Looking for Antenna (re)placement

[ifishcat]

Anyone have suggestions on an all-in-one antenna that will allow gps, xm, cell, and fm reception?

is there a web site out there that does quality reviews on this stuff?

(or do i want to keep the antenna forest )

[marck]

Antenna lengths depend on the frequency they are expected to transmit and receive. Here's a calculator for whip antennas:

Whip Antenna Length And Frequency Calculator

Just for example, here is the frequency spread.

FM Radio Stations: 88 MHz to 108 MHz

Cell: 824 MHz to 894 MHz

GPS:
L1 Frequency: This frequency carries the Coarse Acquisition Code (C/A code), P-Code, and the nav message, frequency is 1,575.42 MHz.
L2 Frequency
This frequency carries only the P-Code, frequency is 1,227.6 MHz.

Sat Radio: 2.3 GHz. That's 2,300 MHz!

You can see how different the frequencies are for the different devices.

So an "all in one" antenna would actually be several antennas in one.

Embrace the antenna farm, as all of us HAMs do!

Rich
KG6NPA

[ifishcat]

Originally Posted by marck

Embrace the antenna farm

rick, thx for taking a moment to outline the frequency differences for each technology.

perhaps I'm gonna need to pay closer attention to the landscaping design shows (that mae seems to always want to see instead of the sports channel, go figure :shrug: )

-jay

[mendo]

Rich, post a pic of your "Farm". I am looking at options for mine.

David
KG6MCL

[marck]

Originally Posted by mendo

Rich, post a pic of your "Farm". I am looking at options for mine.

David
KG6MCL

Haha. Well Dave, I only have antennae for my 2m and 440 mobile rigs on my truck. I tried to take a photo but it wan't very impressive. The skinny antennae on the roof of the truck seem to get lost in the background!

I'm still building the HF roof antenna for my house. In the meantime, I'm saving up for a HF Xceiver.

Maybe with the gas I save when the Smart comes...Hmmmm...

Now, as I recall, the Smart we're getting has a plexi roof with a sliding sun shade. Not magnetic. I'm not sure if a "through the glass" antenna mount will work, and routing the coax will be tricky. The Tridion cell is steel, but is it magnetic? (you may laugh at me, but Austenitc stainless steels [300 series] are non-magnetic) I'm sure my family isn't going to let me drill a hole in the roof to mount an antenna right off the bat!

*sign* if they were only HAMs, they would understand...

If nothing else, an edge mount in the rear hatch should work.

I'm sure something clever will become available for the new growing number of SmartHAMS!

Have you mounted a mobile rig in your Smart? If so, what did you do for an antenna?

You know what? I'm going to start our own SmartHAM thread!

73!
rich
KG6NPA

[marck]

Smart HAM Radio thread has been created. Let's have some fun!