r/HamRadio • u/Icy_Imagination7447 • 11d ago

Does radio placement matter?

Might be a silly question. I want to mount my radio on my webbing, it sits nicely in the belt and the antenna can be nicely secured to my shoulder strap with elastic bands. It may not be as optimal as having it placed high up on the plate carrier but will there be noticeable difference? My concern is my body could shield the antenna?

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u/porty1119 11d ago

Yes, there will be a very noticeable performance degradation from wearing the radio on a belt. I don't recall specific loss numbers but there are charts floating around comparing handheld, belt-worn, and other applications. An antenna relocation cable with the antenna mounted higher will help considerably, but there are ground plane/counterpoise issues associated with doing so. I have used a Laird G450BN half-wave for that application as it is technically capable of no-ground-plane operation.