VHF antenna install on Jeep Liberty, need some suggestions.

[precoislen]

I have an '04 Jeep Liberty and have an D43 Spectra mounted in it w/ an A7 Head.

I currently have an magentic mount antenna on top of the truck for use with this, being this radio is only 50W. The problem I have with the mag mount is that by itself it is almost 3' tall and every low clearance (trees, carports, etc) knock this antenna down.

I am intrested in installing another permanent antenna, and had considered an window mount, or maybe an trunk lip mount antenna.
Because of the odd shaped hood I can't mount the trunk lip there but was thinking of maybe taking the angle bracket and screwing it into the side of the luggage rack grab rails on the exterior of the Jeep. They appear to be plastic.

Opinions on these ideas, or any better suggestions?

TIA

[kjfswkr]

[quote="precoislen"]I have an '04 Jeep Liberty and have an D43 Spectra mounted in it w/ an A7 Head.

Hello,
I also have a 04 Liberty which I hate. Anyway, I have a Diamond mounted through the roof but it is the breakaway design. When I park in my garage I just reach up and pull it up and fold it down. It works pretty good.

73

Kevin

PS: Ham Radio Outlet carries them, thats where I got mine.

[JohnWayne]

One solution that may work for you is a low profile antenna. I sell the Antenex Phantom style, and there are others. Antenex just came out with a new version called the Phantom Elite. It's about 3" tall and is shaped like a tiny bicycle helmet. The only gotcha is they are only 5mhz bandwidth, which is fine for 144-148MHz ham stuff, but if you need to cover like 150-160MHz, then it won't work too well. The receive is a little more broadband, probably about 20MHz. We're running special introductory pricing on the Elites right now, which makes them the same price as the original Phantom. You can see them at:

VHF Phantom Elite Antennas

I can order other frequency ranges if desired. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Jeff

[wa2zdy]

If 3' is too tall, why not a quarter wave whip - 19"?

Mounted in the center of the roof it would work just as well as a magmount. You'd only need to have the NMO mount installed unless you feel up to doing it yourself.

That's the best way I can think of.

Good luck.

[KB2ZTX]

My wife has the same vehicle. I have tried numerous ideas on hers so far. I have a UHF, VHF and Lowband in the truck. The best cleanest mount I have come up with for her UHF and VHF has been the AS glass mount. Both radios are 50 watt and they seem to work really good. The trick is to not only stick it on as most people do, but tune it per the directions. Repeaters work great, and simplex is actually really good. For the lowband I made a braket that mounts to the metal under the rear bumper. I havn't had time to do real testing, but my issue is the hieght. Its really low. I tried the l-braket on the spare tire rack, however when she hits her rear hatch button with arms of groceries, it hits the antenna. You have to remove the antenna to make it work.

Hope this helps a bit. I still run a mag mount in the center of the roof when I travel, more for APRS (being the glass mounts are in the commercial band)

JAS

[precoislen]

I forgot to mention it in the earlier post, because I wasn't thinking of it at the time.

I am trying to avoid drilling an hole in my roof......don't have the equipment or resources to do it myself, and I want to install the antenna myself. Unfortunately I am not an antenna expert, so my knowledge of them is not that great.

[Tech225]

I did a couple for a local department. Used a low profile trunk-lip with a quarter wave mounted to the hood. Worked out pretty well.

[KC5AQS]

My wife has a Liberty with the 4x4 off road package. We love it. Look for one of the stronger Diamond trunk mounts that are hinged. We use one for with a 36" dual band antenna. Mount this on the door frame right at the rear view mirror. This has worked fine for 4 years now.

[kc0jar]

Hello,
I also have a 04 Liberty which I hate.

Good to see I'm not the only one.

[csteger]

My wife has the same vehicle. I have tried numerous ideas on hers so far. I have a UHF, VHF and Lowband in the truck. The best cleanest mount I have come up with for her UHF and VHF has been the AS glass mount. Both radios are 50 watt and they seem to work really good. The trick is to not only stick it on as most people do, but tune it per the directions. Repeaters work great, and simplex is actually really good.

JAS

I have used the Larson glass mount on my old Jeep Wrangler soft top. I agree, the antenna works great, when tuned properly. But... When I sold the Jeep, I took the antenna off only to find the glass under the antenna had spidered. And no, the windshield was not tinted.

Just a FYI.

[gws]

A local ham with a liberty built a frame around the rear tire carrier and moutned his antennas there.