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#1
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Antenna advice - "Plastic Car"
Greetings all
I have a 87 Fiero GT - V6 Mid-Engined Plastic car. I have been considering using an "On-The-Glass" MultiBand antenna (2M / 440Mhz) on this car. Has anyone done this? what kind of results? any tricks to improving signal? My concern is the lack of body sheet metal... There are frame parts and a V6 engine under the back deck, but I don't know if that's enough with one of these antennas.. There is a approx... 10" square piece of metal plate under the back deck that a mag mount could adhere to, but the car has a new high quality paint job on it and I don't want to mount anything on the body.... There are no bumbers to mount to, Their all shrouded in moulded plastic.... I would be grateful for your advice.. Thanks John KD4RN |
#2
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John, the on-glass antennas do not require a separate ground; the antenna
uses the coax shield and the radio ground. When you mount the antenna, you need to avoid mounting near a rear-windo de-fogger - the two don't like each other. Also, I recommend the Larsen version of the antenna, versus anyone else's - it just seems to perform better. Good luck! 73, Mike KI6PR El Rancho R.F., CA "John" wrote Greetings all I have a 87 Fiero GT - V6 Mid-Engined Plastic car. I have been considering using an "On-The-Glass" MultiBand antenna (2M / 440Mhz) on this car. Has anyone done this? what kind of results? any tricks to improving signal? My concern is the lack of body sheet metal... There are frame parts and a V6 engine under the back deck, but I don't know if that's enough with one of these antennas.. There is a approx... 10" square piece of metal plate under the back deck that a mag mount could adhere to, but the car has a new high quality paint job on it and I don't want to mount anything on the body.... There are no bumbers to mount to, Their all shrouded in moulded plastic.... I would be grateful for your advice.. Thanks John KD4RN |
#3
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As previously stated: The Larsen through the glass should work fine.
Just make sure it is 1/2 inch [~1 cm] from the window heater wires in the glass. John wrote: Greetings all I have a 87 Fiero GT - V6 Mid-Engined Plastic car. I have been considering using an "On-The-Glass" MultiBand antenna (2M / 440Mhz) on this car. Has anyone done this? what kind of results? any tricks to improving signal? My concern is the lack of body sheet metal... There are frame parts and a V6 engine under the back deck, but I don't know if that's enough with one of these antennas.. There is a approx... 10" square piece of metal plate under the back deck that a mag mount could adhere to, but the car has a new high quality paint job on it and I don't want to mount anything on the body.... There are no bumbers to mount to, Their all shrouded in moulded plastic.... I would be grateful for your advice.. Thanks John KD4RN |
#4
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On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 08:13:59 -0800, "Mikey" wrote:
John, the on-glass antennas do not require a separate ground; the antenna I had one that did, but as far as I recall the Larsen does not. uses the coax shield and the radio ground. When you mount the antenna, you need to avoid mounting near a rear-windo de-fogger - the two don't like each other. Also, I recommend the Larsen version of the antenna, versus anyone else's - it just seems to perform better. Good luck! I had good luck using a Larsen in a Transam and at one time or another I had either the TM-V7A, or TM-D700 in there. I had a SUV pull out in front of me. Took him broadside at what was figured to be 50 (only left 12 feet of skid marks). The TA stopped so quick the metal mount for the TM-D700 control head was smashed flat by inertia. The right front tire was back into the firewall and the firewall was clear back against the underside of the dash. (all the way across) Radio was still working after the impact. The Larsen stayed in place. In fact, later I had to use a wood chisel to get the thing off the rear window. (TA was totaled) Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member) (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair) www.rogerhalstead.com 73, Mike KI6PR El Rancho R.F., CA "John" wrote Greetings all I have a 87 Fiero GT - V6 Mid-Engined Plastic car. I have been considering using an "On-The-Glass" MultiBand antenna (2M / 440Mhz) on this car. Has anyone done this? what kind of results? any tricks to improving signal? My concern is the lack of body sheet metal... There are frame parts and a V6 engine under the back deck, but I don't know if that's enough with one of these antennas.. There is a approx... 10" square piece of metal plate under the back deck that a mag mount could adhere to, but the car has a new high quality paint job on it and I don't want to mount anything on the body.... There are no bumbers to mount to, Their all shrouded in moulded plastic.... I would be grateful for your advice.. Thanks John KD4RN |
#5
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John, An 'on the glass' antenna should work for you. Mounting an antenna on the Fiero's body will also work but will be a real P.I.T.A. since you will have to make connection to the underlying metal (it's there, just very hard to get to). So, unless you want to go to a huge amount of trouble for very little benefit, use the 'on glass' antenna for VHF/UHF. If you want HF, you will have to start thinking about making a making a mounting bracket that connects to the car's 'frame'. Not easy, pretty, and an even bigger P.I.T.A.! 'Doc |
#6
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On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 02:31:31 GMT, John wrote:
Greetings all I have a 87 Fiero GT - V6 Mid-Engined Plastic car. I have been considering using an "On-The-Glass" MultiBand antenna (2M / 440Mhz) on this car. Has anyone done this? what kind of results? well, i'm using an on-glass dual-band antenna on my jeep wrangler and i've had very good results with it. will the on-glass antenna perform the same as a 5/8 wave mounted on a metal automobile roof? nope...but their performance is better than you might think. swr is virtually flat on both 2m and 440 and power our is 48+ watts on 2m and 33+ watts on UHF. 73, rich, n9dko |
#7
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SWR has nothing in the world to do with how you get out.
Hence is no indication to anyone as to the suitability of an antenna. "Rich" wrote in message ... On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 02:31:31 GMT, John wrote: Greetings all I have a 87 Fiero GT - V6 Mid-Engined Plastic car. I have been considering using an "On-The-Glass" MultiBand antenna (2M / 440Mhz) on this car. Has anyone done this? what kind of results? well, i'm using an on-glass dual-band antenna on my jeep wrangler and i've had very good results with it. will the on-glass antenna perform the same as a 5/8 wave mounted on a metal automobile roof? nope...but their performance is better than you might think. swr is virtually flat on both 2m and 440 and power our is 48+ watts on 2m and 33+ watts on UHF. 73, rich, n9dko |
#8
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On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 22:42:28 -0500, "w4jle" W4JLE(remove this to
wrote: SWR has nothing in the world to do with how you get out. Hence is no indication to anyone as to the suitability of an antenna. its an indication of how well the antenna is matched to the transmitter. a higher swr most likely results in reduced output wattage. reduced output power most likely results in reduced range. all things considered i'd rather have a lower swr than higher. 73, rich, n9dko |
#9
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On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 02:31:31 GMT, John wrote:
Greetings all I have a 87 Fiero GT - V6 Mid-Engined Plastic car. I have been considering using an "On-The-Glass" MultiBand antenna (2M / 440Mhz) on this car. Has anyone done this? what kind of results? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Best and Cheapest antenna for a Fiero is a twinlead J-pole stuffed inside a pvc pipe,bumper mount,big signal for less than 10bucks. kc8vif Greg Z to thine own sound be true |
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