we have a ford explorer.
I have a dual band antenna, half wave on 2, and 5/8's on 440 on the roof 
with a magnet mount.
It's about 34 inches tall I think.
We don't park in a garage, so it's not a big deal.  That said, my fiancee 
knows how to jump up on the back bumper and flop the antenna over if she's 
going into a parking garage when I'm not with her.
It's an older vehicle, 2001, so I'm not overly concerned about the paint job 
on the roof, not only that, no one can see any paint damage except truckers 
as we go by lol.
The fender is one of the worst places to mount an antenna on any larger 
vehicle...you get pretty significant directionality that way, and if your 
driving away from the repeater or station you are talking to, the bulk of 
the cab will tend to block the path to some extent.
However, if you need to mount it there for convenience, then sometimes that 
is the only way.
So, I suggest a quarter wave on the roof on a magnet mount, or a half wave 
or 5/8's wave on the fender.
You could also look at getting one of those motorized mounts that you can 
attach to the luggage rack on the roof...this way, you or your wife can 
simply press a rocker switch in the cab to fold the antenna over, or raise 
it back up as needed.
These motorized mounts are actually fairly inexpensive, around 70 bucks I 
think and are well rated for highway speed wind loading etc.
I'm not sure if they use an adapter to run DC up the coax to power the 
motor, or if you have to run a power wire up to the motor along side the 
coax for the antenna.
If this is an explorer, or escape, or expadition or any of those kinds of 
SUV's, there are just a tonne of good antenna mounting places all around the 
vehicle...including lip or edge mounting on the back hatch or luggage rack, 
or even mounting longer antennas using the anchor screws for the rear tail 
light assembly...all sorts of stuff.
Actually, if you google your make and model of vehicle, and add something 
like antenna installation or something, you'll get hits on what others have 
done with that particular vehicle.
If it's an explorer by chance, there is an excellent forum on the internet 
of explorer users called explorerforum.com and there is a whole whack of 
info on installing antennas for ham and CB on those trucks.

73
Colin, V A6BKX

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Adams" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2013 7:10 AM
Subject: 2 Meter Mobile Antenna


> Do any of you guys have SUV type automobiles, with two meter radios in 
> them
> and if so, where do you have your antennas.  Also, what type of antennas 
> do
> you have and where is it located on the vehicle?  My wife has a 2005 Ford
> SUV and I have been thinking of putting a 2 meter radio in it but I don't
> know where to put the antenna and be able to get it into the garage.  I
> would like to put it on the left fender across from the broadcast antenna
> but then getting it into the garage would be a problem   I can't put it on
> the back bumper because the tailgate lets down.  .  Any suggestions would
> be appreciated.
>
> FRED C. ADAMS W4HC