No-bullbar aerial options

**jik22** · 30th June 2008, 09:13 PM

I've been looking at how to mount a UHF aerial on my wife's D3, which doesn't have a bullbar. I've come across a couple of glass mount options which I thought might be of interest.

This one looks like the old cellphone aerials, and is probably the one I'll use.

Whereas this one has the advantage of no external footprint at all, for when she takes it through the car wash. Have emailed them to check the size, but if it's small enough to hide down the side of the windscreen I might be temped also.

Range isn't going to be up there with the big aerials, but for convoy use (The car will get HF and 2m amateur for any long trips) it should be more than good enough and give a nice subtle install.

**Tote** · 30th June 2008, 09:29 PM

The other option might be to use the cellphone mount on the roof at the rear. One of the blokes in the Canberra club has a RRS with a two way aerial mounted there. Not sure of the logistics of doing it though.

Regards,
Tote

**Sleepy** · 30th June 2008, 09:36 PM

G'day Jeff

I reckon the external one would perform better but both should be fine for vehicle-to-vehicle comms. I've used a HT many times so this would only be better.
I agree about the carwarsh factor - although had a similar phone antenna for many years and it didn't budge. But they do look a little ugly on vertical glass (and can create wind noise too.)
Pity about no gutters eh? - Just drill a hole in the roof

P.S. Do you get much interference created by all the gizmos on the D3? Probably OK for UHF but 2m and HF? I have terrible noises on HF created by my td5 ecu.

**jik22** · 30th June 2008, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by Sleepy

Pity about no gutters eh? - Just drill a hole in the roof

P.S. Do you get much interference created by all the gizmos on the D3? Probably OK for UHF but 2m and HF? I have terrible noises on HF created by my td5 ecu.

Well, I don't see HF as being something I'd use while driving, so that should be OK. I also know several people with 2m in modern cars, so I'd hope the D3 would be no different. Also, I'd hope the 2m tranceivers would be pretty well shielded too. We shall see....

**jik22** · 30th June 2008, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by Tote

The other option might be to use the cellphone mount on the roof at the rear. One of the blokes in the Canberra club has a RRS with a two way aerial mounted there. Not sure of the logistics of doing it though.

Regards,
Tote

If that's at all feasable, I'd like to use whatever is factory fit there for a cellphone aerial in the near future.

**Tote** · 1st July 2008, 06:36 AM

From what I've seen on the UK site there is a "sharkfin" type aerial available for the factory car kit but whether it would be compatible with our mobile phone frequencies I'm not sure.
Regards,
Tote

**jik22** · 1st July 2008, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by Tote

From what I've seen on the UK site there is a "sharkfin" type aerial available for the factory car kit but whether it would be compatible with our mobile phone frequencies I'm not sure.
Regards,
Tote

Thanks. From the response pover on disco3.co.uk and form a LR parts back back in the UK, it looks as though this isn't feasible. Seems the wiring isn't fitted by default.

Frequency wise, UK is 900/1800 for GSM and 2100 for UMTS - here we're 900 for GSM and 850/2100 for UMTS depending on network. However, as the US is different again, I'd expect the aerial to be dual band at least, and probably dual/wideband to cope.