Bed-lining Roof Interfere With Ham/CB Radio?

[Youngster]

For radio comms I use magnet mount antennas for ham(GMRS) and CB. These work well for me in the space right in front of the penthouse, on the front of the roof. I understand that good contact with your ground plane is key to getting the most out of magnet mounts.

So, I'm having some work done on my van and in the process having Raptor Liner painted on the roof, front to back, drip rail to drip rail and under the PH.

My question is, will the application Raptor Liner significantly diminish my antenna's efficiency? Seat of the pants experience is fine. I'm just wondering if I should talk to the shop and have them leave a empty space for an antenna if there's a significant difference. Thanks

[larrie]

Have no experience with RF and liner. I would be more concerned about the ability of the magnets to hold the antennas in place.

[BroncoHauler]

If bedliner stopped RF signals, half the cars on the road would be covered with the stuff so cops with radar guns couldn't detect them.


Herb

[arctictraveller]

The ground on your van's antenna is already happening through the paint. It's a capacative coupling, not a direct electrical coupling. I doubt you will see a noticable difference in range, but as was said, your magnet may not stick as well. In the past, some boats were built with a copper grid laminated into the hull. The SSB radio ground was connected to the copper which acted as a groundplane through the fiberglass. I'm not sure this is a good comparison to your situation, but it's similar. Here's more info than you probably want,

http://www.cosjwt.com/index.php?a=3

[Zappo]

good one

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

If bedliner stopped RF signals, half the cars on the road would be covered with the stuff so cops with radar guns couldn't detect them.


Herb

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by Youngster

For radio comms I use magnet mount antennas for ham(GMRS) and CB. These work well for me in the space right in front of the penthouse, on the front of the roof. I understand that good contact with your ground plane is key to getting the most out of magnet mounts.

So, I'm having some work done on my van and in the process having Raptor Liner painted on the roof, front to back, drip rail to drip rail and under the PH.

My question is, will the application Raptor Liner significantly diminish my antenna's efficiency? Seat of the pants experience is fine. I'm just wondering if I should talk to the shop and have them leave a empty space for an antenna if there's a significant difference. Thanks

If you have a high quality magnet my guess is your good if not couldn't you remove the one that's in base and put in a rare earth one/more powerful?

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by Zappo

If you have a high quality magnet my guess is your good if not couldn't you remove the one that's in base and put in a rare earth one/more powerful?

The magnet only sticks the antenna to the roof, the ground is coupled to the metal roof by way of the metal foil between the magnet and the roof, but a stronger mnagnet will certainly help attach the antenna more securely to the roof.

[Zappo]

Got it,(1)I would probably cut out a plywood plug(circle) using your base magnet as a template(put some screws in one side you can use to help pull plug out after),Put wraps of duct tape around the outside edge of plug to make it just a little bigger and very small amount of grease(with a q-tip) on outside edge so after rhino spray your not having to chisel it out.maybe some light duty glue to hold bottom of plywood to roof for spray session you could clean up after. (2)if you could use the base magnet itself with no antenna or cable attached same thing cover it all with duct tape and a little grease would be even better/easier.hope that helps.hopefully the metal foil is only as large as base magnet?