Joe,

Everyone in my family is a ham:

      Mike WA7ZPU
    Maxine WA7ZPV
    Meghan KC7MOC
  Nicholas KC7MOD

For 2 meters, we use a 5/8 wavelength vertical on our Vanagon.  Normally a
5/8 wavelength vertical is not a very good antenna unless a good ground
plane can be established.  So, ours is on a homebrew magnetic mount smack
in the middle of the roof.  That lets us take it down for the rare parking
garage in Phoenix.

Did you know that broken disk drives are a great source of rare earth
magnets?  If the drive is new enough or expensive enough to have "voice
coil" head positioning rather than a servo motor, there will be some
magnets inside that are so strong as to be dangerous to play with (pinched
fingers).

Mike  84 GL   58 Isetta (no antenna yet)