2M Antenna Recommendation

Garrett

Garrett

Adventurist
Well, I bit the bullet and got a great deal on a BNIB Kenwood TM-281A mobile radio. I plan to run it as-is for now and later get it modded to run race frequencies.

Question: What mag mount antenna do you guys recommend? I went online, but there are so many dang choices.
 
Product Details:


TM-281A

144MHz fm Transciever



On or off the road, Kenwood's TM-281A is a mobile radio you can always count on. As tough as nails, this MIL-STD-compliant transceiver delivers powerful performance, excellent audio clarity, and a host of advanced features. It offers superb operating ease day or night thanks to the large backlit LCD and illuminated keys. So the next time you take off, take the TM-281A.



Supplied Accessories


•DC Power Cable
•Manual
•DTMF Speaker Mic
•
Mobile Mounting Bracket


General
•High Power 65W Output
•Weather Alter
•Large Front Speaker
•Vivid Amber LCD Display With 32-Step Brightness Control
•200 Memory Channels, Plus One Call Channel
•6 Alphanumeric Characters Offers 100 Memory Channels
•Multiple Scan Functions
•CTCSS & DCS Encoder/Decoder
•U.S.MIL-STD 810 C/D/E/F/G
 
I hate mag mount. Tree, snag, fallen antenna, rinse and repeat.

Find your way to San Diego, and I'll put a real antenna mount on your rig. Through the roof. Professionally of course, it is what I do at work after all.
 
Mitch,

Can you make any recommendations bulkhead connectors or the like? I'd like to put holes in the roof... and at the same time make it removable when I need to take off the roof rack. I've read numerous threads and have heard many ideas, but would like to hear what a professional recommends.

Nathan
 
Nathan - I love my Diamond K400 series mounts. Very easy to mount right on the hatch of the Landcruiser or deck lid of a trunk, etc. Not cheap at around $70 (or more now). Comes with 6' of cable and standard connectors for adding length to the cable depending on where you've got your unit mounted. For onroad I run a Comet SBB7 and for offroad a little Comet SBB1. It's a short flexible antenna that's perfect for offroad use and gets great simplex range for its size.
 
Just to clarify, Nathan, you said: I'd LIKE to put holes in the roof...

As in you don't mind making some holes. As when you say bulkhead connectors... I want to understand more of what you mean.

If your intention is to mount an antenna to your roofrack, and run the cable to a surface mounted connector, or bulkhead, there's a couple options, weatherproofing could be an issue for the connection, but not the mounting of the connector.

Or perhaps you mean you want to mount the antenna to the roof by way of an NMO connector, and simply be able to remove/re-install it easily, with or without the rack on top. Also easy, tons of NMO type mounts out there.

A little more clarification, and I think I can help after that.
 
So, hi all...just got my Technician ticket...but previous have used an ICOM1 for family coms with a mag mount... tree hits it,it falls over sometimes sooooo. no hole the roof... JMHO.. Have
read that a 1/2 wavelength antenna does not need a ground plane. Mount anywhere

Cheers J.P.
 
Last edited:
Mitch said:
Just to clarify, Nathan, you said: I'd LIKE to put holes in the roof...

As in you don't mind making some holes. As when you say bulkhead connectors... I want to understand more of what you mean.

If your intention is to mount an antenna to your roofrack, and run the cable to a surface mounted connector, or bulkhead, there's a couple options, weatherproofing could be an issue for the connection, but not the mounting of the connector.

Or perhaps you mean you want to mount the antenna to the roof by way of an NMO connector, and simply be able to remove/re-install it easily, with or without the rack on top. Also easy, tons of NMO type mounts out there.

A little more clarification, and I think I can help after that.
Click to expand...


Not that I want to put holes in the roof per say. But I realized it may be the best way to run the lights I'd like to eventually run on the rack while still being able to remove the rack. I've got the rear lights already but it will be a while before I can afford a big led bar up front. But I'd like as few holes as possible, hopefully I find one connector that does it all. Our trucks at work have multiple holes for the equipment mounted up there and some of them leak... Mainly the spot light which have in turn shorted out some of the radio consoles.

I remembering seeing Brent's mounts and they maybe the route I go. Weather intrusion to radio equipment equals bad news.
 
I bought a relatively cheap Nagoya mag mount to attach to my portable for trail runs (baby steps in the land of radios). It says it requires a ground plane. Would my Gobi steel roof rack be suitable as a ground plane? I could find a spot to attach it to the actual roof but then i t would stick through the rack which may interfere. Any thoughts?
 
I have a Diamond NR770 NMO mounted to the side of my camper, near the roof. It is connected to an ICOM 5100 radio. The below photo was taken at RawHyde Adventures training facility in Colorado during their 2016 Continental Drive trip in July.
image.jpeg
 
I just installed a Firestik 2m15b antenna today with a Kenwood TM-221a. The antenna is mounted on a flat mount off my ditch light bracket. Prior to it getting dark tonight I couldn't get the SWR below 3:1. I'm going to see what I can do with it in the morning.
 
I run a Larsen NMO-2/70B which isn't the first antenna I've had mounted, the others had mounted coils that were killed with limb strikes. The Larsen has been straight up abused (and bent back to straight) but it is still chugging along without any complaints. The NMO mount is on a tab welded to my roof rack, which is an odd setup since the underside of the mount is exposed to the elements, liberal application of some Permatex silicon sealer helped fix that potential problem. Why did I end up with an NMO in that configuration? Beggers can't be choosers, so adapt and overcome.

http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-000565

The Larsen antenna is the closest of the three you can see in this photo.
F8Industries-AdventureWebSized-28.jpg

Side note about NMO, all the P-25 radio mounts that anyone in my area ran were all NMO (as I believe is the case everywhere), which works great on patrol cars/SUVs due to being trunk or roof mounted, on the two different motorcycles I went through in my career the NMO mount was on a hard mount at the rear of the bike, completely exposed to the elements. Every year the antenna, mount and coax running under the rear trunk to the mounted Motorola unit would have to be replaced due to corrosion. My suggestion back then of "why don't we silicon the **** out of it" was met with "why would we do that" responses by the chain of command. At least the repairs weren't coming out of my paycheck.

The black nub of an antenna is on the metal mounting bracket on the back of my bike in this old photo.
XmasParade-2012-clean.jpg
 
Excuse my ignorance, but naturally, I have a gotten another vehicle. It's a Jeep with the composite top so my mag mount isn't going to work. The truck already has a CB radio installed a large whip antenna off the back (see pic). I assume the corded section is just coaxial and that I can simply change out the antenna and not the entire cord, right? If so, which no ground plane antenna would you all recommend?
IMG_3138.JPG
 
Garrett, I have the same (or very similar) antenna as Richard. Assuming your co-ax is within spec it would be perfectly adequate for 2M usage.
 
Hmmm. I received the Diamond NR-770HB but the cable that plugged into the CB antenna is male and the the base of the antenna is male. Do I have the wrong cable or need an adapter?
 
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