Roof mount vs rear bar on pickup?
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:05 pm
I've just bought a 2009 Holden Colorado crew cab pickup, and at the moment I'm planning a VHF and UHF install. The tub has a bar that runs up behind the cab at roof level, that I'm considering mounting my antennas on.
I plan to go with "no ground" antennas (end fend half wave or similar), with one on each side of the truck, mounted to this bar using angle brackets. Is there going to be a huge performance difference in mounting antennas up on this bar, this compared with popping holes in the roof?
![Image](http://i47.tinypic.com/2ypk7j5.jpg)
I'm thinking of going for a Larsen NMOWB150B on VHF, and a Maxrad BMWU4002S on UHF.
I need a VHF antenna for 2m ham, and a land mobile system with a 157MHz input/162MHz output.
UHF is more challenging, as I need to cover from 411MHz to 477MHz, including the 70cm amateur band. I may end up doing this with two radios, but at least initially I'll be a using a UHF low split XTS5000 in an XTVA. In future, I might install an additional radio just for 477MHz, but seeing as I very rarely use those frequencies I'd prefer not to at this stage.
I plan to go with "no ground" antennas (end fend half wave or similar), with one on each side of the truck, mounted to this bar using angle brackets. Is there going to be a huge performance difference in mounting antennas up on this bar, this compared with popping holes in the roof?
![Image](http://i47.tinypic.com/2ypk7j5.jpg)
I'm thinking of going for a Larsen NMOWB150B on VHF, and a Maxrad BMWU4002S on UHF.
I need a VHF antenna for 2m ham, and a land mobile system with a 157MHz input/162MHz output.
UHF is more challenging, as I need to cover from 411MHz to 477MHz, including the 70cm amateur band. I may end up doing this with two radios, but at least initially I'll be a using a UHF low split XTS5000 in an XTVA. In future, I might install an additional radio just for 477MHz, but seeing as I very rarely use those frequencies I'd prefer not to at this stage.