Anyone know of low profile antenna's?

[poesdad]

We have four antennas on an unmarked that look horrible. Here is the equipment list that needs them.


Mdt (currently using 800mhz radio modem)


800 MHz main police radio Motorola


100 or 150 MHz fire radio. Motorola also


Cell phone


Are there antennas out there that r flat?

 

[acs680]

We have four antennas on an unmarked that look horrible. Here is the equipment list that needs them.

Mdt (currently using 800mhz radio modem)


800 MHz main police radio Motorola


100 or 150 MHz fire radio. Motorola also


Cell phone


Are there antennas out there that r flat?

Your best bet for antennas is Tessco. As far as completely flat, not really, but you can get some that are around an inch high. The VHF might be a little tricky though...


Mobile Antennas | TESSCO 800 472 7373

 

[wkr518]

can't remember where we got them or customer got them, but we did a DEA or ATF car that had an antenna behind the front bumper.Radios were Spectras.

 

[MPD 818]

I have always had good experiences with these type antennas:








they come in a variety of shapes and sizes for the different freq bands you are needing. I am not sure if this would interest you but there are also Stico antennas which are made to look like factory antennas, they cover a wide range of freq's and have various configuration options.


STI-Co | Antenna Manufacturer | Antenna Systems | Antenna Accessories

 

[RFActive]

Covert Antennas | Police Antennas | Undercover Antennas | Sti-Co

 

[wkr518]

Covert Antennas | Police Antennas | Undercover Antennas | Sti-Co

yup,was the sti-co under bumper type.thanks for the link too

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

I have always had good experiences with these type antennas:
View attachment 30950


they come in a variety of shapes and sizes for the different freq bands you are needing. I am not sure if this would interest you but there are also Stico antennas which are made to look like factory antennas, they cover a wide range of freq's and have various configuration options.


STI-Co | Antenna Manufacturer | Antenna Systems | Antenna Accessories

I have the bottom one which works great!!

 

[lafd55]

http://www.antenna.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=MLPVSERIES


Phantom Elite Antenna on Laird Technologies


Phantom Antennas on Laird Technologies


Anywhere you go you will find Low-Profile Antennas. It's all about personal preference and cost. Your not going to find too many Low-Profile Antennas for VHF but everything else you listed has a form of antenna.

 

[AKRLTW]

Maxrads low profiles ain't too bad. But, totally flat antennas are honestly not going to have the best radiation pattern, so your transmission and reception may suffer.


View attachment 32060


This is a maxrad cellular antenna on the trunk 800/900 mhz and 1800/1900 if I remember correctly. The roof antenna is a VHF/UHF dualband antenna for amateur radio.

 

[ryan81986]

Is an 800mhz 1/4 wave not low profile enough?

 

[EVModules]

I have the bottom one which works great!!

What POWER are you operating with that antenna? It looks either glowing or has cooked the paint around it! :faint:

 

[lafd55]

What POWER are you operating with that antenna? It looks either glowing or has cooked the paint around it! :faint:

It's frost.....

 

[massfirefighter]

Everything is usually ok except for a vhf system. Everyone I know hates the vhf antennas because they work decent near the repeaters but anywhere outside of the city the reception is very poor.

 

[patrol530]

We were using the "fin" for the camera mic radio, however I snapped it off, quite easily with a car wash brush.

 

[Ben E.]

The low-profile "can" style phantom antennas have an EXTREMELY low bandwidth, like within 1mhz or less if I remember correctly. So unless you can tune the antenna to use 1 channel, or several channels within that 1mhz, you're pretty much screwed there. I'd just stick with a 1/4 wave VHF antenna. I had one on my Explorer when I worked security, and I would drive through 5 parking garages a night, 4 times a piece. So I drove through 20 parking garages a night, and the VHF 1/4 wave would slam on every single cement rafter as I drove through several stories of each garage and it still outlasted my employment there (several years).

 

[bwoodruff]

+1 for 1/4 wave antennas from Tessco. Four of these cut to the correct length will cover all of your needs:


Laird Technologies QWFT120 118-512 Field tune 1/4 wv | TESSCO


$40 in antennas (gold pricing) you can hardly go wrong.


(they have an 800MHz version as well, same antenna but smaller size for 800MHz)

 

[poesdad]

+1 for 1/4 wave antennas from Tessco. Four of these cut to the correct length will cover all of your needs:

Laird Technologies QWFT120 118-512 Field tune 1/4 wv | TESSCO


$40 in antennas (gold pricing) you can hardly go wrong.


(they have an 800MHz version as well, same antenna but smaller size for 800MHz)

So, will this work for VHF or not?


If so, how tall are they?


The link below is what it looks like we will use for 800 and cell.


Concealed Internal Antenna SystemSti-Co | Sti-Co

 

[ryan81986]

IIRC VHF 1/4 wave antennas are about 1-1/2 - 2' tall

 

[Jarred J.]

VHF ham band antennas are around 19inches long. since public safety freqs are higher than ham bands the antennas are slighly shorter. around 17 - 18 inches.

 

[poesdad]

VHF ham band antennas are around 19inches long. since public safety freqs are higher than ham bands the antennas are slighly shorter. around 17 - 18 inches.

I guess I'm still a little confused. Are there any other "covert" options for VHF antennas?


Will the small fin kind work? Or are those only for 800?

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

What POWER are you operating with that antenna? It looks either glowing or has cooked the paint around it! :faint:

It's frost.....

Exactly right!!

I guess I'm still a little confused. Are there any other "covert" options for VHF antennas?

Will the small fin kind work? Or are those only for 800?

If you see the picture I posted in the thread, the Laird phantom "fin" antenna I have is on UHF, and I get great service from it!

 

[poesdad]

Exactly right!!



If you see the picture I posted in the thread, the Laird phantom "fin" antenna I have is on UHF, and I get great service from it!

From what I can find on google, UHF works on a higher frequency than VHF. So, UHF won't work on the 150 fire radio. Right?

 

[Zapp Brannigan]

From what I can find on google, UHF works on a higher frequency than VHF. So, UHF won't work on the 150 fire radio. Right?

Uhmmmm, no.


Here are the low-pro/phantom antennas from the place I bought mine:


Phantom/Disguise VHF Antennas : The Antenna Farm :: , Your Two Way Radio Source!


Phantom/Disguise 800MHz Antennas : The Antenna Farm :: , Your Two Way Radio Source!


Phantom PCS/DBC/WiFi : The Antenna Farm :: , Your Two Way Radio Source!

 

[bwoodruff]

From what I can find on google, UHF works on a higher frequency than VHF. So, UHF won't work on the 150 fire radio. Right?

Antenna length is based on the frequencies that the antenna will be used on. "UHF" is in the ~450MHz range, which is very far from "VHF" which is in the ~150MHz range.


Without getting into a lot more radio theory than that, the basic idea here is you are going to need three different length antennas:


The longest for VHF


Medium sized for UHF


Tiny for 800


An 800MHz antenna is incredibly small (at 1/4 wave) anyway, so there is no need to look for "phantom" or "low profile" 800MHz antennas. The same is pretty much true of UHF as well. They really aren't that big (at 1/4 wave). VHF I can see wanting a lower profile than the standard 1/4 wave whip... so that is the one I'd consider going low profile on, especially since it sounds like that band is least essential to your operation.

 

[Hoser]

I have the bottom one which works great!!

That I like, other choices are a oil filter or hockey puck...

 

[johnwadeg]

Antenna Products

 

[safetyco1]

We have four antennas on an unmarked that look horrible. Here is the equipment list that needs them.

Mdt (currently using 800mhz radio modem)


800 MHz main police radio Motorola


100 or 150 MHz fire radio. Motorola also


Cell phone


Are there antennas out there that r flat?

Yes there are several. Th only problem will be the VHF. the only colr for VHF is white 3" dia 31/4" tall


800 and cell phone are 1" diamiter and 2.7" tall


Price are app 50 each ( uses standrard NMO mount ) Mount and connector not included add 20 each with connector.


I use these all the time they work great. I install around 20-30 of these a year.

 

[Ben E.]

Yes there are several. Th only problem will be the VHF. the only colr for VHF is white 3" dia 31/4" tall

800 and cell phone are 1" diamiter and 2.7" tall


Price are app 50 each ( uses standrard NMO mount ) Mount and connector not included add 20 each with connector.


I use these all the time they work great. I install around 20-30 of these a year.

Holy cow, 20 bucks for a connector?

 

[citypolice]

We have four antennas on an unmarked that look horrible. Here is the equipment list that needs them.

Mdt (currently using 800mhz radio modem)


800 MHz main police radio Motorola


100 or 150 MHz fire radio. Motorola also


Cell phone


Are there antennas out there that r flat?

I know I am a bit late to reply and don't usually bump old threads but I am very curious as to what antennas you ended up using and how is it working for you?


I am in the process of building a Chevrolet Tahoe with 21 devices and only 5 visible two way radio antennas and one barely visible GPS antenna added on the roof.


For your scenario, there are many different combinations to use (including the behind the bumper antenna) based on your budget, but I would use the following to provide best possible coverage on all the devices you need to use:


Dual band for the police & fire radio > Dual Band Antenna | VHF Antenna | UHF Antenna | 700 mhz | 800 mhz | Sti-Co


MDT > name brand (antenna specialist or PCTEL) commercial cellular on glass antenna (no need for a special covert model if your MDT uses traditional 800 MHz freqencies.)


Cell Phone > who uses in car mounted cell phones any more. If you do > try the Concealed Internal Antenna SystemSti-Co | Sti-Co

 

[hawkspringsfire]

Here is what my roof looks like. It has 5 antennas: 1 for sirius radio, 1 for cell phone amp, 1 for digital VHF, 1 for scanner, and 1 for regular VHF.

 

[Muxlow]

These are some of the setups iv used on my car


1st shot


Roof is a Maxrad 800mhz antenna, was about 2 inches


behind that close to the glass was the Laird low profile fin type antenna 440-460mhz i think that one was.


Both of them worked AMAZING


Trunk is a little maxrad 8/900mhz antenna


and then a 16 inch VHF whip


Iv since changed this


Trunk is a UHF white about 5 inches ish


Trunk is the 800mhz antenex stealth antenna


Roof iv got a 800mhz AntennaPlus Millenium that also does GPS


Last shot was my first setup


Had the stock car antenna on the roof with the maxrad 800mhz antenna, then a mag mount on the trunk plus the VHF antenna


The only "low profile" VHF antenna iv ever seen other then a glass mount cellular look a like or one to replace the stock antenna on cars has been the Laird Tech TRABT2100 - $77.95 : The Antenna Farm, Your two way radio source


A friend had one to replace his whip antenna.. and good god was it not only UGLY but sure did stick out WAY more then the other one he had. I dont think they are low profile at all.. MAYBE if its ontop of a SUV or something but for sure not on a car. It was about as tall as a pop can


Alot of good antenna companies make nice stealth antennas the look like stock ones. Could always look into one of them for VHF or a nice glass mount one that would look like a cell antenna.


So could use an antenna like the AntennaPlus style for the roof for use with the MDT, A antenex low profile style also on the roof for 800mhz, and the glass mount/stock style antenna for VHF. Unless you went with a 1/4 wave whip like for the trunk or back side of the car to look "stock" like