Hi, i am a new ham and i just purchased an old VP commodore station
wagon. I was wondering what the best method would be mounting antennas
on this vehicle. It has a non metallic roof rack so i was thinking of
getting a metal plate across the roof rack and mounting the antennas
on that. So i was thinking:

1. How to electrically connect the plate to the vehicle
2. What order/sizes to have the antennas in. (Largest at back,
smallest at front? It shouldn't really matter, depending on
directionality requirements.)


Gary,

Since the large metal plate you are thinking of putting on your roof
is only acting as a ground-plane for VHF/UHF antennas, I see no need to
have it electrically connected to the roof... though you may end up doing
so simply from whatever mounting techniques you decide to use.

Also, one consideration might be to use half-wave type base loaded
antennas, which technically do not require a ground plane.

Thirdly, there are vendors, such as Antenna Specialists, who make a
metal foil tape for installing on the underside of non-metallic roofs at
antenna mounting holes so as to provide a ground plane for the antenna.
They're used a lot in ambulances here that have fiber-glass tops.

Food for thought.


Ed K7AAT