K40 Plus Series 6000 Watt Trucker Antenna any good?

x#1..Have you never tunes the ant you own??
Doesnt every ant need tuning???

Seeing you missed jessies point,he sez this 18 ft coax is a crock of do do..

 

A lot of CB antenna manufactures, Francis included, used to say "use 18ft of coax. And if you have a rf ground problem, a longer coax will show a lower SWR on a meter most of the time. Doesn't mean you fixed the rf ground problem, but longer coax will often give a lower, safer SWR reading.

 

JESSIEJAME.....Heres a question......When i figure out a mounting system for my two predators on my new truck(cascadia)when it come,do both lengths of the cophased coax going to each ant have to be the same length...Im working on a mount system that attaches across the back of a cab so that both ant will be out both sides but twards the back of the cab...

Kinda like those peterbuilt mounts that attach to the grab handles,difference is mine will attach to back of the cab(lotsa metal) for grounding..

 

If your doing a co-phase set-up, then yes, both coax lengths need to be the same, and 75ohm... I'm not real sure, but seems like the last co-phase harness I had, both sides were 9'. (not real sure tho, could have been 12') ...been years since I messed with co-phase, mainly because I never really had something to get the proper spacing to make it work right.

The only time tho, that I have done antenna set-ups, to where coax lengths did make a difference was doing like a 2-hot set-up where you wanted the antenna's to be out of phase by a cretin degree to get different signal patterns...When you get into that, then coax length's become critical to get the right signal pattern...But in a one antenna set-up, it shouldn't make any difference. If it does, you have other issues you need to be dealing with.

 

then perhaps jessyjanes needs to consult with francis along with most every other antenna company and have them rewrite their recommendations to the antenna purchaser. i am sure that he knows more than the company that makes the antenna(regardless of brand) that you and i buy.

i missed the non point he made because there was no point. he was taking a jab as if i know nothing regarding setting up a cb and antenna and then being able to transmit as far as i care to actually talk and receive. simply put,you are reading multiple opinions on the top trucker forum which is what the forum is to be used for.

best of luck getting to that which works best for you and your specific application.fyi-the single antenna set up is always easier to maintain and use.less swr isuues,less rust and junk in/at mount to cause swr,and less expensive to replace when,not if,you break an antenna. period.

 

Thanks but alot of what you just said went over my head like an F-16...Im just tinkering with ant mount ideas for my new cascadia when it comes...I dont like that bird perch mount nor that c shaped perch mirror mount,its just to low and easy to steal from..

Im looking to mount atleast to the height of the older style mirrors but use the exisiting brackets on the back of the cab as mounting points for my brackets which will extent about a foot off the sides of the truck cab..

I have seen some antennas with base shafts 3-4 feet long and the coil still doesnt get near roof height,plus all that wind drag on that poor stud mount..

Saw this one and it makes me wonder how much stress is on the mirror now..

 

Well x1....I guess ham ops and some of them guys with the huge 100 + inch sleepers who have radios in the cab and sleepers know something the ant makers ect dont..

I dont enuf to back it up cause im still learning(aarl book doesnt mention 18' as perfect/correct length coax that i have seen)but we all know that designers ######## and make deals with other companys ect...

Michelin yrs ago made the deal with ford for the special sized tires....
Car/motorcycle designers say dont go over x rpm to break in engine ect ect ect....Its all been proven wrong at some point..

Hell just for s@#ts n giggles i ran an 18' and a 9' piece foot of coax and put them together with a barrel connector to try an old set up i ran on an international...The ham guy that helped me tuned my old wilson 2000 ant and it was awsome.....I could just lay back and piss off everyone from my sleeper with curtains closed..Got me roughly 15 miles on my 1st cobra that was stock..Maybe i shoulda just put a coax strecher on and save the extra $ i spent on the extra 9' of coax..

Who knows..

 

you are agreeing w/my point w/o knowing that you are doing so. a ham op tuned the antenna for you after you connected the two.I have tuned more antennas than i can recall over the decades however,my point is to get a pre-tuned,francis 5.5' par example,and match it with a high end 18' piece of coax as per francis antenna themselves,and have a good to go set up.NO TUNING NECESSARY. obviously you'll have to have a good mount and no rust/moisture around the connections but for the most part,the pre-tuned are the way to go.

the above is my opinion covering what has worked best for me over the years. i own and have owned many different cb's and always go with what works best for me.trail and error. repeat. learn. go straight to the learned application and be done with it.i'd rather concentrate on other things as opposed to whether my cb works or not. my cb always works,it is always on. then if i need more,i flip the power to my box.

 

How am i agreeing with you..27 fr of coax is not 18 ft of coax..
A pre tuned ant???
So your saying a francis that mounted to your car/truck ect will also be plug and playon anything....

Yeah ok,sorry but i hope your not thinkin ill believe that..
Well ill be sure to point everyone i know who doesnt have a "pretuned francis with 18 ft of coax to you on here and show them the error of their ways...

 

If pre-tune antennas are so easy, why don't all antennas come pretuned? Always thought pretuned antennas weren't as good as getting them tuned for your setup. Don't know about the 18 foot rule, but cable length does seem like it would matter, signal loss over distance due to wire resistance. I'll have to do more research on this issue.