Cooltech cowl antenna mount

[hjdca]

hjdca,
Not sure if your still following this thread but I was hoping you could measure the OVERALL length of your Laird antenna. It seems I overlooked the fact that Laird only specifies the whip length and not the overall length of their antennas. You would think that the overall length would be more important for customers trying to fit an antenna equipped vehicle in their garage or a parking deck. I figured I'll have about 36-37" of clearance using the Cooltech mount. Thanks!

Here you go !

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[Bobba]

I am no radio guru but isn't that tape measure going to interfere with your signal LOL? I really appreciate your help as my concern was with Lairds advertised whip length of 31" plus the coil and spring,it would have put me over my garage limit. No worries now! In all honesty, before seeing your reply, I called Antenna Farm and the Sales guy actually sent a warehouse guy to actually measure one. Same measurement as in your pics. How's that for sustomer service? You know who I will be ordering from!

 

[Radio Guy]

I am no radio guru but isn't that tape measure going to interfere with your signal LOL? I really appreciate your help as my concern was with Lairds advertised whip length of 31" plus the coil and spring,it would have put me over my garage limit. No worries now! In all honesty, before seeing your reply, I called Antenna Farm and the Sales guy actually sent a warehouse guy to actually measure one. Same measurement as in your pics. How's that for sustomer service? You know who I will be ordering from!

Yes the tape measure would interfere but the bright yellow paint would help the antenna be seen by other antennas, therefore improving reception.....


Anyway, the PCTEL/MAXRAD MUF-4505 series is nearly identical to the Laird in size and performance and they are available everywhere. I've used them for the last 30yrs or more for GMRS and UHF amateur.

 

[Bobba]

And I suppose all those little black lines are S- units that it's capable of (under ideal conditions of course). Just pull it out or push it in to tune on for whatever frequency you desire. We laugh but I remember watching a YT video of someone making a tape measure antenna.

 

[Deleted member 52902]

The antenna shown looks like a Larsen NMO 2/70B, same thing I run in post #26 in this thread. According to factory specs this antenna requires a ground plane which would not be sufficiently supplied on this particular mount. However my hood mounted trunk lip mount with the underside of the plastic cowl pieces covered with conductive aluminum tape provides an adequate ground plane even at CB frequencies.

 

[Deleted member 52902]

A truly good ground plane, besides also having a really good ground path for the shield side of the feedline is an interesting pair to achieve with at least decent results in many of today's vehicles. I don't think any of the antennas located in the area of the cowl and windshield frame are optimal, my mount-method included.

That said, I know my analyzer R, L and C results are fairly good. My basic old analog field strength meter walk-around wasn't good enough for me to learn much about the actual lobe pattern with the exception of swinging the door open and closed ; fully opened, provided poor results on the analyzer as well as the field strength meter. I wasn't sure if it was the components in the mirror itself or the door as it swung closer to the antenna. I do know that with the door closed, my 2m and 70cm range of use is really good. That is with either the NMO based LARSEN or my preferred and I think slightly better 2 meter performance antenna, a COMET CA-2X4SR which has a PL-259-like base.

The LARSEN is almost always installed because if someone wants to steal it, its cheap. Another reason to have the LARSEN mounted is that I can drive my JEEP in and out of the garage without it thwacking the roll up door. If I change to larger wheels & tires and/or a lift kit, the whole game changes.

I can spin-off the NMO "adapter" and remove a center insert pin from my antenna mount, and then spin-on a large flat washer & nut onto the top of the SO-239. Now I can place the COMET antenna on this mount. Pictures would make this easier to understand the conversion. Just know that I can convert from NMO to SO-239 and back in a few minutes. With the COMET in place and still factory tires/wheels and no lift, the top of the COMET drags itself on the opened roll up door going in and out of the garage. No damage for the few times I knowingly run the JEEP in and out with this antenna in place.

I even have a 6 meter, NMO based Larsen that I have used on this mount with the coax feed line then connected to a KENWOOD HF-6 radio. It presents a taller whip that cannot clear the garage door but its flexible enough, neither it or the garage door are harmed.

The 2m and 70cm band antennas present decent SWR across the frequencies I use them for. The R, L and C analyzer numbers are always ok with the door closed. In real world use, the LARSEN and COMET dual band antennas provided quite a respectable reach in Simplex or Repeater work. The 6 meter antenna is a bit more squirrely to optimize but it can work ok, at least for local use.

The antenna shown looks like a Larsen NMO 2/70B, same thing I run in post #26 in this thread. According to factory specs this antenna requires a ground plane which would not be sufficiently supplied on this particular mount. However my hood mounted trunk lip mount with the underside of the plastic cowl pieces covered with conductive aluminum tape provides an adequate ground plane even at CB frequencies.

 

[sarguy1941]

Here you go !

Who makes the black spring ? Been looking for one like that for my Ball mount.

 

[hjdca]

Who makes the black spring ? Been looking for one like that for my Ball mount.

That is a Gorilla Whips heavy duty spring that I use for my dirt direct offroad DDOR LED DREAM WHIP (4.5FT) 400 COLOR COMBINATION. Note: Light whips are heavy.
Heavy Duty LED Whip Spring Mount- Available in Silver or Black
Regular price$29.99 USD
https://gorillawhips.com/

 

[Gvsukids]

If you use a trunk lip mount on the hood near the hinges there is no drilling and the antenna sits up higher with less interference from the hood. Here is a big Larsen dual band amateur 2m/70cm on my hood mount.

Here's my Midland lip mount before being sent back.

 

[Radio Guy]

Here is my Laird mount which is typical of other brands I've used and they sit very flat on the hood or trunk and are very strong. The midland looks like its tilted up or maybe it got bent?

I have Laird hood mounts on both sides of the truck plus an NMO on the top bed rail below the rear window and a universal HF/VHF/UHF mount on a rear bed wall above a rear tire.

 

[SargeDiesel]

I went with a simple bumper mount. Took a bolt out and stuck the antenna in. I use two antennas: short for daily/close use or weather radio and long for off-road or when I need distance.

What type of system are you using, that doesn't look like a GMRS antenna. Also, do you see any performance loss by it being mounted on the lowest possible position on the vehicle ?(usually, the higher the better).

 

[Radio Guy]

What type of system are you using, that doesn't look like a GMRS antenna. Also, do you see any performance loss by it being mounted on the lowest possible position on the vehicle ?(usually, the higher the better).

That is a terrible thing to do to an antenna. And yes it will suffer some degradation mounted low on the bumper.

 

[Gvsukids]

Here's my new cooltech mount, with Midland MXTA24.

 

[Gunlovebirds1024]

That is a terrible thing to do to an antenna. And yes it will suffer some degradation mounted low on the bumper.

For my CB I use two antennas. The one mounted is short, reaches a little above the hood. The second is a much longer firestik antenna with a spring.

The short antenna is greatly degrading as the Jeep blocks most of it. I have no issue getting the wx and is good for around town when I don’t want the large one. The long antenna works fine for communication.

 

[Gvsukids]

Added some color.

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