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What is the best antenna to use for a VHF radio in a truck.

i just got a tram 1600 i believe, its 38" tall, havent used it yet, but it looks cool, i'll let ya know how it works

Ive done a lot of research on this. It all depends on the radios mhz range. If you have a ham radio modifyed for the marine bands then you want an antenna that will cover 136-174mhz. To be honest Im not sure what you would use on a vehicle for a pure marine band radio. Marine band radios all essentially illegal to have in a vehicle. Most guys will get a 2 meter ham moble radio and have it "unblocked" so that they have a radio thes legal to have in their rig and most often those radios will have much more power that the adverage marine radios output. Giving you a better transmission and reception. Also having a 2 meter ham radio will enable you to moniter all transmissions from aircraft to fire to police to gamewardens. It may come in handy if there is truely a life or death situation where you cant get a hold of anybody. Id go to ebay for either a radio or antenna. I use an Icom 2200h with a 136-174mhz magnetic antenna. Cost less that 200 bucks for all on ebay. If you want to modify it its cheap and easy. I took my radio to the local tv repairman with the instructions I downloaded off the internet for "Icom 2200h mods".

i use a 3db gain mag mount antenna for my truck and it works great! you can get them off ebay.Just type in 3db gain antenna or vhf mobile antenna.good luck

No answers here left with questions for you.

Marine basically uses 156-157 mhz. if you do not already hunt with a group that uses a particular channel. Then the use may be on any channel. See were I am going with this? It depends on your application! So what do you want to use? Again that depends. Do you want to hard mount it? ( Drill holes in the truck, dog box?) Do you want a magnet mount that can go on and off, truck to truck? All things to consider. So let me help just a little.

Without a ground plane needed.(attached right to metal) An antenna that will work across the band without any tuning. You would be best to look at getting a marine band antenna. Shakesphere makes many and can be gotten from cabela's etc... These do not require a ground and can even be screwed right to a wooden dog box. Not bad antenna's and they do a good job.

Wnat to use a magnet, or a better antenna. Than you need to start looking at antenna's that can be tuned for the channel or band you plan to use. There are many!!!! Tram makes a great magnet. So do others. Tuning can be confusing. So if you do not have a channel that you use. It's best to split the band and tune for that. SO you will work well on all ends of the band. Basically why most people tune cb antenna's for channel 19.

What do I think is best. Well the Diamond M285. Now that is just the antenna. it can be tuned for anything 138-174. No meter to tune. Just follow the cut chart and you will be fine. You can put the M285 on mag mount, tunk mount, mirror mount, etc.. Jetstream makes a mirror mount that can also be used as a right angle mount. So for about $50 you have a great antenna. About the same as a basic marine antenna with a bit more snort.

Now bear in mind. The db gain is only for the receive. It has nothing to do with the transmit. When it comes to that. Is why a tuneable antenna for the channel you are using is more important. That way the SWR is correct. SO the most power for the radio goes into the air. The longer the antenna the longer the range. It's a line of sight thing. Realistically as hunters those long 8ft whips do not cut it. So the ones around 4ft are the best we can normally get away with. That is why I use the M285.

Now sure you can go even cheaper. I just bought not long ago a little 18" antenna on a fairly strong magnet for guests. That way I can give them a portable hooked up to it for better range. Cost about $20. It works for that. Yet it does not handle the power of my ham radio when rated at 50 watts. For a standard marine mobile it will work.

So where do you go now?? Well you could get the marine antenna from cabelas, bass pro etc.. Otherwise I would call the boys at R&l electronics. They seem to have the best prices and are great to work with. Ham radio outlet also is a great place to deal with. You can find them both on the web. Keep in mind they are ham shops. They may be able to help you just by saying marine band. yet it may be best to say you want a 2m antenna that you can tune to use in the 156-157mhz range. They will know what's up at that point, but at least it keeps the blinders off.

I hope this was not to confusing!!

I also use a liear amplifier that i bought off of ebay for around 50 bucks or so.It is a great little addition to the truck radio.I have been in some pretty dark and deep canyons and have not been able to talk to my girlfriend at the house.With a simple flick of the switch,i can increase my output power from 75 watts to a little over 180.It gets out great with the amp! I do not have a pre amp on this linear,but you can buy one with it built in,which enables you to recieve way better as well as transmit.If you have a high db gain antenna,that helps you recieve better also.It is a great addition to my truck radio,and there is very few places that i hunt within a 50-100 mile radius that i cant talk to home.Thats here in the mountain country in Idaho,but when i get down to nevada and the more open country,that range increases quite a bit You can type in "vhf amplifier" in the search on ebay and it will pop up.Make sure that it covers the frequency range that you want to run.Marine radio is 156-157.There is also a few open channels that do not require a license by the fcc.I cant remember exactly what they were,but they were somewhere in the 151mhz range.I believe one channel was 151.800 or somethin like that.I called the fcc a few years back and the lady gave me a list of channels that could be run.That way you can run the yaesu,icom,and kenwood radios that are 50-75 watts in your truck without gettin in trouble for running the marine radio in your truck.That diamond m285 antenna that Steve mentioned is a dandy too! I just ordered one but havent got it yet.I am still running my maxrad magnet mount but it works great too.Hope this helps a bit.Good luck and happy hunting

Catslayer- You are talking about the MURS band. 3 channels that are 151, and 2 that are 154. You do not want to use those channels if you are using a Garmin, or Tinyloc. Those are the channels they use. In fact you could even damage someone elses units if you get close enough. Especially with an amp!! The Icom 8000 is a good radio, but they are known to burn up finals when operating out of band IE the marine band. Which is not covered by warranty. This came right from Icom!! If someone is going to use a amp. It is very critical that you tune your antenna!! If not you will also burn up your radio!!! Due to reflected power!!

To add to the antenna thing. The info I gave was based on hunting applications. There are other antennas that work better. Taking in the line of sight thing. Diamond does have an 8ft whip with a 6db gain. Just the extra height alone will give you an extra 3.5 miles of range under the best conditions. The extra gain will help your receive. Although the long antenna is not going to be practical in a hunting scenario

Thats what it was called!! Thank you Steve.I felt dumb as a rock all night cause i couldnt for the life of me remember what that band was called! Yes for hunting,the 40 something inch antennas work great.I have an 8 footer on my house that is for a boat.It is 8 db gain and it really works good for the home radio.Not really practical to put on a truck though.It would be a bit tough to get under trees with it Now when you say Garmin and tinyloc radios,are you talking about the little motorla talk about units?I thought those were uhf on a really high freq for some reason.Somethin like 440 mhz or somethin like that?? I might be thinkin of the wrong one though. I run that yaesu radio because i have heard that about the finals in that icom.I do like the little icom hand helds like the icom ic-v82 and icom ic-v8.The yaesu radio I have is an older one but it is 75 watts as well.I think its pretty simular to the icom in fetures.Anyways,thank you for reminding me of the MURS band

Steve White wrote:Catslayer- You are talking about the MURS band. 3 channels that are 151, and 2 that are 154. You do not want to use those channels if you are using a Garmin, or Tinyloc. Those are the channels they use. In fact you could even damage someone elses units if you get close enough. Especially with an amp!! The Icom 8000 is a good radio, but they are known to burn up finals when operating out of band IE the marine band. Which is not covered by warranty. This came right from Icom!! If someone is going to use a amp. It is very critical that you tune your antenna!! If not you will also burn up your radio!!! Due to reflected power!!

To add to the antenna thing. The info I gave was based on hunting applications. There are other antennas that work better. Taking in the line of sight thing. Diamond does have an 8ft whip with a 6db gain. Just the extra height alone will give you an extra 3.5 miles of range under the best conditions. The extra gain will help your receive. Although the long antenna is not going to be practical in a hunting scenario

Cat- was referring to the GPS tracking units. They use the murs band!

When cutting the antenna on the m285 does the length include the base or just the mast its self ? thank you.

Steve White wrote:No answers here left with questions for you.

Marine basically uses 156-157 mhz. if you do not already hunt with a group that uses a particular channel. Then the use may be on any channel. See were I am going with this? It depends on your application! So what do you want to use? Again that depends. Do you want to hard mount it? ( Drill holes in the truck, dog box?) Do you want a magnet mount that can go on and off, truck to truck? All things to consider. So let me help just a little.

Without a ground plane needed.(attached right to metal) An antenna that will work across the band without any tuning. You would be best to look at getting a marine band antenna. Shakesphere makes many and can be gotten from cabela's etc... These do not require a ground and can even be screwed right to a wooden dog box. Not bad antenna's and they do a good job.

Wnat to use a magnet, or a better antenna. Than you need to start looking at antenna's that can be tuned for the channel or band you plan to use. There are many!!!! Tram makes a great magnet. So do others. Tuning can be confusing. So if you do not have a channel that you use. It's best to split the band and tune for that. SO you will work well on all ends of the band. Basically why most people tune cb antenna's for channel 19.

What do I think is best. Well the Diamond M285. Now that is just the antenna. it can be tuned for anything 138-174. No meter to tune. Just follow the cut chart and you will be fine. You can put the M285 on mag mount, tunk mount, mirror mount, etc.. Jetstream makes a mirror mount that can also be used as a right angle mount. So for about $50 you have a great antenna. About the same as a basic marine antenna with a bit more snort.

Now bear in mind. The db gain is only for the receive. It has nothing to do with the transmit. When it comes to that. Is why a tuneable antenna for the channel you are using is more important. That way the SWR is correct. SO the most power for the radio goes into the air. The longer the antenna the longer the range. It's a line of sight thing. Realistically as hunters those long 8ft whips do not cut it. So the ones around 4ft are the best we can normally get away with. That is why I use the M285.

Now sure you can go even cheaper. I just bought not long ago a little 18" antenna on a fairly strong magnet for guests. That way I can give them a portable hooked up to it for better range. Cost about $20. It works for that. Yet it does not handle the power of my ham radio when rated at 50 watts. For a standard marine mobile it will work.

So where do you go now?? Well you could get the marine antenna from cabelas, bass pro etc.. Otherwise I would call the boys at R&l electronics. They seem to have the best prices and are great to work with. Ham radio outlet also is a great place to deal with. You can find them both on the web. Keep in mind they are ham shops. They may be able to help you just by saying marine band. yet it may be best to say you want a 2m antenna that you can tune to use in the 156-157mhz range. They will know what's up at that point, but at least it keeps the blinders off.

I hope this was not to confusing!!

just the mast.

Thats what I thought but my new m285S came 47 1/4 long and the chart says 47 3/4 for 156. The paper work said it was 50" but that included the base ???

Your reading the chart wrong!! 157 is exactly 41" Mast should have been 50" out of the package.

Thanks Steve. I'm so stupid, wrote down 41.7 and after installing took a quick look at my notes and read it 47.7. duh

156 would be a hair shorter than 41. Would be easier to cut it at 41 though, and really woulld not make that much difference.