What is the difference between a NGP and a grounded antenna

[cerberus]

OK guys I am a little fuzzy on this, a NGP antenna and a lets say a mirror mounted antenna, what is the difference? I have a mirror mount that is bolted to my truck bed, is this a NGP? if so how does it ground? If not should I put a ground wire on the mount and ground it to my frame?It has a K4 stud mount. Also what is the difference from mounting the antenna either on the drivers side or passenger's side?

[231]

OK guys I am a little fuzzy on this, a NGP antenna and a lets say a mirror mounted antenna, what is the difference? I have a mirror mount that is bolted to my truck bed, is this a NGP? if so how does it ground? If not should I put a ground wire on the mount and ground it to my frame?It has a K4 stud mount. Also what is the difference from mounting the antenna either on the drivers side or passenger's side?

I'll try and explain it hopefully in an understandable way (which I sometimes don't do well).

The NGP uses the shielding of the coax as counterpoise for the antenna. Thus it doesn't require a "counterpoise" to work. The NGP was really designed for rigs that had little to no ground area or "image plane" available. A fiberglass motorhome might be an example of what I mean.

Doc did a pretty good job of basically describing (in general terms) the counterpoise (aka "grounding") and image plane of a grounded antenna [Please login or register to view this link] that might help some.

In a nutshell, the NGP antenna uses the coax for counterpoise, where the standard grounded mount does not. It uses the vehicle as that portion of the antenna system...which is typically WAY more effective.

As far as which side, I think most prefer it on the driver's side simply because it's usually looking the direction(s) of traffic and often less trees and obstacles hit. It's up to you if you want to try and do a standard antenna and mount, but usually it's well worth the headache for the added performance.

Hope that helps some.

[cerberus]

Ok that helps, think i may run a ground wire from the mount to frame since i have a bed liner in it, but where the mount is I cut some of liner away from the stake hole.