disguise antenna for 2006 Chrysler Sebring

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 11:31 am

hey guys I need to do something about a VHF antenna on one of our vehicles its a 2006 Sebring (same as Dodge Stratus) I think anyway I guess the only option is a Sti-Co type antenna to replace the oem am/fm its for VHF so I guess not many options unfortunately this vehicle already looks so gov. so even one of the new dome VHFs from Antenex will look suspicious

any input from you guys on this?

Joe
East Metro Drug Enforcement
Covington Ga

LT-EMTC9 · Post by **LT-EMTC9** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 5:45 pm

Our Police Chiefs' unmarked Impala used a 1/4" mounted upside down in the trunk on a metal plate. It was good for around town, but as you can imangine, the RX was not that good. It will work well if you are using a repeater system. He ended up mounting a low profile antenna on the trunk, better results. I have also seen people mount them on the rear deck as well. I don't know how well it worked though.

Pump3 · Post by **Pump3** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 7:54 pm

One of our ghost cars has the antenna on the rear deck, its a chrysler sebring they mounted it under the carpet. I'll try and get some picks, Rx and Tx work pretty good too.

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:38 pm

great thats kinda feedback I wanted so the 1/4 wave was INSIDE thr trunk of car basically hanging upside down inside the trunk?

and on the other response you said they mounted under the carpet ? Is it not vertical is it laying down ? Im confused yes pics would be great

I was thinking abou putting a 1/4 inside veh in rear deck because windows are tinted but some people that are smarter than me "radio wise" started freaking out that I was putting antenna INSIDE passenger compartment I think radio is a 40 watter VHF (CM300)

FireCpt809 · Post by **FireCpt809** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:11 pm

Go with the Sti-co. I have found that all the other ways of hiding antennas in the trunk or in the back deck all are less than optimal. The money you spend for the Sti-co will pay for its self when you look at all the time and effort you put into the guys complaining that they cant hear or get out.

LT-EMTC9 · Post by **LT-EMTC9** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 5:06 am

Yes, it was mounted upside down in the trunk. But, like I said, that only lasted about 2 months. We are in a hill and valley area and he was having trouble talking to the other crusiers.

mr.syntrx · Post by **mr.syntrx** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:03 am

How about a cellphone-style glass mount antenna?

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Wed Nov 08, 2006 7:35 am

bout that but the agent (and hes right) says that really nobody uses those anymore and the VHF ones are kinda long I know when I still had my shop we did those a couple of times and their long like 20"

I appreciate the input from you guys (keep it coming) the problem Ive got is that the sheriffs Dep[t where this agent works sent him a not very easy to deal with car, Im just trying to help him out. I think hes probbaly gonna buy himselfr a stico and be done with it.

kg4ere · Post by **kg4ere** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:33 pm

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:55 am

thats the way its looking
I did find another company based out of Canada name escapes me right now but theyr pricing was about the same

HLA · Post by **HLA** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 8:42 pm

if the antennae is inside the vehicle make shure nobody can grab it while transmitting, they'll get an rf burn. and if you put it in the trunk i wouldn't put it upside down like that, i'd just use a magnet mount and sit it on the floor of the trunk.

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 5:36 am

any of you able to get Stico's at a good price the only source I still have is Hutton and they dont carry them. Im assuming if I go to Stico its retail and Im like everybody else "I need a deal"

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:02 pm

I checked with one of the radio shops we use he says my cost on stico for that car is $295 for the wideband model

anybody got experience with a patch antenna Arc Wireless CVA165 Im going to try one, its VHF and so far I cant find reason to to try it.

feedback...............

FireCpt809 · Post by **FireCpt809** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:18 pm

The patch antenna's I have used are useless. They wont tune for a damn the SWR's are incredible. You cant use more than 35w.

Given the options, The best might be a magnet on the underside of the trunklid or side.

I checked my shop's pricing on the sti-co too Its the same.

RadioSouth · Post by **RadioSouth** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:47 pm

We used to have our UHF spikes on the rear deck, on the inside of the window and then put a hat over them. Same thing would work for VHF with some of the spike poking thru the top of the hat, probably not too obvious. By todays standards that would likely violate RF exposure limits. The radio shop for VHF used to mount a NMO
upside down poking thru from inside the trunk floor down towards the ground.
That would take care of the RF exposure issue but possibly create another problem with the spike mounted near the gas tank and some of today's cars are using plastic tanks. Might be an issue ?

emsbuff3240 · Post by **emsbuff3240** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 2:57 pm

This sounds cool..... I dont know how much it is but, I think it would suit your needs.

http://www.sti-co.com/embedded.asp

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:56 pm

I love the feedback I get from you guys. The agent got turned down on his request for a sti-co I heard that his Captain almost passed out when he told him he needed almost $300 for an antenna!

So were gonna "try" a Patch antenna (ARC Wireless CVA165) Im sure itll work better than nothing and its cheap, I can only do so much LOL

007 · Post by **007** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 10:46 pm

I'd try to mount a VHF "can" antenna on an NMO mount upside down under the trunk sheetmetal...can't work any worse than a patch antenna, and it won't be hitting the ground like a regular 18" 1/4w would be.

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:39 am

well the guy wanted patch so I got one I put it on front windshield over on passngr side, instructions recommended in middle but car has a sun strip on front and to get it below that it was less noticeable off to side..............to be honest with you so far its working great SWR tuned down pretty good and .....it seems to solved the problem just thought Id let yall know reading the literature with antenna apparently this is a much improved model over the original product

Joe

aaknitt · Post by **aaknitt** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:12 pm

Has anyone ever tried "rolling their own" StiCo-type antenna coupler? The box would have to 1) act as a duplexer/diplexer to keep the FM band seperated from the comm band and 2) match the antenna to 50 ohms at the frequency of interest on the comm side. If I'm thinking about this correctly, the parts should cost about $20. The tricky part is getting it all tuned.

Andy

FireCpt809 · Post by **FireCpt809** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:07 pm

They must have fixed the poor SWR problems. I havent used them in a while. How many watts are you putting into it and getting out?

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:14 am

25watt CM300

I was able to tune SWR to about 2 watts reflective which normally I wouldnt like but were happy with it and this thing is used way more rx than tx so that helps

Jason · Post by **Jason** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:27 pm

jrm5265 wrote:thats the way its looking
I did find another company based out of Canada name escapes me right now but theyr pricing was about the same

You're probably talking about COMPROD Communications. Good stuff as well. I would recommend them.

jrm5265 · Post by **jrm5265** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:15 am

I cant remember the brand, I actually bought it on ebay and I THINK the Antenna Farm or somebody like that had it on there, it continues to do a good gob, when were out using the simplex mobiles and I hear him talking it refreshes my memory about how well it does for us. I think the key was being able to get the SWR down.

Joe
East Metro Drug Enforcement
near Atlanta Ga

disguise antenna for 2006 Chrysler Sebring

disguise antenna for 2006 Chrysler Sebring

ok

I thought

yea

stico

wow

thanks

update

patch

Re: yea

ant