GMRS antennas

well, finally got it all hooked up. thanks for all the input everyone!

 

Not seeing this done and wondering what I’m missing. Other than reduced signal distance or performance would it be a bad idea to mount the antenna on a bracket as far back as possible on the passenger side bed rail?

 

I don’t see why you couldn’t, just more coax to run. You’re already aware about the signal implications that will create.

 

Its the whole ground plane vs non ground plane concept that has me questioning my location choice.

 

GMRS radios only require about 6 inches of ground plane. The radio will work, although not optimally. It's similar to mounting the antenna on a ditch bracket in terms of ground plane.

 

Agreed about the ditch bracket. That was my thought as well. Thanks.

 

I have been reading through a lot of these GRMS antenna pages and I have a question regarding the Midland 3dB Gain ghost antenna's best mounting position with the Midland 6m cable.
Hood mount or above the tail light at the rear of the bed?
Thanks for all the great info.

 

I’ve got the 6db gain tall boy antenna and the stubby ghost antenna midland has on Amazon. Both work ok for what they are and how I use GMRS (mostly very close stuff).

 

The general advice I’ve seen / been given (mostly by amateur radio guys), is you want the antenna as high and as centered on the vehicle as possible. So roof rack would be good. A lot of them also expressed concern about the large, higher watt (radios), untuned, antennas being mounted right by your own or your passengers face on a ditch light bracket. They tore into me pretty good about that, saying it’s potentially unsafe.

 

Off another thread,
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/coms-setup-location.749278/

 

I recently installed a Wouxun KG-1000G. I had all the components for months leading up to the install because I couldn't find any options to mount the antenna without drilling a hole in the roof or relying on a hood lip mount.

Here is a run down of my install. I mounted the radio chassis under the passenger seat to the rear side of DDI's Multi Mount Panel since I already had seat jackers. Installed the face place/controls on top of the head-unit dash panel. For the antenna location I made a bracket to mount it on the passenger side rear corner of the bed (where a bed stiffener would go). I have both of Midland's Ghost and 6db gain antenna's. For those who don't live in Southern NV the locations I have gone won't make sense but its absolutely shocking how far I have gone and into deep canyons where the signal was maxed and clear as clear can be. This was specific to a repeater located on Mt Potosi while I was 60 miles away (as the crow flies) wheeling out in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. After all that time of analysis paralysis trying to decide on a location for the antenna it ended up working great. I'm not sure of the SWR but I don't give a damn either based on the performance so far.

 

Would the midland ghost antenna be ok on the side of a prinsu rack? Like the running for tacos mount? Or do I need to hood mount it for ground plane and reflection etc.?

 

I think for anything you're likely going to be using the ghost for, it doesnt matter where you mount it. Rack would be fine. You're never ever going to get long range comms out of a GMRS unit unless you're on a salt flat or at the top of a peak looking down into a valley. IMO GMRS is mostly going to be convoy stuff, communicating down the road a bit, spotter/driver, around the campsite. I had mine on a ditch bracket (not advised) and a bed rack and never really noticed any difference.

 

yeah my plan was to swap to the longer 6 watt ones once I was out in the boonies. So switching between the two. I got the new 50 watt midland so just wanna maximize its output.

 

Yep I've got both of them and a weatherproof cap as well. Since I recently got my canopy and took off my rack, I had to pull the antenna off. I don't have it remounted yet, but my plan is to mount to the rail of my Victory rack.

 

Having all the stuff (rotopax, treadboards etc) will that mess with it or am I overthinking stuff haha.

 

GMRS is not nearly as sensitive to ground plane issues as a CB is.

Picking an antenna with a gain value that matches your typical terrain is probably more important than ground plane in terms of performance. Not like Im an expert by any means, but thats what I have gathered over the years.

Also, if you are getting noise when running LEDs youll probably have to look into some ferrite cores on the LEDs and radio power wires to cut that down.

 

I did see midland post this pic recently which has them using half of their NMO "clamp style" mount (which I own from my 4runner roof rack) mounted to what looks like a prinsu style rack (on the outside). I took a screenshot to remind myself to try this out once it warms up a bit.

 

That’s exactly what I wanted to do

 

I think you mean 6 dB (gain), but I do the same and switch between the two depending on what I need.