Toyota Highlander, Anyone?

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 7:56 pm

Has anyone ever done an install in a Toyota Highlander? The problem is that I'm afraid to drill holes (or do anything permanent, really). There's not a ton of room, so I think I'll have to go remote-mount head anyway.

By the way... How do you handle antennas on an SUV that gets parked daily in a parking garage?

My old mag-mount would make an AWFUL bang with every beam (every couple feet), and eventually fall off... I've seen people mount them in the back of the car at bumper-height or so, but that seems like it would massacre any hopes of a decent radiation pattern?

Why aren't front-mount antennas, like an FM radio antenna (but maybe on the other side) more common? (Are there safety/visibility/legal issues with having it there on the driver's side?)

Thanks for any advice!

joparka · Post by **joparka** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:10 pm

you can get small can style ants witch are arround 4 inches tall or but a l bracket on the hood of vehicle just take appart where you want to mount and inspect before you drill

KitN1MCC · Post by **KitN1MCC** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:09 am

hood L bracket

wkr518 · Post by **wkr518** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:53 pm

I solved my banging VHF and UHF antennas in parking garages with phantom styles.Works fine.Antennex is brand I think.
Wayne

Hightower · Post by **Hightower** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:40 am

wkr518 wrote:I solved my banging VHF and UHF antennas in parking garages with phantom styles.Works fine.Antennex is brand I think.
Wayne

Yep, Antennex makes the Phantom.

I tried one awhile ago, and it worked MUCH better than I ever expected. I was stunned how well it worked. I tried the UHF 450-470 "toilet paper tube" Phanton.

fogster · Post by **fogster** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:33 pm

Huh, the Phantom's spiffy. (In case anyone else goes to Google them, it turns out that Antenex spells their name with one "n.")

However, I'd also toyed with the idea of something like these, a unity-gain VHF whip. I think I prefer its appearance a little, and it's rated to 200W. Can anyone comment on performance between the two? (I don't expect outstanding performance from either, given their height.)

Which brings me to my next question... I asked in another thread but no one really addressed it, but it's better suited here anyway. A 110 Watt ASTRO Spectra will apparently draw close to 30 Amps on transmit. Is it safe (both electrically and "oh crap my engine stalled") to wire that right into the battery, or are there special considerations? I'd prefer to not get too crazy and add a second battery / capacitor bank / etc., but do I need to think about that? (Or about not getting a 110W radio...)

(Edited: finally got the URL tags right...)

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:49 pm

are you feasibly going to need it balls-to-the-wall the entire time? i mean 110 is a LOT of juice, what kind of terrain will you be in? coverage? distance?

Post by **akardam** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:14 am

fogster wrote:Which brings me to my next question... I asked in another thread but no one really addressed it, but it's better suited here anyway. A 110 Watt ASTRO Spectra will apparently draw close to 30 Amps on transmit. Is it safe (both electrically and "oh crap my engine stalled") to wire that right into the battery, or are there special considerations? I'd prefer to not get too crazy and add a second battery / capacitor bank / etc., but do I need to think about that? (Or about not getting a 110W radio...)

Well, if you're trying to key down three 110w drawers at once, you might have a bit of an issue :) but otherwise I think you'll be fine.

I've got two 110w drawers, 1 VHF, 1 UHF. They both put out 104+ w at the antenna port, and neither of them draw much over 22w doing so. As long as you run sufficiently sized power cabling, shouldn't be an issue. As with all installs, I advocate bringing a single high-capacity (100a or so) line from the battery to a fuse block located in the immediate vicinity of the radios. Size this feed appropriately and you should be right as rain.

As for the antennas I usually run unity gain whips. I do have a set of higher gain whips I can throw on if I know I'm going to be out in the boonies, but that's less than 5% of the time. Start with unity and see how the reak wirkd performance is.