FT-8900R 99 Wrangler Install Help

[KC7NFF]

To anyone who can help, my name is Adam I am a native Arizonan who has moved to Coeur D' Alene, ID about 4 1/2 years ago. I have had my license since 1995 but this will be my first mobile rig. I just purchased an FT-8900r and it arrived two days ago and I am getting things together to install it. It will be installed in a 99 Jeep Wrangler with a soft top/no hardtop. Here are the options I have decided on for antennas.

1. Purchase a quad band antenna either a CR-8900A, UHV-4 or an MFJ-1438. The concern that I have is that neither of these antennas are getting very good reviews so it is questionable.

2. Mount two separate antennas a 2m/70cm dual band antenna on one side of the front fender and either a 10m or 6m antenna on the other coupled with a duplexer. Not sure which one out of the 10m or 6m will work best in my area.

Which of the above two options would work best for my 8900r in a 99 Wrangler?

The other problem I am having is locating hood mounts for the 99 wrangler. Which mount would be best for a hood mount? I am not finding very much information out there and need assistance in this. My jeep is a fishing rig and daily driver so the mounts need to be well made and heavy duty for driving in the mountains here in Coeur D' Alene, Idaho. So if there are any Wrangler hams that can help me I would appreciate it.

The reason for these questions is that there are no Ham Radio resources here in Coeur D' Alene or in Spokane,WA all research and purchases must be done online. I have located a ham club (KARS) in Coeur D' Alene and I will be attending their Monday night meeting on the 12th of July, but I also wanted to put my questions and concerns out to my fellow hams as well. Any and all suggestions and comments are very much welcome. 73's

[K7VZ]

I think I would go with option 2 and mount a 2m/70cm antenna and use a separate antenna for 10m/6m. An 11m CB antenna should be able to be trimmed to work on 10m. I have no experience with this, but I think I would not try to go with a quad band antenna.

How are your fab skills? You could probably make some nice mounts with a couple short pieces of angle iron from the hardware store and a grinder.

[AC0VH]

I agree with K7VZ, mobile HF and low band VHF are compromises already and more so with it trying to do UHF and high band VHF. A good 2/70 antenna will be smaller and perform better than any designed to handle 6m and lower. You might get away with a 6/2/70 antenna, though I think anything that will do 10m as well is much too limiting in your choices. In the end 6m is a weird one to try and include on either side but I would stick with what is known to work, a 2m/70cm dual band, and putting in a duplexer to experiment with 6m and 10m.

As super cool as the FT-8900R is, the 6m and 10m are FM only on it and really I think you'll find as you tinker with ham that 6m and 10m are more useful with AM, packet, CW and SSB. Point is that you might not end up using those bands enough to justify those special antennas designed with the FT-8900 in mind (particularly as a tech, which gives you very limited access to 10m). So if you put in a duplexer now you are ahead for if (when?) you upgrade your ticket to general and put in a full range HF capable rig. Those have two antenna ports, one for the VHF/UHF and one for 6/HF. So all the work to put in a second mount will not be wasted.

Personally I would utilize the fenders or hood edges on your Jeep. The 6 and 10 will need a good coupling to the vehicle metal to work well at all and the 2/70 will benefit from having good sheet metal around even if they don't absolutely need it to work. I'd be looking at the hood edges. This assumes you run a soft top. If you have a hard top that never comes off, I would drill holes for NMO mounts.

[K1UR]

Before you do anything you probably should find out what repeaters are available in your area. Repeaters on 10 meters are not all that common so you may find you won't have a use for that band anyway. Around here (Massachusetts) there are quite a number of 6 meter repeaters and they work really well with lots of coverage, but again your local situation is likely to be different so see what's available first.

[KC0NNT]

Option 2. Hands down.

[n7kme]

I had a 93 YJ that had an Alinco dual bander in it as well as a Motorola for search and rescue and a CB for running the logging roads. I put the 2m/440 antenna (a Larsen dual band) on the back corner above my right rear tail light with an "L" bracket to keep stuff from whacking it as I went through the heavy stuff. the antenna was mounted in such a way that the base coil for the antenna sat just above the level of the tub. Same thing on the left side for the police band Motorola. The CB antenna was mounted on the front, and if you're just doing 10 and 6 meters, I might suggest just a plain old 8 foot stainless steel CB whip on a spring and run a small tuner for it, as the 8 foot whip will be close enough to resonant for those two bands and the stainless steel whip will take a ton of abuse without problems. If you just use 6 meters, it's easy to cut the stainless whip to resonant length. I grew up in Hayden Lake, I know what kinds of trails are in the area and one of your primary concerns is going to be durability first, functionality second. A great antenna is crap once it gets whacked with enough branches that it breaks. The Larsen dual band has stood up to taking birds at 70mph on the freeway, as well as low branches. (cut the bird into multiple pieces) Just my 2 cents.

[AD7AS]

I would go with option 3.

Diamond and comet both make a tri-band antennas that includes 6m/2m/70cm. They come in two different sizes. One is 1/2wave on 2m and a shortened 1/4 wave on 6m the other is a full size 1/4 wave on 6m and 1/4 over 1/2 on 2m.. I have the shorter one and it works fine. For 10m I would just use a re-tuned 11m ant; however, there are good 10m antenna available. If you go with NMO mounts you could put one antenna on each front fender pretty easily but it would require a hole for each mount. You can also get trunk lip adjustable mounts and use those on each side of the tail gate or hood or any combination of the two.

[KG6YVD]

I have a ’95 Wrangler, with the 8900 under the back seat and the remote head [using the remote kit] mounted above the rearview mirror, using the existing screws after removing the small windshield tie down bracket. This proved to be a great location to see the radio and keep my eyes on the trail.

The 8900 quad band antenna need more ground plane than I was able to get from the jeep for effective low band operation. As I use the same model radio in four of my vehicles, I have found that I do not use the low bands, thus I have just mounted the dual band VHF/UHF antennas on all vehicles.

As stated in other replies, unless you really have a use for the low bands I would not spend the time or money to install a second antenna and duplexer.

As to mounting, if you have one of those fancy aftermarket tire, jack, fuel, water racks mounted at the rear, this would be the best location for an antenna or two. My next suggestion would be a ball mount with the appropriate whip, as this would be the most durable. As stated earlier, an angle bracket with a NMO connection would also work, but would not be as durable, and best mounted behind the tub, and above the tail lights, drilling a hole for the coax with a rubber grommet and then a crimp on connector after, this keeps the hole small.

The higher you get the antenna and the better the ground plane, the better your radio will perform in the outback, keeping in mind the obstacles, I would consider a good spring mount.

As you stated you were new to mobile ham operation, I would suggest reading: http://www.k0bg.com/ and http://www.stu-offroad.com/index.html These prove to have some interesting information for the mobile ham operatior.

[W6SDM]

Depending on your radio, I would go with either option two or three. I like the versatility of having two separate antennas but if you have a tri-band radio then having 6m-70cm in one antenna may simplify your life.

Stay away from MFJ. I have one that I use on my test bench - It wouldn't stay mounted to my rig. Get something with a decent mount. Diamond makes about the best - a little more expensive but it won't come loose and scratch up your Jeep. Keep in mind that your antenna will be taking a beating from washboard trails and tree limbs.

I don't think ten meters is going to give you much luck on the trail. Consider carrying a CB instead. I used mine when I am out with people who are not licensed hams. It's also easy to hand someone a walkie talkie to keep in touch on the trail.