Date:         Thu, 19 Oct 2000 17:53:57 -0700
Reply-To:     David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject:      Re: Ham/CB Antenna Location
Comments: To: Steve Schwenk <sxs@CONCENTRIC.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <39EF67D6.77474EAA@concentric.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I have had good success with 10m (29MHz), 11m (27MHz CB) , 2m (144MHz HAM)
and 70cm (440MHz HAM and FRS) by running the coax cable down the back side
of the cabinets and routing it up thru the rear vent.  Attach the antenna
to the rain gutter at that point.  For stuff like 2m and 70cm there isn't
that much of a ground plain needed - 10m and 11m does require a decent one
but if you ultimately want to set up an antenna for this get a 5/8 wave
lenth type with the loading coil - spend the bucks to get it professionally
tuned with a SWR meter.  The out of the box CB antennas are shooting in the
dark when it comes to tuning.  My Double Cab (mounted to the roll bar) and
Westie use the same loading coil, but the whip lenths are different.

The other location that I want to experiment with is the front passanger
corner of the front bumper.  This way I'll know where the nose of the van is.

At 02:29 PM 19/10/2000 -0700, Steve Schwenk wrote:
>Has anyone had luck mounting a ham or cb antenna to the
>steel roof under the luggage carrier up front on a
>westy?  Is there enough ground plane to achieve good
>SWR?  I do not want to do a side mount...unless the
>performance would be significantly better.  I also do
>not want to spend money on a good radio if i am never
>going to be able to transmit well due to the poor
>ground plane.
>
>Thanks for any info.  And I'd love to hear any other
>good mounting locations that have been tested on a
>meter.
>steve
>
>

-- David Marshall - Volkswagen Enthusiast - Quesnel, BC, Canada   --
-- 78 VW Rabbit, 79 VW Iltis, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westfalia        --
-- 85 VW Cabriolet, 87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page        http://www.volkswagen.org  --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning  http://www.fastforward.ca  --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list)  --