How many radios/antennas are on your car/truck/bike

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How many radios/antennas are on your car/truck/bike

Posted: 7/11/2012 11:24:55 AM EDT

I made an appointment to have an NMO mount installed by the motorola dealer next week in the roof of my Tundra. And I might just have them add a second while they're in there. Not sure what I'd use it for yet though. Are there 6m NMO antennas? Maybe a wifi antenna for a HSMM-Mesh router?

Once I've got the NMO mounts installed successfully I'll be installing my Icom IC7000 in the truck. From there I'll get a stake pocket mount for the bed for a Hamstick or 3.

So that'll be 2-3 antennas installed to play with.

What do you have?

Posted: 7/11/2012 12:06:25 PM EDT

[#1]

I hope they aren't charging much for the install. NMO installs are remarkably easy (proven by the fact that I managed to do my own without issue.)

3x NMO's on the roof of my vehicle, plus a CB whip off the rear door hinge.

Posted: 7/11/2012 1:46:34 PM EDT

[#2]

1 NMO mount in the middle of the roof, installed by me.

Posted: 7/11/2012 1:48:14 PM EDT

[#3]

Roof seems like a bad idea due to parking garage and drive-through clearance. Mine's on a mirror bracket mounted inside the right rear stake hole.

Posted: 7/11/2012 3:21:22 PM EDT

[#4]

Five antennas, three radios:

The 1/4 wave on the roof is for the APRS beacon (Tinytrak 4, FT-23R & RadioShack 30W amp)
The dual band on the roof and the Hamstick at the rear of the bed are for the FT-857
The RadioShack scanner antenna and the cell phone antenna in the rear window are on the BCD996XT

Posted: 7/11/2012 3:31:00 PM EDT

[#5]

Excluding the car radio antenna, I have 3. 2 NMO in the roof of my tundra that I installed myself, not hard at all with the proper tools, one is a comet dual bander and the other is a Larsen for cb. The third antenna is mounted in the side of the bed and is a Little Tarheel II for HF.

Posted: 7/11/2012 3:40:34 PM EDT

[#6]

Other than am/fm just 1 which is a Wilson 1000 mag mount.

Posted: 7/11/2012 4:58:51 PM EDT

[#7]

Hf.vhf.sat radio.am/Fm.

A few years ago I had a grey Chevy impalla. I had a Cb.vhf/uhf and hanstick on the trunk and cellphone antenna on roof. Cars moved over when I was behind them for some reason.

Posted: 7/11/2012 5:03:57 PM EDT

[#8]

Posted: 7/11/2012 5:23:52 PM EDT

[#9]

1 screwdriver mounted in the hitch receiver.

Posted: 7/11/2012 5:55:29 PM EDT

[#10]

I have a 2002 GMC 1500 standard cab with no antennas. That's because I'm lazy, plus I still have the chance to carry a 3rd person a time or two a year so I never bothered because I would want to toss several radios in there. That and I would run out of roof space.

If I had an extended or crew cab truck, I'd go with at least three antennas on the roof and maybe five or six. I could see times where I might want two VHF or UHF radios going at the same time.

If anyone is afraid of a roof mount because of breakage, Sti-Co makes an antenna that can take anything you can toss at it (including flipping your truck).

http://www.sti-co.com/antenna-products/public-safety-antennas/flexi-whip

Guaranteed Not to Break or We’ll Replace Them!

Posted: 7/11/2012 6:10:02 PM EDT

[#11]

2. 1 on either side of the bed. left is voice (FT-8800) right is APRS (IC-2000).

Posted: 7/11/2012 6:24:39 PM EDT

[#12]

Currently 2, AM/FM radio & my trunk mount NMO for FT-8800 and probably soon a mag mount for my Uniden Home Patrol Scanner I just ordered and will be here tomorrow.

ETA: Toad_77 I love your truck, wish I wouldn't have gotten rid of my ranger because I probably would have a setup sort of like that on my truck.

Posted: 7/11/2012 9:33:29 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

http://nullbits.foxxz.net/albums/hamtruck/IMG_0988.sized.jpg

http://nullbits.foxxz.net/albums/hamtruck/IMG_0991.sized.jpg

Is that a Maldol motorized base?

Posted: 7/11/2012 10:34:29 PM EDT

[#14]

How many radios/antennas are on your car/truck/bike

What day is it? Lol... it changes all the time.

Quoted:
I made an appointment to have an NMO mount installed by the motorola dealer next week in the roof of my Tundra. And I might just have them add a second while they're in there. Not sure what I'd use it for yet though. Are there 6m NMO antennas?

Certainly. A Larsen 5/8 wave cut for 2m resonates nicely for 6m FM, Maxrad isn't bad either. Haven't tried an Antenex/Laird. Or most all the manufacturers have slightly loaded antennas for 6m, such as the Larsen NMO50 which is tunable from 47 to 54MHz. Or you could put a K40 CB whip on an NMO base, might have to trim 1/2 to 1" or so.

Maybe a wifi antenna for a HSMM-Mesh router?

2.4 is available also. They need to use a high quality mount with a high frequency contact pad, and strongly recommend a "fully enclosed" type mount for frequencies that high.

Once I've got the NMO mounts installed successfully I'll be installing my Icom IC7000 in the truck. From there I'll get a stake pocket mount for the bed for a Hamstick or 3.

So that'll be 2-3 antennas installed to play with.

What do you have?

I have anywhere from zero to 3 or 4 antennas on the vehicle depending on what mood I'm in, what I'm doing, season of the year etc. For example late spring and summer (E skip season) I'm likely to have a 6m radio in the vehicle on 52.525, other times of the year I don't.

Posted: 7/12/2012 8:21:50 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Excluding the car radio antenna, I have 3. 2 NMO in the roof of my tundra that I installed myself, not hard at all with the proper tools, one is a comet dual bander and the other is a Larsen for cb. The third antenna is mounted in the side of the bed and is a Little Tarheel II for HF.

My brother used this place to install an NMO mount a few years ago and it cost him 75 bucks and it took them an hour while he waited.

I capable of installing it the mount but I just don't want to fool with dropping the headliner. I figure it's worth 75 bucks to avoid the hassle. But I'll watch em do it and then I can do it next time.

Posted: 7/12/2012 8:51:55 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

Quoted:
http://nullbits.foxxz.net/albums/hamtruck/IMG_0988.sized.jpg

http://nullbits.foxxz.net/albums/hamtruck/IMG_0991.sized.jpg

Is that a Maldol motorized base?

The antenna is maldol but the motorized mount is made by diamond.

Posted: 7/12/2012 10:07:58 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:
I capable of installing it the mount but I just don't want to fool with dropping the headliner.

Yet again, you do not need to "drop the headliner" to install an NMO mount. That's the whole reason for the design and existence of the NMO mount and why it became the standard and the other mount designs went away.

Posted: 7/12/2012 10:51:26 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I capable of installing it the mount but I just don't want to fool with dropping the headliner.

Yet again, you do not need to "drop the headliner" to install an NMO mount. That's the whole reason for the design and existence of the NMO mount and why it became the standard and the other mount designs went away.

Fair enough.

Posted: 7/12/2012 2:25:01 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Excluding the car radio antenna, I have 3. 2 NMO in the roof of my tundra that I installed myself, not hard at all with the proper tools, one is a comet dual bander and the other is a Larsen for cb. The third antenna is mounted in the side of the bed and is a Little Tarheel II for HF.

My brother used this place to install an NMO mount a few years ago and it cost him 75 bucks and it took them an hour while he waited.

I capable of installing it the mount but I just don't want to fool with dropping the headliner. I figure it's worth 75 bucks to avoid the hassle. But I'll watch em do it and then I can do it next time.

These are the instructions I used when I did my install. Came out really good. Much easier with the full crewmax roll down window, that's for sure.

Posted: 7/12/2012 2:33:23 PM EDT

[#20]

More is better......

Posted: 7/12/2012 3:07:40 PM EDT

[#21]

Are the magnetic base antennas not worth the money. How large a hole do you have to drill into the roof or cab.

Posted: 7/12/2012 4:53:10 PM EDT

[#22]

Best bet is to use the right tool for the job. You can find them cheaper than that though. Check eBay or do some Google searches.

Posted: 7/12/2012 6:11:35 PM EDT

[#23]

The proper tool is a Greenlee punch. Everything else is too much work and a waste of time and effort.

Linky

Posted: 7/12/2012 8:23:47 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
How large a hole do you have to drill into the roof or cab.

If you can install the mount from the underside, use a 3/8" hole and a 3/8" type mount.

If you are installing from the outside, you need a 3/4" hole and 3/4" type mount.

Using a 3/4" Greenlee punch makes no sense to me, if you have access to use a tool like that, a 3/8" hole and mount is a lot easier.

I've never seen a two-way installer use a punch like that, everyone has an NMO hole saw like the one posted.

Posted: 7/12/2012 8:30:55 PM EDT

[#25]

You get what you pay for with any tool...Greenlee is a superior tool.

Many installers use the hole saw because they don't want to remove the headliner.

Posted: 7/12/2012 9:15:28 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
You get what you pay for with any tool...Greenlee is a superior tool.

Many installers use the hole saw because they don't want to remove the headliner.

Sure, it may be a superior tool to cut a 3/4" hole in sheet metal but it defeats the purpose of the install-from-the-outside 3/4" NMO mount. If you can use the Greenlee tool, you don't need a 3/4" hole. The prettiness/perfection of the hole is of no consequence to the installation and invisible once the mount (or hole plug) is installed.

Posted: 7/13/2012 6:15:29 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Best bet is to use the right tool for the job. You can find them cheaper than that though. Check eBay or do some Google searches.

Little cheaper here, but backordered.
http://www.2wayelectronix.com/HS34-3-4-Hole-saw-for-NMO-mount-Laird-X-ACT-HS34.htm

I wanna say the base 'discount' once you get an account set up with Tessco is something like 10-15% though, so still pretty similar in pricing either way.

I personally went with something a little different for cutting into my roof:
http://www.hougen.com/cutters/industrial/industrial.html

Works like a champ, but not cheap.

Regarding the grenlee discussion, they do make them in sizes other than 3/4in. Including 3/8.

Posted: 7/13/2012 11:45:00 AM EDT

[#28]

Five total

1 vhf/uhf dual band
3 HF
1 AM/FM

Posted: 7/13/2012 7:34:24 PM EDT

[#29]

On the bike 4
1. AM / FM
2. CB
3. VHF/UHF Ham
4. GPS puck

On the Car 3 - 4
1. AM / FM
2. VHF/UHF Ham
3. GPS
4. Occasionally additional VHF / UHF depending on if I'm working an event.

Posted: 7/18/2012 7:01:51 AM EDT

[#30]

They finished in about an hour this morning and we installed 2 NMO mounts in the truck. Had two guys working on it at the local motorola shop called Trico. In my Tundra we removed the overhead console thing and they were able to see inside without dropping the headliner.

I put an SBB-5 antenna one one of the mounts and we capped off the other for now. Should finish installing the radio this week. Then I'll be looking for a stake pocket mount and some hamsticks for HF.

Posted: 7/19/2012 9:12:31 AM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I capable of installing it the mount but I just don't want to fool with dropping the headliner.

Yet again, you do not need to "drop the headliner" to install an NMO mount. That's the whole reason for the design and existence of the NMO mount and why it became the standard and the other mount designs went away.

We ended up removing the overhead console to determine where the beams in the ceiling were. They tried removing the third brake light above the rear window but apparently there are 10mm bolts inside the truck that have to be removed. They'd never seen one that way.

By removing the overhead console they routed the coax down to the door opening and ran it behind the door weatherstripping instead of trying to remove the B-pillar that contains an airbag.

Posted: 7/19/2012 11:01:09 AM EDT

[#32]

Larsen 150/450/800 NMO & Larsen 2/70B NMO

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - How many radios/antennas are on your car/truck/bike

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