehicles, although the type of aluminum they use is a bit harder to drill than steel. The standard NMO hole saws will work just fine, it just takes a bit longer.
Doing a permanent NMO mount will give you a better ground plane than the other alternatives. Done correctly, you will not have any issues.
I used to use one for 220MHz ham communication; didn't like it too much since 1.) it was only a 1/2 wave, and 2.) I couldn't get the SWR as low as with other antennas.