GettReal

For those of you that have radios in your car, I'm going to guess its only a few of you, but how did you mount it? Anything needed beyond drilling a hole?? Does it need to be grounded?

RX-Ben

You need to get the ground plane (metal backing disc) as well (assuming you are using a shark fin/phantom elite type thing). Sampson has pics on their site.

GettReal

Thanks, just went to the site and now know what I need. They have 3 different types of antennas... Which one is the best ? looking for the best "reach" for a large track that has elevations.. i.e Watkins Glen and Mosport.

1) Shark Fin
http://www.SampsonRacing.com/Phantom...ntom%20tip.htm

2) Whip Antenna
http://www.SampsonRacing.com/VHF_Whi...gain%20tip.htm

3) Wire
http://www.SampsonRacing.com/Quarter...wave%20tip.htm

RX-Ben

Shark fin is supposedly best b/c it emits a larger, "football" shaped field as opposed to the circular field with the others.

You can get an in-car mobile unit which will transmit better (40 watts for UHF vs 5 watts for a handled), but your crew will likely still be stuck with 4-5 watt hand held radios so you may lose their transmissions. I am not sure how much the extra power helps in overcoming the challenges caused by road course terrain (loss of line-of-sight).

96CollectorSport

We've got the wire style mounted in the stock antenna location and haven't had an issue at any of the tracks we've run at.
I didn't try it at Road America (which would be the true test) however whenever I'm on the radio I try to wait until the front strait to communicate. I'm not much of a Chatty Kathy on the radio - most of the time it's - "pace car off" - "Green! Green! Green!" - white flag - don't forget impound. That's about it, sometimes I'll give info on gaps but that's about it.

GettReal

Thanks guys, I ordered the shark fin. Not looking to be all chatty either but my brother in law and I run at a similar pace and he is looking to start racing next season so this season we will be doing some alternating lead follow with passing offline to get him comfortable with that so the occasional communication will be a good thing.

Joel, do you have the in car radio or the portable radio in a radio box?

96CollectorSport

We have the Motorola radio's in a radio box - it makes it pretty flexible (if one radio goes down you can swap it out with a spare).

jstout

This was great info, thanks as I had the same question about how to attach the antenna. Jerry

RX-Ben

And to add to this - here is a link to a more directly sourced long-range 1/2 wave UHF ducky antenna for your crew - looks to be the same as is sold by Rugged Radios etc, but at 1/2 cost. You may need a BNC adapter for your radio (usually $6 or so).

http://www.wpsantennas.com/g450bn-an...ckantenna.aspx

rmackintosh

I have a shark fin antenna and glued to the roof on the inside is a 12" by 12" piece of very thin sheet metal. Works great!