I've had a lot of experience with antennas, and have broken my share of them. The 102" whip mounted on a 2" heavy duty ball or even the 1 1/2 "ball, and grounded to the frame, along with a 4" heavy duty spring is the best off road antenna. It is a full quarter wavelength, and is a tall antenna that you can thrash through terrain worry free. Fold it over when going into the garage or in a parking deck, bend it all you want. It gets out great, and is virtually indestructible.
I have a magnet antenna. The thing is from the 90's so the magnet isn't too strong. I mount it on my 2007 Expedition. One time I was going like 50 or 60 on a parkway and I was going through an underpass (a bit too low for my antenna) and the antenna hit the underpass and flew off. Luckily the magnet was held by a thick wire that went through my truck's trunk to my CB radio so the magnet and antenna were just dragging behind me on the parkway. Good thing the person behind me was a bit farther back from me, could have hit them. I wish they made ones that the antenna was so short but could reach very far. Also the long antenna looks kind of silly. My CB radio is fine but I think the sound become permanently lower after that incident where the magnet fell off and put some strain on the connection from the magnet to the CB radio.
I use a Wilson 5000 with a Ranger rci2970dx. I've got an 18"x18"x1/8" steel plate with two 20ah 12volt batteries and four 3 foot fiberglass poles that I carry on a pack frame for camping/hiking. Rounded off with a 100-watt solar panel, I can talk for 2-2 1/2 hours a day from the middle of nowhere. I got tired of not being able to talk on a mickey mouse handheld. Set up the pole, ground the plate atop the pole and plug it all up. Works like a charm. I use the same radio with an amp for mobile and a base station with a 30 amp astron power supply. Think I could patent it? LOL
I can assure you not all cb radios operate at 4 watts that you will hear, most operate at 50-450-or higher, of course that’s with an amp, and I highly suggest it, regardless of fcc, they really no longer have the recourse to track down illegal cbers, especially in a vehicle. And never ever go cheap! Fiberglass antenna are okay, but if you have the means I suggest a steel whip 102-108 inches. As for magnetic mounts, all newbies have a bad habit of running the coax through the door without protecting the coax in turn pinching and ruining the coax, DONT DO THAT! Bad practice, and you’ll ruin your radio. I’ve learned over the last 30 years the do’s and don’t. Do your most research on antennas, that and your coax is the most important. Wilson, sirio, are the two most popular amongst the Cb community along with a steel whip, stay away from fiberglass antennas if you can afford it, they are okay but you’ll get much better performance from what I’ve suggested, and if you get a magnetic mount be sure to protect your coax if running through a door!
I run a 8ft whip antenna. No coil, no ball mount with a spring. Steal mount only with RG 214 coax. I can talk around the World on SSB with the Skip running.
If you have a truck bed toolbox and want to mount a Wilson “trucker” antenna to one or both sides of the toolbox would that work or are you better off with a firestick for that location?
A magnet antenna will also work when mounted on a metal hood...I've seen many jeeps with Wilson 1k on a hood with acceptable results....keep in mind however most newer vehicles are going to aluminum construction....magnets do not work on aluminum
Really nice video, thanks so much. Ok, I'm thinking of getting some cb's , handhelds, auto and such as a backup in case we go into marshals law, my question is this, could the government shut down the frequencies or use of CB radios if they want to? Thanks to anyone who can answer this for me.
I don't think they could "shut them down" in the sense of turning them off like cellular networks BUT I believe they could jam the frequencies. Others - please feel free to confirm or deny this.
I know this was posted forever ago, but it made me consider a center load mounted on my brush guard as opposed to a 4 or 5 foot whip style mag base on top of my 99 Tahoe. My radio is a Uniden 510 at 12 watts. Very informative video.
Also worth mentioning that if you have a steel-bodied camper which has other roof-items such as solar, rooflights, 3G stub antennas, air-con, etc.... the use of a top-loaded fibreglass helps with SWR and RF issues (I eventually found this out the hard/expensive way). Just getting the coil section of the antenna further away from RF emitting items REALLY makes a difference!
𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐖 𝐈𝐓 Buy a new 100 watt RCI radio snip the jumper in the back and get a 102 inch whip and adjust the SWR of the antenna then blasts those little 4 watt CBs apart. Don't be a "girly man"!!! If that isn't powerful enough, get a 500 watt amp. That'll pump you up!!!!
First i wanna say length of antenna your not gonna stick a 102" whip on a compact car or smart car just would look really weird and you wouldnt do it. and vise versa on size on a f150. length of your antenna when buying should depend on your car size because you dont wanna go to big and have your car look out of a twilight zone episode. so i just bought a 24-28 in antenna mag base for my girlfriends mazda 3.
Thanks for the info. I pull a RV full time. Roof mount wouldn't work due to bikes and kayaks on the cab of the truck. Could I go fiberglass on a truck? Cheers!
I wish someone made a clean and easy to install antenna mount for a 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Not enough flat real estate on the roof for a magnet mount and I'm not into drilling into a roof that already has satellite radio, regular radio and backseat video system. Was going to try the rear mount that's located right above the tail light but I'd wonder how well that would match.
Nice video but your measurements on the thickness or diameter of a particular type of antenna shafts is wrong. Steel whips off a base loaded or center loaded or a 102" whip is about 1/8th inch where a fiberglass would be 1/2 to5/8 inch and should be spring loaded.
I wonder what would work well for my 1998 Subarea wagon. I had bought a cheap Cobra with a cheap magnet antennae. I drove 100 miles on I-78 and did not pick up crap. I took the radio back.
A half-wave antenna for Ch 19 (27.185) is 8.8 ft. or 108" The purpose of a coil is to make the antenna shorter. The whole antenna radiates, not just the coil. You do want it mounted as high on your vehicle as you can, but you have to consider things like branches, garage doors, and other obstacles you may encounter.
My SR-5K antenna works great, barely had to adjust anything to get swr's in proper range. Quick shipping too. I enjoy using the CB and talking on Sideband also.
The USA and Canada uses 27Mhz as does many other countries for CB radio. Some countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, and Malaysia use 477Mhz UHF though for theirs. The General Mobile Radio Service and Family Radio Service in the USA operates on the 462 MHz and 467 Mhz bands.
i have a 4 ft fiberglass whip bolted to my tonneau cover which is also fiberglass and even with a cobra 29 ltd classic i'm getting better then 5 miles out of it. have not tested my galaxy dx 44v thats been tuned an peaked on it yet.
