CB antenna's

[Ken55]

I just got a new Cobra 29 w/ weather, also put in 18' of new ant cable. The owners manual says to use a dual band(center load/base load) antenna for best results. A friend let me borrow a 36" Barjan he wasn't using and this picks up weather and regular transmissions but my SWR reading is around 3 on ch 19. I have my ant mounted by the front stake pocket on the drivers side of the bed. Would prefer to stay with my 3/8" stud mount than go to a mag base. Any recommendations on antenna's?

Ken

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

I have never heard of a dual band antenna for the CB band and the national weather frequency, the cb band is 27mhz and the weather band is 162mhz. Your swr problem is most likely due to the antenna being to close to the cab, any metal near the antenna will cause the swr's to be high. You need to check them again on channel 1 and ch 40 this will help to determine if the antenna needs to be shortened or lengthened. The rule is if the swr is better on the lower channels the antenna is too long, if they are better on the higher channels the antenna is too short. If the antenna you borrowed has been tuned for the setup your friend has it could be way off for your setup. The length of the coax, the location of the antenna are all variables that will affect the swr. Does the mount have a good ground, this will also affect the swr as well. A swr of 3 is tolerable, but the lower the better. If you are running an amplifier a 3 swr will probably cause problems to the amp, it will get hotter than normal and typically the final transistors will fail.

If that antenna has a loading coil in it, it will work much better if the loading coil is above the cab. A magnet mount on the roof is hard to beat, the more metal that is under the antenna the better the radiation pattern will be and the better you will hear and transmit. Where you have the antenna mounted now you will hear better behind you than in front of you because the antenna is behind the cab and below the roof line.

 

[bmoeller]

How the coax is routed can cause an issue as well. Running it to close to other wiring isn't a good idea. Can pick up plenty of interference.

Are you using the meter on the radio to check the SWR, or using an external meter? The external ones tend to be more accurate.

The Barjan antennas aren't the greatest. You get what you pay for. Have MUCH better reception with K40 antennas, and I hear that the Wilson antennas work great as well.

May want to use a 4' whip in place of the 3' one, to get more antenna above the cab.

 

[CDonaldson]

I've been using a magnetic mount, placed it at the rear of the cab, swr 1:0. 3. I am going to get a base loaded Wilson 1000 roof mount antenna, drill through the roof at the center overhead light and run the coax down the B-pillar. That pretty much puts the antenna at the center of the vehicle and will give me a good, all around ground plane. I have used Wilson antennas in the past, they are of excellent quality. My weather radio works just fine off the CB antenna. I also have never heard of a dual band for CB and weather.



CD

 

[DRadzierez]

Your GROUND PLAIN on your antenna is not good when mounted in the area you explained (been there done that). You need to get the antenna above the roof completely for best results. The better the antenna the better the radio will function. I would suggest a wilson 5000 mounted on the roof. If you put a good antenna tuned correctly in the right location the cheapest of radios talk very well.

 

[DRadzierez]

oh yea and like they said above-18 feet of good coax not to close to other wires and DO NOT COIL THE EXCESS just leave it lay randomly some where hidden out of the way.

 

[MCummings]

How about one of the ~7' whip metal anttenas mounted in to the rear most passenger side stake pocket?



I would like to do that, I can pick up those antenas new, with a spring mount for $40.



Merrick

 

[IEdwall]

Go with the Wilson 1000, I use a C29 in my 04. 5 CTD quad cab, because of storage and other problems I use a magnetic and run the cable thru the back door when I need the radio. I have had several other antennas and the Wilson is far away the best both for transmit & receive.

______________________________________________

04. 5 CTD...

KE6FTY

Blue Leader

 

[Rhinohd]

I had a Wilson 5000 until a week ago now I went with duals glass Wilson whips. These things are almost impossible to tune... The 5000 was flawless but I got tired of getting out to take it down. I will let you guys know if I can get it right...

 

[CDonaldson]

Rhinohd.



Dual antennas need to be spaced further than is possible on our trucks, to get a good tune on them, get a piece of coax the same length as one of your dual legs and tune each of them separately. Years ago, I installed many CB radios in semi trucks, even at 8'+ of spacing they were a bear to tune together. A friend was a communications expert in the military and he told me about the single tune method, so I started doing them that way. In the overall, the final swr ended up better with a lot less hastle even though you had to assemble them individually to tune and dis-assemble/assemble them again with the dual coax.



CD

 

[steved]

Rhinohd.



Dual antennas need to be spaced further than is possible on our trucks, to get a good tune on them, get a piece of coax the same length as one of your dual legs and tune each of them separately. Years ago, I installed many CB radios in semi trucks, even at 8'+ of spacing they were a bear to tune together. A friend was a communications expert in the military and he told me about the single tune method, so I started doing them that way. In the overall, the final swr ended up better with a lot less hastle even though you had to assemble them individually to tune and dis-assemble/assemble them again with the dual coax.



CD

Umm, maybe to be "optimum" they need more space, but you can get the SWR down to 1. 2:1 with duals mounted on the fenders of a dodge truck...



My dad is running dual Barjans (3-footers I think?) and we got his SWR down to 1. 2 : 1 SWR (without much effort I might add) and the only thing negative about his setup is the fact it talks really strong to the front and sides, but is hindered to the back because of the body's interference.



steved

 

[Ken55]

Thanks for all the tips guys, I appreciate it! I think I'll pick up one of the wilson ant's. A few other people also recommended those. I got my swr on 19 to 1. 5 using that 36" but 40 is close to a 3 swr. I'm using the swr scale on the radio. Maybe get a 4'.

Rhinohd, I hope you weren't having to take it off each day to keep it from disappering! That blows to do that every day!

Again thanks to all for your help!

Ken

 

[steved]

Just FYI, the meters in most radios are not very accurate... not as accurate as a standalone meter.

steved

 

[Hitec.Redneck]

How about one of the ~7' whip metal anttenas mounted in to the rear most passenger side stake pocket?



I would like to do that, I can pick up those antenas new, with a spring mount for $40.



Merrick

Those are the best antennas, they are a true 1/4 wave and have no loading coils, which mean less loss. If you can mount it on a tool box or on a headache rack you will have a great setup.

 

[Rhinohd]

Rhinohd.



Dual antennas need to be spaced further than is possible on our trucks, to get a good tune on them, get a piece of coax the same length as one of your dual legs and tune each of them separately. Years ago, I installed many CB radios in semi trucks, even at 8'+ of spacing they were a bear to tune together. A friend was a communications expert in the military and he told me about the single tune method, so I started doing them that way. In the overall, the final swr ended up better with a lot less hastle even though you had to assemble them individually to tune and dis-assemble/assemble them again with the dual coax.



CD

Thanks Man I will use a friends cable and give it a shot tomorrow. I think I need to get them grounded better. I will do that then try to tune em. I have those bed stake hole mounts from Firestick and don't thing the line-x is helping the ground... LOL

 

[Grumpytrkr]

The SWR meters built in the CB radio will show a higher SWR then a regular SWR meter. I run a Uniden, that has been tuned by a CB shop, with a roof mount antenna. When setting the SWR's at the CB shop, the meter the shop used shows SWR at 1:3 at the highest. The meter on the radio shows a tad higher. According to the CB shop, this is done for a reason. I have a Cobra that has been tuned by the same shop, used in a Freightshacker, with just one antenna on the mirror. Same thing. Meter on radio shows higher then a good SWR meter.

 

[LostTrucker]

I am runnin a galaxy 88 with a whiskey-stil antenna mounted on a tool box. I had high swr's across the board. I ran a ground wire from the antenna to the frame, this brought the swr's down to 1. 2 on ch 19 good luck!

 

[Ken55]

Hey guys, picked up a Wilson Silver Load FGT-5, 5/8 wave 5ft-1000watt ant. It says weather ch ready. The SWR reading on my radio's meter went down to 1 on ch1 & 40 and just a touch above 1 on 19. I know my range on this running across Nebraska was 7 miles. So I was pleasantly surprised. This was with the gain set just below the noise level.

This is my first good radio, having purchased cheap radio shack stuff before when I needed a radio. The reason I didn't take some of your advice and go with a roof mount ant is that I had already purchased and ran an 18' braided cable and probably couldn't return it. This ant is designed to be used with an 18'cable.

Ken

 

[AKaiser]

oh yea and like they said above-18 feet of good coax not to close to other wires and DO NOT COIL THE EXCESS just leave it lay randomly some where hidden out of the way.

An alternative is to wind it up in "figure-eight" or "zig-zag" fashion, which will cancel out the "RF Choke" effect that coiling it would do.

 

[Rhinohd]

Hey guys, picked up a Wilson Silver Load FGT-5, 5/8 wave 5ft-1000watt ant. It says weather ch ready. The SWR reading on my radio's meter went down to 1 on ch1 & 40 and just a touch above 1 on 19. I know my range on this running across Nebraska was 7 miles. So I was pleasantly surprised. This was with the gain set just below the noise level.

This is my first good radio, having purchased cheap radio shack stuff before when I needed a radio. The reason I didn't take some of your advice and go with a roof mount ant is that I had already purchased and ran an 18' braided cable and probably couldn't return it. This ant is designed to be used with an 18'cable.

Ken

Ken where and how did you mount the sticks? I have the same ones only 3' and I am getting 2 on ch1 and 2. 5 on ch40????