Anything cheaper and as good as WIlson 5000 magnet antenna?

102" whip around $20...and allot better than a Wilson...

Check out the Sirio Performer or Turbo 5000...better quality than the Wilson.
http://www.cbradiomagazine.com/Sirio Performer 5000 PL.html

 

Radio Shack use to be the place to go, but maybe hard to find a Radio Shack that's still open that would have one...MFJ sells a 108" whip which will work...May try ebay if there's no CB Shops in your area...Shippings going to cost ya as much as the antenna tho.

 

A Wilson 1000 is a little cheaper and works just as good. Just can't run as much power thru it. Leave off the magnet, just buy the antenna and drill a hole in the roof. If you can mount a steel whip then any fiberglass antenna would work. Just buy as long of one as you can. A Francis 5.5ft will do good or any antenna that long or longer.

 

Look into a Firestik( tuneable tip ) 5/8 wave, I've had really good luck with them. JMHO
555

 

My K30 by K40 magnet mount does a great job after I cut the whip down to get a 1:1.1 SWR reading. About $30 on ebay delivered to your door.

 

What kind of vehicle is this going to go on? Since you're asking about a mag mount antenna, it seems you must have a steel roof or other *substantial* horizontal surface upon which to mount it. A magnetic mount stuck onto a little grab handle or bracket on the side of a Fibreglas® truck cab is just a further compromise of an already inefficient counterpoise ("ground plane").

That being the case, nearly any antenna will work better with a proper hole mount than the same antenna, coax, etc., as a mag mount. Correctly done, a hole/permanent mount won't leak water or otherwise accelerate the demise of the mounting surface. It will accept a range of antennas that you can easily change to fit your circumstances of legal height, aesthetics, required range, and the like. You won't be closing a door or window on the coax, so that source of failure is eliminated.

And you can use that mount as a way to (more or less) compare different antennas.

The best mobile CB antenna that's available is a full-sized quarterwave antenna, like the stainless 102" whip that Jesse mentioned (although it'll likely require either an extension section or potbelly spring to bring it up to 108"), or the 108" MFJ http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-1966
The MFJ is listed as the tip for an antenna that's made for lower frequencies, but is about right by itself for CB.

While I can put a 108" whip on my van's roof, it's a hazard to parking structures, overhead lighting, etc. Plus it looks kinda goofy. I typically only install it when I'm parked someplace during a contest or a disaster drill. My usual CB antennas, installed on the same mount, are either a Maxrad base loaded stainless antenna (about 4 feet long) or a 2-foot TS Barjan/Diesel/Insert-random-brand-here that'll fit into my garage, but if I expect to have to talk over 3 or 4 miles, I opt for the Maxrad. Larsen, Tram, Browning, and others make the same sort of base loaded antenna, and in my experience are comparable to one another, even with such demanding customers as public safety and utility providers.

Claims of mobile antennas of over a quarter wavelength are physically impractical. While a five-eights wavelength antenna does show gain over a quarter wave, all bets are off when physical length is simulated by loading coils. Since a quarter wavelength at CB is about 9 feet, then a half wavelength would be 18 feet; another eighth would be about 4-1/2 feet, making an antenna 22-1/2 feet long.

Making most antennas resonant involves somehow changing the physical length, like by cutting a whip or adjusting the effective length with a tip screw. Changing the impedance, after it's resonant, usually involves some addition of either inductance (coil) or capacitance or some combination of them. When it's external to the antenna, it's usually referred to as an antenna tuner, somewhat of a misnomer but a term most folks accept.

Whatever you get, don't use the SWR as an absolute guide for proper tuning. A quarter wave antenna over an adequate counterpoise has an impedance around 33 ohms. A half-wave dipole (which at CB is about 19 feet long) has an impedance of around 70 ohms. Either one will show an SWR of about 1.5:1.

It's important to make sure that an antenna is resonant for the frequency (or band) that it's going to be used for. A shop with either a modest antenna analyzer, or even a grid dip oscillator, can help you adjust the antenna for resonance. Functioning grid dip oscillators can be found on eBay for under $50 -- I've gotten two from there for my shop.

Only after it's adjusted for resonance should you look at SWR. Keep in mind that the more of the physical length that's compromised by using a coil, the less "radiating surface" is left on the antenna. If there's enough loading coil on an antenna to leave only a foot of whip necessary to match it to your radio, it will work more poorly than 2 feet, or 4 feet, or 5.5 feet, or 9 feet.

Even though my wife insists it ain't so (generous to a fault, that one is), length *does* matter. And a fatter coil on one antenna than a skinny one on another antenna typically only allows more power to pass through it without burning up, although sometimes a skinnier coil will be longer than the fatter one for the same desired band. A stainless 102" or 108" whip can take thousands of watts.

A dummy load on the end of your coax will show a 1.0:1 SWR. My two-foot TS Special is only slightly better, but sometimes the trade-off is acceptable.

If there were just one make & model of antenna that would work best for everyone, it'd be the only one on the market.

Sorry for the long post, but I wasn't sure if you were looking for a scientific basis for choosing, or if you're simply looking for the lowest cost CB antenna.


73

 

I've run Wilson 1000 & 5000 Mag mounts antennas for about 17 years. And nobody could prove that they weren't the best Mags around. Then about 2 years ago I begun to read many reviews about the Sirio 5000 PL. I did purchase one and find that I see a increase of 5-20 miles while parked swapping between the Wilsons and Sirio. Great 5/9 report on 10 meters into South America and Europe. All while using a 18 watt Magnum 257. I tuned the Sirio from 26.950 @ 1.7 SWR to 28.740 @ 1.8 SWR (27.555 @ 1.0 SWR) with my 259. I've been in radio since 1968. And it is the best mobile antenna that I've ever run (even better that my 102's). And more broad banded too! I have one Mag mounted using the Sirio PL/145 on each of my Chrysler T&C mini vans 04 & 08.
They both are very close in performance. I highly recommend these as great antennas for the operator who want to hear and be heard!

 

I'm can't believe no one post about the Stryker SR-5K http://strykerradios.com/store/cb-antenna-sr-5k/ from what I've heard it's every bit as good if not better than the Wilson. Shops online are selling them as low as $56.