Which VHF Radio

[Overdrive]

Christo,
You said:
2. If you actually spend a lot of time on safari, driving in convoy with a 10 km gap between the vehicles, you may (possibly) be better off with a mobile radio. But if your antenna is mounted on your bull-bar (meaning that it will radiate mostly to the rear of your car) and you try to chat to the guy in front of you, you may just be better off using your handheld any way.

Is there another place one can put the antenna so that I can actually talk to the bloke 10 km in front of me?
The problem with the roof rack may be trees and branches (powerlines?) and what about when the roof rack is off?

Can one get hand held VHFs that are more than 5W? (then I can just send SWAMBO up onto the roof rack ).

[JoshJ]

Normally attena's are mounted on the front bullbar. You get a mount that alows you to turn it flat onto the bull bar when not in use, then it doesnt stand up-right the whole time.
I once travelled with a friend of mine who's is mounted infront on his bullbar. I used his spare handheld with a plug in magnetic antenna. He drove in front of me, and sometime I was infront. We never had any isseus. qaulity and connection was very good. He also uses his attenna as a tell tale when driving. It is the same hight as his rooftop tent. So if the attenna catches he knows his tent will. Thus saving him a heap of damage.

[ChristoSlang]

Is there another place one can put the antenna so that I can actually talk to the bloke 10 km in front of me?
The problem with the roof rack may be trees and branches (powerlines?) and what about when the roof rack is off?

Go for the shorter type 1/4 wave-length antenna and mount it just ahead of your windscreen. They're short enough to leave in place permanently, since they do not extend above your roof. They do lose out in total transmission strength ("gain") compared to the longer 5/8 wave antennas, but they work better in hilly areas as a result of their wider radiation pattern. Due to the more centralised location on your vehicle you will transmit a bit better all around your vehicle. Your Patrol will also look more symmetrical, since you'll have an antenna of similar length on both sides

Can one get hand held VHFs that are more than 5W? (then I can just send SWAMBO up onto the roof rack ).

Dunno for sure, but I seriously doubt it. That small battery just won't handle the currents involved with large transmission power, and if you were to accidentally touch the antenna whilst transmitting at high power you'll know all about it

[Tinus lotz]

I found that the handheld ones are not powerful enough you can hear someone but he can't hear you becouse of lack of watts

[Overdrive]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
Its seems to be the same with everything that we do with 4x4s. We want our bread buttered on both sides and we cant have it.