WIRING/ANTENNA/TUNING
If you decide on a mobile form of communication that will be mounted in your vehicle, you'll also need to purchase an antenna, antenna cable, and any necessary mounting pieces or adapters to complete the installation.
Choice of antenna can be important to ensure maximum transmission/reception performance. Antennas perform in different ways, and some require a larger metal mount surface, or ground plane while others do not. For example, choice of antenna used on the roof of a truck may be different than that used on a utility rack of an ATV or on the cage of an open-top rig or rock buggy.
Once everything is installed, the antenna should be tuned to optimize the transmission and reception of the system. This is usually done using an SWR meter connected inline on the antenna cable and monitored while transmitting. A tubing slug on the antenna is adjusted to optimize transmission output. Optimum transmit/receive performance cannot be achieved without some basic system tuning on a mobile radio.
Whether poking fun at your buddy that's stuck or spotting another driver through a tricky spot, radio communications on the trail can be quite useful. There's a big array of possibilities on the market to satisfy most any off-road rider or driver application, and with portables you can take one with you on foot for hiking, hunting, or just exploring.