cb owners chime in
 

looking to out a cb in my jeep, was wondering what size antenna everyone is running. doesnt it work like the longer the antenna the longer the range?
i was at one of my local truck stops and seen 2 antennas there, 1- was a 3' antenna with a 9' cable and a side mirror mount. 2-was a 4' antenna with a 9' cable and a side mirror mount. there was a $3 difference in price. i figured the 4' antenna would probably work better but i figure i would ask the people who already have them. mounting locations are still up in the air, im deciding either a bracket off the tail light, or a bracket in between the fender and hood.

what radios are you running also? i was looking a uniden pro510xl/505xl 40 channel compact radio or a cobra 19 dx IV 40 channel compact radio. didnt know if anyone was running these radios and what they thought of them, or something comparable?

U run a 4ft. Fiberglass ant. And 9ft cable with a cobra 29 that's tuned and has talkback from a local CB shop I can get out about 20 miles give or take mountains and valleys. You want to get one of them little springs if you run a fiber glass antenna cause trees are hell on them or just get a whip.

Tuned and power mod maybe 20

my hustler magnetic antenna has to be at least 10 yrs old, but my cobra 19 ultra iii is only a few weeks old.
works great, I mostly listen tho...

I run the tried-n-true 102" stainless steel whip. They're tough. I've had this one for around 25 years or so. My radio is a Cobra 25 WX from back when I used to drive a semi cross country. It's never let me down yet. Don't know the range on it cause I only ever use it for close commo.

This probably shows my setup best, its a 4' mounted at the bumper

first of all... you need a total of 18' of cable to get the most out of any cb. look it up. i have my excess coiled up under my pass seat.

all cbs have to be tuned to the ant. if the ant is tunable. mine are not. hence the reason i am buying 5k watt stainless and coiled antenas. i have a cobra 148 gtl..1983 model year. i am running dual 4' wips right now and on a good day can have a 24 mile range. mine are mounted above my tail lights.

Also every application should be tuned with an swr meter. look this up as well,as to how to tune it and for a full explanation of swr. 1.0 ratio is perfect,but hard to obtain.

Also... prolly the most important of the cb install is ant placement. mine being on the side of the truck is "ok" but not optimal. There is a thing called reflection. where the top surface of a metal plane and the bottom of a ant coil should be about 18" apart for the best range. I am waiting the arival of 2 ant that will be placed on my roof. here is a link. this is not just set it and forget-it. if you want it rite,it takes alittle more research.
this is what i am waiting for. i can explain some thing further if u need it.but i gotta go to work now...lol.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CB-MOBILE-AN...item33736f96eb

Mag mount on the centre of the roof - best ground plane. I use a Sirio ML-145 which I found cheap on ebay. Their top range Sirio Megawatt 4000 and 3000 have great reputations but cost. Wilson also have great quality at a price. I use my sirio with a fully legal 4W CB and it does great.

As for range, without including skip, I've had over 70 miles from my other radio hill top to hill top - that was using 40 Watts and a 9ft tank whip which is really effective but only useful when static. If you're going out camping, you could use it once you're parked up since they're cheap and come apart into two sections. I use an Anytone-5555 which is an "Export" radio... where Export means "legal somewhere, but not here". IDK how angry the authorities get in the USA about that sort of thing, in the UK they're not that interested nowadays since the CB craze died down as long as you stay away from licensed bands and don't cause interference with other people's TVs etc.

If you want just a cb for the trails then a firestick or small antenna on bumper will be fine. Make sure the antenna has a spring otherwise you can break it on a branch. I had three cobras with magnet mount antennas on the center of the roof, because as those guys said thats the best ground plane. Ive always ran big whip antennas and im happy with them, theyll bend around alot of stuff and the ones i get are tunable using a SWR meter. I really liked the Wilson 1000 antenna i had, and alot of the magnent mount ones the antenna can unscrew if your going through the car wash or some tight trails so ya dont bend it. just make sure ya dont forget its up there, made one look like a lighting bolt after going throught the car was :( right now i have a Antler antenna i think its called, works well.

heres the radio from my old jeep, i should have a pic of my current radio in my build thread
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_6402.jpg


and a good mic is always a plus

http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0937.jpg

i have a cobra 29 with a 102" fiberglass whip mounted on the rear of my rear bumper, not the side where it can catch every close rock or tree.

i don't have a silly spring either.

i only use mine for communication on the trail, nothing else.

I just got mine setup. I am using a Uniden 520xl 18' cable, 3' twist and tune firestik antenna. I wanted a longer one, but the shop only had the shorty's in twist tune. I also bought a SWR meter for like 15 bucks to tune 'em up.

The best place to mount an antenna is dead center of roof. This will give it 360 degree radius. I made a mount to connect to my rear taillight, works good, but I know my radio is now directional. However, I use mine for close com. And to BS with truckers.

I have read that if you have 1 antenna on one corner, like I have, if you add another to the other side, it will be as good as 1 antenna centered on roof. But I don't know, makes sense I guess.

Oh ya, mine works great, 1.4 on the meter, clear as a crystal tit.

Inside

I've heard you're not supposed to coil them because it causes interference. It would be even better to snake it around the floor of your Jeep under the carpets.

For OP:

I have a 5 foot firestik and a cheap little $35 Cobra CB radio:
http://i50.tinypic.com/p8xut.jpg

The 5' firestik is mounted to my passenger-side tail-light with a home-made antenna mount:

http://i45.tinypic.com/11ac2u0.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/2cojzao.jpg

Right now I'm running a 13' antenna cable and it's a pretty tight fit so I'm looking to grab an 18'. My CB radio is held on by industrial strength Velcro because I didn't want to drill any holes in my interior. I've got it wired into my cigarette lighter. It holds well, even in Florida's killer heat. I've got a PA speaker hooked up and mounted under the hood behind the air intake.

The Cobra dx 19 IV you were looking at is a good radio. It's cost efficient and gets the job done well. I think that's what I have.

The taller the antenna – not necessarily the further your signal will reach. It just means your antenna tip is further away from the metal on your vehicle and you might pick up less noise. Signal stretch is usually determined by atmospheric conditions and the amount of radio waves in the air.

well i guess i should have worded it different in the beginning, all im really looking for is local talk and when i get a chance to wheel after i lift it. my cherokee is my dd vehicle, i would assume like most are, so really looking to communicate to locals.

whats the advantages to having weather channels. i found a cb unit for $65 that has local weather, but i dont really think thats all that important. im just curious

Technically CBs are designed for the 102" whip antenna and to be mounted on the center of the roof with 18' of the coax cable. I have a 3' firestik that has been tuned a little. I still need to uncoil some of my coax cable for optimum transmission and reception. I'm also running only a cheap coves cb from Wal-Mart. Serves me well when travelling in convoys and on the trail. I'm not looking to get 20 miles out of it.