put an antenna on the out side of the house, ground then try on top of the house and youll see a major improvement i would think. im considering it myself.
I've got that quarter wave whip on a mag mount sitting on the right rear corner of my 4Runner roof. Fed the coax through the rear tailgate. That setup gets me 20+ miles out on simplex line of sight and 10+ miles to my base station from ground level. I think you'd have good success with a ground plane underneath your antenna. Doesn't take much to get a six inch radius for a 1/4 wave.
I agree. The little 1/4 wave that came with the radio mag mounted to my roof does work better than the fender mount. At one point I had 2 mag mounts on my roof and the wires were driving me crazy so I did the hood/fender mount.
@paulethier3416 that's what I'm saying if you stick it to one of the back corners and feed it into the rear tailgate, you only see about an inch of cable showing with the Benifits of clearer line of sight. 1.01 SWR at 50 watts and hidden cables. At least in my experience. Either way good tests and good content!
One of the things to remember with antennas is the radiation pattern differs. You basically have (in general for GMRS) four options: 26" ish whip, 1/4 wave whip, ghost, yagi. The midland MTX26A 26" antenna does a good job but its quite noticable naturally. The 1/4 wave does a good job for its size in many situations. The ghost antennas vary but in some situations do better than the whips. This is because, depending on terrain the pattern may offer better gain for that situation. I have one friend in this area that does really well with a ghost but not with a whip. Ymmv. Yagis are the most gain but are also more directional so you have to mess around with direction and they are "Look at me, I have a funky antenna so what else is in my vehicle?".
Antenna propagation will favor towards the center of the vehicle. So a antenna mounted at a corner will have a stronger transmission towards the center and all out beyond in that direction. You can use this to 'aim' the main direction lobe of propagation in your favor. In the video this was backwards! The antenna was at the front-left of the vehicle so it was probably sending a weaker signal forward towards the target (arrow) than it was in the diagonally opposite direction. If you repeat the experiment in this video, try facing the vehicle in different directions from the same location to see if there is a noticeable change in results.
I saw that comparison but I've not had the same results. I really do like the antenna but I'm also having success with the 1/4 wave. I like that they are both really short.
Over the years I have tinkered off and on with CB and GMRS in very minor ways. Somehow it was and is always a curiosity for me but I have never really gotten into the "hobby" or desired to go further into HAM because.... well... even though it kind of fascinates me and all... I guess I just don't get it as a hobby. As a practical tool it also seems to fall short as modern smart phones get you better connectivity and traffic reporting. You also can call someone whenever... the other party does not have to specifically "have their radio on and monitoring"... I guess i have just never had anyone give me any real reason why I would be interested in it as a Hobby or for many practical reasons. I kinda wish I could find someone who would give me a reason that would resonate with me. but maybe I am just not gonna ever understand my fascination with radios but total frustration in wondering why i should spend the time and money to make it a "hobby".. anyone got any ideas?
put an antenna on the out side of the house, ground then try on top of the house and youll see a major improvement i would think. im considering it myself.
I'm working on a base station radio and antenna currently.
I've got that quarter wave whip on a mag mount sitting on the right rear corner of my 4Runner roof. Fed the coax through the rear tailgate. That setup gets me 20+ miles out on simplex line of sight and 10+ miles to my base station from ground level. I think you'd have good success with a ground plane underneath your antenna. Doesn't take much to get a six inch radius for a 1/4 wave.
I agree. The little 1/4 wave that came with the radio mag mounted to my roof does work better than the fender mount. At one point I had 2 mag mounts on my roof and the wires were driving me crazy so I did the hood/fender mount.
@paulethier3416 that's what I'm saying if you stick it to one of the back corners and feed it into the rear tailgate, you only see about an inch of cable showing with the Benifits of clearer line of sight. 1.01 SWR at 50 watts and hidden cables. At least in my experience. Either way good tests and good content!
One of the things to remember with antennas is the radiation pattern differs. You basically have (in general for GMRS) four options: 26" ish whip, 1/4 wave whip, ghost, yagi. The midland MTX26A 26" antenna does a good job but its quite noticable naturally. The 1/4 wave does a good job for its size in many situations. The ghost antennas vary but in some situations do better than the whips. This is because, depending on terrain the pattern may offer better gain for that situation. I have one friend in this area that does really well with a ghost but not with a whip. Ymmv. Yagis are the most gain but are also more directional so you have to mess around with direction and they are "Look at me, I have a funky antenna so what else is in my vehicle?".
Antenna propagation will favor towards the center of the vehicle. So a antenna mounted at a corner will have a stronger transmission towards the center and all out beyond in that direction. You can use this to 'aim' the main direction lobe of propagation in your favor. In the video this was backwards! The antenna was at the front-left of the vehicle so it was probably sending a weaker signal forward towards the target (arrow) than it was in the diagonally opposite direction. If you repeat the experiment in this video, try facing the vehicle in different directions from the same location to see if there is a noticeable change in results.
Nora rubicon did a test on the ghost antenna against 2 other styles and it is surprisingly very competitive with the others
I saw that comparison but I've not had the same results. I really do like the antenna but I'm also having success with the 1/4 wave. I like that they are both really short.
Great Video, Greetings from South Carolina.
Thank you! Happy you enjoyed the video.
Over the years I have tinkered off and on with CB and GMRS in very minor ways. Somehow it was and is always a curiosity for me but I have never really gotten into the "hobby" or desired to go further into HAM because.... well... even though it kind of fascinates me and all... I guess I just don't get it as a hobby. As a practical tool it also seems to fall short as modern smart phones get you better connectivity and traffic reporting. You also can call someone whenever... the other party does not have to specifically "have their radio on and monitoring"... I guess i have just never had anyone give me any real reason why I would be interested in it as a Hobby or for many practical reasons. I kinda wish I could find someone who would give me a reason that would resonate with me. but maybe I am just not gonna ever understand my fascination with radios but total frustration in wondering why i should spend the time and money to make it a "hobby".. anyone got any ideas?
Don't you need a license to use GMRS?
Your Google is broken?
Yes you need a license.
Yes but it is a pay only. No test needed etc.