No holes external antenna for home

  When looking into improving the range of your home station the most expedient thing to do is install an external antenna.  An external antenna can have multiple redeeming qualities when it comes to improving the relative power you are transmitting. Below are some reasons why an external antenna results in better communications range.  You do need to have a handheld radio in which you can remove the antenna. 

1. First and foremost is you should be removing lots of the physical interference you get from trying to transmit around household appliances, walls, and electrical systems.

2. The antenna in almost all cases will be higher than the antenna on the radio, which we know the higher the better.

3. External and mobile antennas can be much bigger than those on the handheld.  This means there is an opportunity to use external antennas with gain(1)

  Now for the down side to external antennas, remembering there is a trade off to most everything.

1. An external antenna limits your inside the house operating location.  This is because you will need to have a coax cable attached to the handheld that runs to where the antenna connection comes in from outside.

2. You need to find a convenient location to mount the antenna on the outside of the house and in a larger number of circumstances not offend your neighbors or break the rules of the HOA.

3. Most external antennas will require you to drill a hole in your house or in a window frame to run the coax.

  There is a solution to external mounting and drilling holes with the use of a through-glass antenna connection.  There are mobile single and dual band antennas that make their RF(2) connection through the glass.  The coax then would run down the inside of the window and end up in a location where you can connect your handheld radio.  The antenna uses a glue on both the inside and outside component of the glass, so removing them can be tricky.  There is no need to drill any holes since the radio signal passes through the very small distance that is the thickness of the glass.  The other advantage is that in most cases these antennas have gain over the antenna on the handheld radio. 

Side view of window mounted antenna

  With any external antenna you will need to get a coax connector adapter to allow you to connect the antenna coax to the handheld radio.  In almost all new handheld radios the antenna connector is what is called an SMA style connector(3). The mobile antenna will have either a BNC or a PL259 connector.  When buying an adaptor you will also need to pay attention to whether you need a male connector on the radio connection and in most cases you will need a female connector that connects to the antenna coax cable.

removing antenna from handheld

Adapter ready for coax cable

1. Antenna with gain:  where the signal is transmitted with more relative power than a ½ wave reference antenna (or the one on your handheld which is even less power).

2. RF is radio frequency energy