On Feb 28, 9:18 am, DVoeltz wrote:
I'm new to this and need your help in selecting which antennas to use
on my railroad motorcars.

The radio will be moved between two pieces of equipment. One cab has
a flat metal roof and the other has a fiberglass cab. I would like an
antenna that I can unscrew from the cab when traveling the equipment
down the road on a trailer. The radio will be using the NARCOA
licensed frequency of 151.625 MHz. I understand that this frequency is
in what is known as the VHF-High Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Service band,
and uses a modulation known as narrow band (5 kHz deviation) FM. I
will be using a Vertex FLT 2011 40 Watt radio.

Based on the little I know about this, I understand a special antenna
will be needed for the fiberglass cab since there is no ground plane.
Both antenna will be mounted directly to the roof through a hole. The
radio will be mount within 2 feet of where this hole will be drilled
so I only need a short wire to connect from the antenna to the back of
the radio.

If you can offer me suggestions as to which antennas to use, I would
be most appreciative. Please excuse me if I misused some of the
language of the hobby.

Thanks in advance.

Dave in Pierre, SD

To see pictures of what this equipment is, go to:

www.narcoa.org

Hi, Dave.
Sure looks like fun! Someone here in Redmond, Oregon has one of the
cars. Seen it parked on a truck and then on the ground in front of his
garage.

The antenna you want to use will in a large part depend on what
distance and over what terrain you need to communicate. If only a few
miles, then a simple ground plane antenna will work. The antenna will
add less than 18 inches to the height of the roof, so you may not need
to remove it for transport.

I am not familiar with the class of license you are operating under,
so will not comment on antenna brands or installation. This seems to
be a commercial type installation, rather than an amateur radio
installation, so a licensed installer may be needed. If so, they will
have the antenna information you need.

Best regards,
Paul, KD7HB