Where have you guys got your UHF antenna mounted.

I speant better part of the afternoon trying to decide on place to mount it.

I have the cable, the antenna, but as yet havent picked up a bracket, as i wasnt sure where would be the best place to install. I have a nudge bar on the front, and had considered that, but that puts the antenna in front of my view in the centre of the bonnet almost.

Thought about front bumper, but then it will smack into the front of the car as it sways around. Also thought about where the antenna hole is on the front guard but looked at heaps of places to find a bracket to fit there and had no luck so far.

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Aussie Leyland, Aussie Factory, Aussie Mini S.

Centre of the roof so that the roof acts as a reflector to pick up better.

BBINGO+1

What size antenna? Have you considered a roof gutter mount?



That's the perfect spot, would a magnetic mount work as well there?

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

magnetic might work. Roof gutter means runnning cable through a window or door seal, which i was sort of swaying away from.

Front nudge bar, cable can go through the grill into the wiring loom and through the firewall.

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Aussie Leyland, Aussie Factory, Aussie Mini S.

Same goes for the mag mount, worse even as it's gotta come across the roof.

BALLISTIC usually runs a UHF antenna on his, ask him how he mounts it

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Didn't the NSW Police mini's have them at the rear somewhere ???

DICK

Probably the worst spot for range, ok if your in convoy with someone.

If your after maximum range than the centre of the roof is best.

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'72 English Van...'72 Export Moke ...63' 850...KZ 750E1...'74 P76

Then its gunna look like a big dodgem car

The nudge bar is the worse place you could mount it as you will get your best reception behind you and you need it where you are going more than that. You'd probably get better reception etc if you fitted it up your @r$e.
I have my UHF and AM mounts on the gutter at the B-pillars as thats the best ground plane without drilling a hole in the roof for a centre mount, I do how ever have a 4.5 foot UHF aerial and a 6 foot AM whip aerial and depending on the weather conditions and location I can get up to about 10 km range sometimes more.
If you want or need more range find a linear amp which will increase your modulation signal and reception of signals ten fold.
A magnetic base is good but then you have a big limitation on what size aerial you can use as the will eventually let go or slide if you put a decent aerial on the magnetic base.
Personally the gutter mounts are fine but remember that your ground plane is greater to the side of the car that doesn't have the aerial mounted to it.

Anyways hope this helps......

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMkVq1jRGU

UHF is line-of-site. Try not to obscure its view if you want good omni-reception. Thewaves will still get around the car from the front, just like sound goes around a corner.... Its just not the best option when mounting antennas....especially when range counts!

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

u can also get glass mount uhf antennas from Laser

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Have you got a roof rack or can you get one , best and easiest might be to put a bracket on a roof rack , no big drama to run the wire through a door or rear 1/4 window seal and the advantages in range will outweigh the chance of damaging a seal (they're cheap enough ).

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Youd be hard pressed to get a UHF antenna that isnt ground plane independent these days so its not so much of a concern as AM sets from 30 years ago

But higher is still better, you might have to run the coax through the door somehow but it beats trying to deal with the electrical interference in the engine bay

I ran a glass mount for years and it worked really well, no holes to cut into your body and look very neat, they are not for excessively long range but you can boost them I think now, but if you prefer something that wont need boosting for a bit more range then you need a bigass ugly redneck whip aerial...

Who are you calling a redneck

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMkVq1jRGU