I have a 75. Like others have said, it was the portability, etc. that swayed my decision. I do have an external speaker, but I don't have it hooked up yet. I wouldn't say it's 100% necessary. For the trail, the built-in speaker seems to be sufficient, as long as others are relatively close (within a couple miles), but for distant signals(like when I'm cruising on the highway), I have a hard time listening to the built-in speaker (hence I got the external). I mounted my Firestik II in the rear tailgate/door jamb, like the others have.

Use your din slot for something better, like a switch panel:

 

Thanks for the advice guys, I appreciate it.

I think I will end up going with the 18 for the same reasons Ric said. I only have one rig, period so I have no need to be able to transfer it to another and I like the DIN mount, it looks stock, I don't use it now for anything useful and it puts all of my communication and radio stuff all in one central location and plus...the 18 is cheaper anyway.

Thanks again, I'll post up when I get it installed.

Fink

 

Does it matter whether you mount the Firestik/antenna vertically or horizontally?

Thanks,

Fink

 

Mount it vertically... It'll suck if you mount it horizontal.

 

Yeah I was wondering the same thing how much worse would the reception be if you mounted it horizontally? I have a few cool idea's of mounting it horizontally but I don't know if that would defeat the purpose of having one or not?

 

It may work somewhat but your range will be greatly diminished as most of your signal will be directed up in the air and into the ground. Everybody that I have seen that had a cool idea for mounting that involved unconventional mounts or horizontal mounting ended up changing it to regular.

 

I have an 18 in the DIN slot. I'll snap a pic and put it up later tonite. Doesn't stick out so the crackheads in Baltimore don't notice it. And steal it.

 

Sweet where are the pics?

 

heres what a quick search found :
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/cobra-18wxstii-dash-install-28275/

mine looks the same, lol different radio

 

Ric your the man thanks! I really like that look.

 

Sorry for jacking your thread Fink

 

Good point... also, in the horizontal position, it may be very hard to get a low SWR as the antenna may be too close to things that will reflect signal when transmitting (i.e., mounting it horizontally via mag-mount in the bed of a truck, trunk of a car, etc...).

I had a friend who mounted a mag-mount in the trunk of his car, stuck to the inside of the trunk. While it did seem to work (surprisingly, he could tx and rx), the SWRs were high, and he abandoned this idea before he could damage his radio.

Only time I've ever seen horizontally-mounted type antenna systems work well were those used in keydowns, when there are no restrictions on hot and reflector antennas (usually sky's the limit class). Looks cool but totally impractical on a daily driver.

Aloha,

Merlin

 

Nah it's cool, we've been talkin back and forth...more of a joint thread now.

I really like the look of that, thanks for the link Ric!

As soon as I get my paycheck, should be a week or so I'll go ahead and order the radio and the antenna and everything.

So basically all I will need is the radio, 4' FireStik, spring mount or equivalent, and the door jamb mount? Also according to bobzemuda's install, I'll need a right-angle adapter too. That thread is really old and he may not remember, where can I get that adapter?

Thanks guys!

Fink

 

check at wal-mart, they have/had them for $50 (the radio)

Raido Shack is where i got mine, but any good electronics store should have them.

 

Awesome. Thanks again man, I'm pretty excited now!

Fink

 

Sorry, got hammered last night after work. Didn't get around to posting them until today

 

Looks good

 

i just ordered the antenna, mount, wire, and external speaker for my 75, so when i get it i will install it and let you know how it works out for me, will probably be field testing it on the 17th and the 24

 

seanz0rz, where did you order your stuff from?

 

I think Ric said he got his stuff at Radio shack