I was told by one of the owners of an aircraft radio manufacturer that the antenna would work just fine if it was mounted inside the steel tube fuselage. I never installed it so can not say one way or another. Yes there has been discussion on here by some of our (SCers) refuting what I was told. I'm no electronic expert by a long shot, but if your use is not going to be for long range communication why not? What do you expect the maximum distance of your communication to be, 50 miles? Less? VHF is line of sight. How far can you see in the mountains of Idaho? Go ahead radio guys, hit me.