GMRS antenna mount on third brake light

[Lucky7Wrangler]

I was considering mounting my GMRS radio antenna on the third brake light. I can't drill, presumably, into the brake light housing due the light assembly and wiring. I would get an extension piece of metal or hard plastic and drill just below the light housing and have the mount just above the third brake light housing. Any possible reception/transmitting issue with the antenna being back there? I would mostly use the ghost antenna for in town and switch to the regular antenna for the highway etc. I had my antenna mount on the cowl on my Gladiator. I just want to try something new and not have an antenna in my field of view. The cb antenna will be mounted on the tailgate as well.

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[LARSONEM]

I had a hard time finding a suitable bracket to mount the CB antenna on my 2022 Rubicon XR so that it would clear the garage door. Ended up making some boxboard templates the cutting a bracket out of aluminum angle and getting it welded. There just didn’t seem to be any “pre made” solutions that worked with a 3 foot antenna to clear the garage door. When we migrated to GMRS earlier this year I chose a ghost antenna and made an aluminum angle bracket to mount it to the soft top hinge point inside the Jeep. One bolt needed to be changed. The ghost is for shorter range transmission but we did an initial distance test out of the campground at about 2.5 miles, better than the CB (which we retained in the Jeep) at about a quarter mile.

 

[Lucky7Wrangler]

I had a hard time finding a suitable bracket to mount the CB antenna on my 2022 Rubicon XR so that it would clear the garage door. Ended up making some boxboard templates the cutting a bracket out of aluminum angle and getting it welded. There just didn’t seem to be any “pre made” solutions that worked with a 3 foot antenna to clear the garage door. When we migrated to GMRS earlier this year I chose a ghost antenna and made an aluminum angle bracket to mount it to the soft top hinge point inside the Jeep. One bolt needed to be changed. The ghost is for shorter range transmission but we did an initial distance test out of the campground at about 2.5 miles, better than the CB (which we retained in the Jeep) at about a quarter mile.

I was looking at doing the same type of mount but maybe putting it on the front crossbar. I'm just concerned having an antenna that close to my head might pose a hazard for health risks. I imagine though it would take many hours of constant exposure to cause any physical harm. Only thing about mounting the ghost internally is I can't mount the 3' whip antenna for highway use unless I'm top down.

 

[Mark75H]

The health risk is much less than most imagine. Being 2 feet from a 50 watt GMRS antenna carries the same risk as being 2 feet from an old fashioned 50 watt incandescent light bulb. 65cm rf is not ionizing radiation. Just don't hold onto the antenna while transmitting.

 

[LARSONEM]

I was looking at doing the same type of mount but maybe putting it on the front crossbar. I'm just concerned having an antenna that close to my head might pose a hazard for health risks. I imagine though it would take many hours of constant exposure to cause any physical harm. Only thing about mounting the ghost internally is I can't mount the 3' whip antenna for highway use unless I'm top down.

One of the guys in our group has an overhead CB bar by the windshield where his CB is located with a drop down microphone. He mounted his Midland GMRS MXT275 up there including the small magnetic mount antenna. Works fine. It’s not like we talk on the radios the whole time we’re in the Jeep; just occasional directions, trail obstacles and bathroom breaks. I can’t imagine too much radiation coming from the radio usage.

 

[Lucky7Wrangler]

Let me complicate things further. It is possible to use two antennas for the same radio? The ghost antenna either on the third brake light or on the rear cross bar and the 3' antenna on or near the passenger side cowl. I just started to read up on the subject, but the abbreviated version would be appreciated. I also read something about an antenna switch so I could choose which antenna I wanted to utilize.

 

[Mark75H]

Yes, but you would not want to use them at the same time. Look on eBay or Amazon for "antenna switch" and you will see that it is a common thing.

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