antenna for low carport

[4x4kayak2112]

i have a jeep liberty, and my carport is about 12 inches above my roof at the lowest point. I was thinking of the Wilson Lil Will. but will it handle bending that far over? i would get a 4 ft Wilson Flex, but its about 3 inches too tall. and dont stick up far enough over the jeep to be any good.

[PoeDunk]

I once had a friend in California that had a similar problem with his Jeep Cherokee. We modified a trucker mirror mount used for firestick type antennas. We added a second threaded stud mount next to the first one, but did not put the insulating plastic washers in it. Then we mounted the thing to his roof rack so the twin firesticks formed a horizontal dipole that hung just off the back of the hatch.

We didn't use real firestick antennas. In fact they were the little 30" long fiberglass sticks you find at the trick stops. We actually bought the dual mirror kit to make it from and had parts left over. I think it cost us about $30 total (about 5 yrs ago). The radiation pattern was great to the rear of the jeep and very good forward beyond about 1/2 mile. The signal was weakest from the hood of the jeep to the first half mile ahead. This would be due to how a horizontal dipole radiates and makes sense.

This may not be the best idea in the world, but it saved my friend from having to do without his radio while parking in a low public parking garage.

Hope this helps.

PoeDunk

[231]

i have a jeep liberty, and my carport is about 12 inches above my roof at the lowest point. I was thinking of the Wilson Lil Will. but will it handle bending that far over? i would get a 4 ft Wilson Flex, but its about 3 inches too tall. and dont stick up far enough over the jeep to be any good.

Why don't you do a fender mount instead? Then use either a Wilson Flex or Tiger TSM Superflex 4'. Being top loaded it'll out perform the Lil-Wil all day long (even mounted lower) and should fit fine. I run the TSM-4' on my '02 Jeep TJ and the wife's '95 Cherokee XJ. They are great for wheelin' and work just fine on the fender. On her XJ it's mounted on the driver's side fender. I also have quick disconnects on it so if I want to run something else it's changed out in a flash.

The Lil-Wil stainless singer would do fine bending over like that, but it's going to make allot of racket you may get sick of hearing. Or if you get into really low stuff lay it over and break the magnet connection.

Just another idea. Good luck.

[4x4kayak2112]

i had a 4 ft firestick mounted on rear quarter panel and my swrs wouldn't drop past 2.5

[drdx]

Does that vehicle have a spare tire carrier on the back? What are your goals, short range/road trip/trail, or are you a performance enthusiast? How often will you use it? If not that often, maybe use a quick disconnect. Are you a "keep it shiney and no holes drilled" liberty person or do you put function over form? That may change your mounting options. Mag mounting usually means coax in the door. I'd do a fender mount before any kind of bumper mount unless you go with a big whip and use a hold-down. The fender mount may still be a little directional but not near as bad as back on a rear corner.

-drdx

[4x4kayak2112]

i wont really use it much, just on the freeways and on the trails. i might mount a wilson 4ft flex on a quick disconnect on the spare. I dont mind drilling holes.

alot of the KJ guys run them on the spare, just put a quick connect on it and take it off, but how will that quick connect affect my swr??

[PoeDunk]

You may have to trim the antenna by about the same amount as the length of the quick-disconnect.

PoeDunk