Re: Amateur Radio Install?
I'm an Extra-class ham and have been thinking bout the same thing. I haven't done any mods yet, but I can tell you from experience that I had terrible performance from a glass-mount antenna. SWR was horrific and the receive sensitivity was non-existent.
The fenders of the Insight are plastic, so a fender mount antenna is no
good. You might could go for a "hatch lip" mount, but that could be a problem too. Bumper mounts won't work either, and of course a magnet mount antenna is out of the question.
On the other hand, I've got a through-hole antenna in my truck, and it's performance is excellent despite the fact that it's a little 18" shorty. Have you thought about maybe replacing that rear-center-mount AM/FM antenna with a ham radio antenna and using a duplexer to keep the ability to use the radio with it?
James Brigman - AD4SH
Dan;uvman said:Has anyone installed an Amateur radio in the Insight. I have plenty of ideas about how and where to put the radio, but I was wondering how to do the Antenna. I am thinking glass mount on the rear hatch/window. Any ideas or pics of anyone else's mods would be helpful.
I'm an Extra-class ham and have been thinking bout the same thing. I haven't done any mods yet, but I can tell you from experience that I had terrible performance from a glass-mount antenna. SWR was horrific and the receive sensitivity was non-existent.
The fenders of the Insight are plastic, so a fender mount antenna is no
good. You might could go for a "hatch lip" mount, but that could be a problem too. Bumper mounts won't work either, and of course a magnet mount antenna is out of the question.
On the other hand, I've got a through-hole antenna in my truck, and it's performance is excellent despite the fact that it's a little 18" shorty. Have you thought about maybe replacing that rear-center-mount AM/FM antenna with a ham radio antenna and using a duplexer to keep the ability to use the radio with it?
James Brigman - AD4SH