theres also an equation that will tell you how long you should make your antenna for the frequency of the car.

physicists say that you should make your antenna 1/4 of the wavelength. the wavelength of a 49mhz apears to be 6.1224489795918367346938775510204 meters or 20ish feet. 1/4 of that would be roughly 5feet.

wavelength = speed of light/frequency

i dont know about you, but id rather have a car taht was fun to drive than one that has 100foot range.

i stuff my antenna under my shell and am happy with the 10-20foot range that i still get. it handles much better than when i had a topheavy antenna sticking out of it.