One of the fun things we do in our GMRS radio group is experiment with mobile antennas and have fun doing it. A few members also expressed a want for a more stealthy GMRS antenna and the group’s collective brains got working together. Painting your GMRS antenna is the easiest and fastest way to make it blend in with your car and this is why I decided to write the How to paint a mobile antenna guide to help others who may be looking to do the same thing or make your GMRS antenna match your car. How to Paint a GMRS mobile antenna? Here are some tips!
Picking a GMRS antenna to paint:
Before painting any GMRS antenna you select a good antenna to purchase. I am a big fan of a 1/4 wave antenna for it’s performance and it’s stealth look. Under 5 inches it’s already hard to see if you are just looking around and not going out of your way to look for a 1/4 wave GMRS antenna. The more common 5/8 wave antenna is a great middle of the road “Town” and “Hill” GMRS antenna so we picked this antenna to paint.
Before painting a GMRS antenna:
After you purchase your GMRS antenna and I hope from one of our supporters, You need to assemble it and check your SWR in the place it will be most used at. This is very important because adjusting the SWR before paint will tune your GMRS antenna to the lowest SWR and even spot a problem before you paint it. Please keep in mind,By altering any antenna you will VOID the warranty if there is any.
Masking your GMRS antenna:
Masking up your GMRS antenna so areas you may not want to paint do not get painted. Areas like the brand name or model number. I want to know who made my GMRS antenna so I masked that off.
What paint to use to paint a GMRS antenna?
We used a product called Plasti Dip and the color Black. Lowes sells it. Item# 42849.
We sprayed a very light coat and let it dry overnight in a 70 degree area. The next morning we rechecked the SWR and noticed they did not change so we sprayed another very light coat of Plasti Dip onto the GMRS antenna and let it dry overnight again. The next day we checked the SWR and it did not change and sprayed the last coat of Plasti Dip on the GMRS antenna to get the rich flat black look we were looking for. We also let it dry overnight in a 70 degree building.
Magic Marker and your GMRS Antenna:
Yes you can! We tried it out and it does work. After we were done, We checked the SWR’s on it to make sure and they did not change.
We used a large black sharpie and it did come out with a black camo look to it but it did make the GMRS antenna less noticeable.
PlastiDip the GMRS Antenna!
We also used PlastiDip on a GMRS antenna and it worked well. We checked the SWR before and after on the GMRS Antenna and there was no noticeable difference. We still check the SWR’s on all the GMRS antennas we use weekly to make sure they are fine and safe to use with the radio.
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