Best Glass Mount Antenna

[shadow]

Hey guys, I wanted to ask if anyone knows anything about glass mount antennas and if there are any that are better than the rest. I've never used any glass mount antennas for 11 meters so I don't know the first thing about them.

BTW, this antenna is for a friend who only wants a glass mount for now.

[yMidnite]

Someone else asked about these... you can do a search to find it, but the short answer that I remember coming from that thread is: why bother.

[shadow]

why bother.

Because it's really hard to use a CB radio without an antenna duh!

But seriously... I'll explain why. My friend wants a radio but doesn't want to commit to mounting a permanent antenna since her roof is all glass and she cant use a magmount. I KNOW glass mounts are crap, that's why I run a 102 in the middle of my roof but this is all that this girl wants. It's either that or nothing and she doesn't want nothing so my question is: are there any that are better than the rest or are they all the same?

Soooooo... getting back to my original question, does anyone have anything constructive to add? Thanks in advance

['Doc]

I figure you already know the answer to the question that wasn't asked, as in is there any 'good' ones for HF? I also figure you can guess what my answer about glass-mount antennas are, so I won't waste your time with that.
I did start to wonder about your question though, and may have an idea or two for you to check into. So, FWIW, think about this aspect of it.
That 'through-glass' antenna idea works because of capacitive coupling. One 'plate' of a capacitor is on the inside of that window, and the other 'plate' is on the outside of that window. The two biggies are the thickness of that glass, and the area size of the 'plates', those things determine the amount of capacitance the mount furnishes. The lower in frequency you go the larger that 'capacitor' has to be to be large enough (not just a few Khz in frequency ranges, but in bands, HF, VHF, UHF, etc.). I can't really see anyone changing the 'thickness' of any automotive glass, so it would seem to me that the mount that furnished the largest area coverage of glass would be better than one with a smaller coverage area. I would also expect that the difference in area wouldn't be measured in a fraction of a square inch, but rather in square feet. And there's two reasons for that! One being electrical (size of that cap), the other being mechanical, as in it's held on with glue, so dam strong glue to hold any length of antenna?
Makes sense to me, how about you?
I don't have any use for a 'thru-glass' antenna so can't say I've ever compared mount sizes, no idea if there's any variations in that at all. Ought'a be interesting, maybe?
- 'Doc

[drdx]

Here's a thought: Make an "in the car" antenna, something like a pvc pipe with a wire dipole wrapped around it, a few feet long, that hangs on the rear coathooks/handles. That would be good for car-to-car and listening. That, or a mini ground plane if there is a rear package tray, just thinking out loud, that would be a stubby vertical with 2 radials coming out the side, all made of really short fiberglass antennas. Those things have to be good for something.

-drdx

[PoeDunk]

Hmm... Pretty much anything you try to do with a glass mount is going to be about as good as ending a piece of coax with a dummy load. Your total radiated signal is about what you can get out of the coax itself. When I first started driving "company cars" for my employer, I tried several glass mount antennas. Field strength meter testing showed none of them to be useful beyond about 200 feet.

I ended up using a 3ft top loaded fiberglass stick antenna mounted to a custom made mount that attached to the rear tie-down loop under the rear bumper of the car. The custom mount was made to attache to the loop and stick out from under the car far enough to allow the stick antenna to be screwed in when it was needed and removed and stored in the trunk when not in use. The coax was run through a rubber drain plug in the very bottom of the trunk. This allowed the cable to be hidden in the car as well since it ran under the carpet (even in the trunk).

Over the years and several company cars, I eventually began ordering the cars with a towing hitch receiver that made it easier to attach the antenna for temporary use.

One special note... somewhere out there you may still find some of those antenna mounts that clip over a roll up window. These are a bad idea. They put to much stress on the glass and I have seem at least one break at about 35mph.

The only way to really get a good signal outbound is to have an antenna outside of the car. Even the glass in newer cars sometimes have metallic content in the glass coatings that further prevent rf from leaving the inside of the car.

Hope this helps...

PoeDunk

[jessejamesdallas]

Hey guys, I wanted to ask if anyone knows anything about glass mount antennas and if there are any that are better than the rest. I've never used any glass mount antennas for 11 meters so I don't know the first thing about them.

BTW, this antenna is for a friend who only wants a glass mount for now.

There are "NO GOOD" Glass Mounted Antenna's Period...None of them are worth the price of the package they come in...

"IF" a Glass Mounted antenna is your only option...Don't bother getting a CB Radio.

-End of Story....

[Remo]

roof is all glass ? what car is she driving? what about the trunk? small mag mount on the trunk like a K30 or Lil Wil

other than that, id assume at best case scenario is talking down the street, like a block if youre lucky if you used the glass mount antenna.