UHF Antenna Mounting on 120 Series Prado

g'day "SC", the best isn't necessarily the most practicable. Best is in the middle of the roof, however you have to drill a hole. I use a GME aerial with spring and ground plane mounted on a bonnet mount. Just make sure to have no other Aerials near it. Works well both short and long distance. This is my 2 bobs worth, regards


Keepingitreal (NSW)

G'day Sacred Cow,
I use a GME AE409L mounted on a "z" bracket on the front guard.
It is groundplane independant, and I have had no problems with sending or receiving. I have a HF antenna on the bullbar, and there is no cross interference on either unit.

My .02

Glenn ,

I have mine on the left hand half of the bull bar . Not so far across that bush will destroy it , and not to close to my line of sight when driving .

If it's on the roof , there is a good chance of destroying it on an overhead branch .

Get one of those big thick white f'glass jobbies from ARB . I have destroyed three wire ones and one solid glass one , but I cannot dent "the white jobbie ".

Willie .

Middle of the roof is the best, after you have had the vehicle for a couple of years it doesn't matter and a secondhand buyer doesn't usually care.
Out of the way of trees and the light fingered brigade etc and I could get away with a 150mm stubby for most locations.

If you have a snorkel a short flexable rubber antena can be fitted in behind the air ram on an L bracket. Coax runs down the groove along the side of snorkel then in under the bonnat. Only stipulation is it needs to be a ground independant type. (Not expensive) Benifits are the antena is above the roof so the ground plane doesn't block the signal yet is protected behind the ram making it unbrakable no matter what trees & bushes one drives under.Cheers Craig.............

A quarter wave on the roof is the best place, or you could make a small bracket coming out from your rear tyre same as HF bracket. Then you wouldn't see it swaying around when driving.

Best is on the roof as others have said (height counts for a lot) - best way to do this IMO is via a low profile roof rack (eg. Rola - they have UHF mounts as accessories for the bars). Next best might be the Z bracket that pokes out of the bonner gap. Bull bars are convenient but they have certain dynamics that are generated by road surfaces - get a lot of stresses on the antennas - certain types can break (1 week is enough to snap some wire types, when in the bush).

Thanks fellas for all your input. There is only a clearance of between 3.5 - 4.0 mm between the bonnet and mudguard so it is unlikely that the coax cable will fit. Usually coax is 5.0 mm diameter minimum. I am now looking to see if I can mount a stub antenna on a roof rail and run the cable down the rear tail gate channel.

Regards
Glenn

I hate having to stare at any antenna through my windscreen, especially if it is wobbling around on bummpy roads. My answer was to make a small L shaped bracket and use small rivnuts to bolt it into the upper end of the gap on the hinge side of the rear door. Mounted just low enough that the lower end of the antenna is protected from branches etc but the antenna element itself has great line of sight above the roofline. Doors opens/closes without touching the bracket at all. Very easy to do & I dont have to look at and antenna all day!!

I have some photos but the procedure for inserting photos on this forum is way too complex!

Drew,

PS What are rivnuts?

Regards
Glenn

aha .. i think i've cracked it .. but not sure how long these images will remain on the image hosting site i used





mmm .. looks like i need a bit of repainting on that bracket :--)

you can also see that when i go on longer trips i move the antenna onto another bracket on the roofrack but i get terrific reception mounted on the lower mount anyway so i dont reckon this is necessary (the roofrack mount was the first mount i made!!)

You could use pop rivets instead of rivnuts, but i already had a rivnut kit. rivnuts are like pop rivets & you install them almost like a pop rivet. with a rivnut you are left with what looks like a pop rivet with a threaded hole in the middle that you can screw a bolt into. pretty sure you can buy rivnut kits at Bunnings etc.