AAHHHH I can normally figure this stuff out. So would it be better to get a 4' or so fiberglass with the wire wrap on the side of it? The one with a tunable tip. I may have to wire positive directly to the batt. The ground should just be a "ground" right, as long as its a good one?

a 102" whip is a good antenna. where is your antenna mounted?

what kind of cb are you using? some have an swr tuner built right in.

if yours don't, do you have an swr meter? if not, you can get yours tuned from a local cb clinic.

2 mile range is pretty damn good, really. don't think you'll get much better than that. besides, you only need it to work for a couple hundred meters on the trail.

If you have an RF gain try turning it down just to hear your neighbor, if he comes in good and clear hes over driving your receive. Make sure you turn it back up when your done...Tj

Have your SWR checked first
Yes
Yes

if you decide to to get a fiberglass whip :
-A quarter wave antenna is better (102") than a 5/8 wave antenna
-Top loaded antenna antennas hear better (the wire is wrapped mainly on the top)
but the 102" is the antenna to have. it out performs all other antennas

-no matter how long the antenna is , the wire wrapping around will equal 102 inches,
but the longer the antenna is the better up to 102" for a quarter wave antenna.

My antenna is mounted to my aftermarket roof rack near the back passenger side. I have a Cobra with no swr meter on it. I was going to go to a local shop this Saturday. I have no gain control, just volume and squelch, channel ***, PA or CB mode, and channel 9 and 19, and thats it. I was thinking about switching to a lower antenna like a K40 fiberglass whip with the tunable tip. I live down a 1/2 mile long road that has allot of low hanging trees if ya know what I mean. I know that the firestick is good, but is the K40 ok?

This is the same problem I had with an antenna mounted in the same position, I went crazy trying to tune it. I tried 3 different antennas, a few different lenght cables, 10 different CB websites. I got so pissed I took it off and chucked it in the trash. I run a lil wil magnet mount in the center of my roof and I get 1:1 SWR and tons of range.

Did you ground your old stuff to the rack or the roof? I've heard mixed reviews on grounding it to the roof. A single antenna is best if its 60 percent over the top of the vehicles roof line. This may mean I have to mount it by the rear tail light.

haha i used a small magnet mount once.
it was getting knocked off the roof all day long by tree branches.
so now i have a 102" whip mounted to my rear bumper. works awesome.

keep the antenna just mount it lower so get a good swr buy a meter they are cheap, then hook up the meter it should go inline with your coax. go to channel one and key the mic and record the number that reads, next go to channel 40 and key the mic and record that number, you are looking for a 1:1 ratio on that and you should just have to raise or lower the antenna from there granted i get that you want it on your rack but if you want a really nicely tuned antenna thats the way to do it

Thanks for the info. Aren't you suppose to have at least 60 percent of the antenna above the roofline? I really don't want to have to deal with keeping it from lashing my poor jeep to death. Tennis ball yeah, but thats ugly and tacky, but works hahaha. I am going to do some thinking on what to do. My install was very clean so I'm not liking the fact that it may have to move it.
Good Grief!

i never really heard the 60% thing before but im guessin if you tune it like the way i said you will prolly end up around 60% alot of it comes into play when you start adding the ground plane factor in there and all that more techincal stuff. but my basic understanding is that your ground plane (surface area of your xj) helps reflect or recieve the transmission or something like that but it goes hand in hand with the height of your antenna and how well its tunned

yeah, I am going to get it checked today to see what I'm up against, Theres a local stereo store that does CB stuff as well. Hopefully he can tell me exactly what I need to know as far as using the rack as a ground. I have to use the rack unless I bolt through the roof. Reason for that is that your not suppose to have the ground wire more then around 2" from the antenna wire for best results.....now this is what I'm told so correct me if I'm wrong. This has been a great en devour. I'm just glad some people can help me on it.

my whip is mounted to my rear bumper right infront of my tail light. i have to flex the antenna a bit to get my hatch open and closed, but it doesn't thrash the back of the jeep as much as i thought it would. matter of fact, it doesn't really do it much at all. and i wheel in the tight trees all the time.
i don't have it on a spring. i think that's the important part.

yeah, the antenna should have at least 60% above the roof to get optimum performance.
but, if you only use it for wheeling, it's not as important. if you have a significantly lower swr, you can always be the middle rig in the group and still transmit and receive to and from both the trail leader and tail gunner.

I don't use my cherokee for much wheeling other then snow or sand. I stay away from the tight trails. Thats what my CJ3B is for . I tow allot in a group of friends so the range is what I'm striving for. A 4' whip with a spring is my next idea.