ID this thing on my roof

[bansil]

Ok so I was checking out the vent on the roof,what is this?
there are no real markings on it,it's on the front of the bus and doesn't look like the strobes they put on the back either.
It doesn't appear to do anything

I do see it needs resealed and or removed.

 

[keith-SKO]

thats for a satlite pick up if the school wanted to install the base inside the bus..........

 

[syke]

random hole in the roof? school bus mechanics covered it up. Or like Keith said.... satellite communication. Qualcomm makes a round satellite communication pickup system used on semi trucks. I've not seen a square model but that does not mean they do not exist.

You gonna remove it? Or maybe just seal it up and call it good.

 

[TheRainbowBoxer]

Or you could open it up and put a satellite radio antenna in there

 

[syke]

maybe even a para scope....

 

[bansil]

I'm thinking re-seal it and hook it to my flux capcitor...I mean hell if the school district could "talk" to the satilittes...maybe I could have some friends beam me up!!
Keith thanks for info
Oh and everyone else...cheers
So.......what is next to post pic of?
The wiring is very italian....in a spagetti kind of way..mmm...

 

[GreyEagle-SKO]

Looks kinda like the satellite antenna's for XM, SIRUS and Onstar on the newer vehicles....

 

[ol trunt]

I like the "para scope.... " idea. Maybe you could build the worlds first submarine bus!?!

 

[chev49]

yeah, add that to the amphibious bus being discussed in its thread..

 

[ol trunt]

AH---I prefere the tangential approach (read passive agressive) to my snide remarks. But if you would like to quote my excellent idea elsewhere I wouldn't say a thing

 

[bansil]

I use mine when I talk to my family back on Zorgon-3 using my hyper-space Ko-band trans-galactic communication equipment. Don't you also? Just remember, it won't work so well if it's covered in birdshit or raining hard, in which case it won't reach much beyond the Local Group of galaxies.

Yes, I am from France.

John

I looked online and can't find the right reciever...everything is earth bound ...oh well I'll buy a few cases of tin foil and wrap the bus and leave that exsposed...might harness all the joo-joo and "shoot" it out the contraption...will let ya'll know if it works.

 

[keith-SKO]

dam chong:shock: ,,must be smoking some good ****


cheech

 

[Redbear]

And the answer is . . . . .

It's a low-profile two-way radio antenna. From the size, definitely NOT VHF, depending on scale it is probably 460 MHz UHF but could also be for the 800 MHz band. Inside the radome ('plastic' cover) is a printed circuit board or metal plate that looks like a whip bent backwards into an "L" shape.

I've mounted the VHF version (about 3 times as long) on a couple of coaches and some transits. The VHF version has a tuning piston screw and locknut inside the roof to tune the antenna to the part of the band your outfit runs on. The UHF versions may be broad-band, and not need the tuning.

If you look inside the bus underneath the fin, you should see a connector socket on the underside kind of like the antenna connection on the back of a CB set. Of course, if the underside is sealed up in the roof after installation, it may be why they left it behind.

No use spending $150 in labor to retrieve a used antenna that lists for $85 and probably wholesales for half that . . .


Still, the other answers you got were pretty cool . . . 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[bansil]

thanks for the info....the truth isn't always as "cool" as the speculation :wink:

 

[Newfiedogs]

Damn... I thought for sure it was the warp speed sensor.
Tracy