Have been doing some research on antennas for my Jeep. Planning to have a CB, 70cm/2m and HF HAM that will likely require 3 antennas unless I find something more practical.

The rigs on this two-part movie are really cool so I decided to share. Enjoy! ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXAjI..._order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D9Lw..._order&list=UL

 

There are a lot of dual band antennas to cover the 2m 70cm setup. I am running one now, a Comet. I am looking at the Larsen NMO270 now. The problem is that the 70cm tuned up easily, but the 2m the swr is high, like 3.5. I am playing with it now to try to improve it. The lack of a RF ground plane on a jeep unless you mount it on the hood is hard to overcome.

 

FWIW, Im running a Larson NMO 2/70 on a Diamond mount on the hood of my 09 Jeep and it seems to work good considering that its connected to a HT.

 

I've got a Browning dual-band 70cm/2m that I also plan to connect to my HT (Kenwood F6A). I also have been debating with myself where's best place to mount it.

My Jeep has a hardtop that I'll probably not remove, so I was thinking to put a metallic sheet under one segment and mount the antenna over it. This would require drilling the roof, which I would like to avoid. I can mount this metal sheet on the roof's Thule cargo rails but this will raise the antenna even more and will be a garage headache.
Another option is doing the concept above on one of the fenders. But this will leave the antenna exposed and prone to trail damage.

So, I also thought about the hood but would like to avoid having it on my driving line of sight.

Then, after seeing the movie I thought about building some kind of pivoting mount where I can make the antennas lay down when not in use. This has been the option attracting me most.

There are some antennas that do not require the ground plane but not sure of how well they work since an HT does not have much power. My HF rig (Icom 703) also does not have much power. Those antennas could be mounted in the back but I do not want to mount them on the tailgate or tire carrier because it hinges and will twist the coax cable each time I open it, which may damage the cable. So, this also limits options.

Anyways, as I'll need to have at least two more antennas this puzzle became even more interesting. :-)