I have several MT351r’s and MS350r’s that we use for various outdoor activities. The rubber antenna’s on some of them have broken in half. The antenna is still intact, and otherwise the radios are fine. I’ve tried everything I can find to glue them back together, but it just hold. Is there anywhere to buy the replacement rubber antenna parts ? I’d be happy finding broken radios just for parts as long as the antenna’s were intact.
Unfortunately, no. The antennas on these Motorola Talkabout radios are not removable by design, at least in the US, primarily due to a restriction imposed on FRS radios by the FCC requiring them to be fixed and non-removable. Replacement antennas for these models are generally not available.
Hello Rick…I’m new here so be gentle. I got into CB back in 1967 and stayed until 1977. Back then, things were simple…you get a radio, hook it up send your $3.00 for an FCC license and you’re on your way. Fast forward to modern times and both being retirees, my wife and I travel a lot in our RV. Now here’s the question…we have a 2017 Winnebago Vista LX…27 ft. motorhome. The construction is mostly either fiberglass or some other plastic material. Now the question…where can I install a mobile antenna on this rig that will actually function well? In the old days, you had a car…the car was steel , therefor you had and excellent ground plane to work with. These days, this is no longer the case. So…how do we install a decent antenna on this thing and expect good results? Thanx 4 listening.
Fibreglass body vehicle antennas exist for many bands, typically marine band, but for vehicle use you need a balanced antenna as the ground plane, as you say, doesn’t exist.
Sleeve dipoles are popular for home build.I don’t know of any UHF antennas specifically for groundplaneless but maybe one of the on-glass antennas would work for you?
A glass mount antenna could be a viable option, and there are couple that may be worth a look.
Tram 1198 CB / Weather Radio Glass Mount Antenna
Midland 18-258 Glass Mount CB Antenna
My bad - I hadn’t realised we weren’t talking about the Motorolas and had moved to CB - which I know little about.
I didn’t realize that TRAM still had a factory. I used to visit their facility in Winnesquam, NH quite often. Will glass mounted antennas handle high wattage?
The maximum legal power for CB in the US is 4 watts, so yes, the antennas listed above should handle that. The maximum wattage on the Tram 1198 antenna product description in that link far exceeds that.
Hello tekrsq, while not a perfect solution to the original rubber antenna cover; I cut a plastic test tube to length and used a small piece of bicycle tire tube to wedge it to my Motorola FRS T5200 radios as age rendered the original rubber antenna brittle and broken. While not perfect, it does protect the antenna. I found plastic tubes on the Temu website 50 pcs for $3.
Lol…I had forgotten about this post. Thanks for the reply. I never did find replacement antennas, but I just ended up sliding some shrink tube over the antennas and heating them up. We don’t travel as much as we used to, but the radios still work fine for what we do.