Antenna Set Up

Antennas and Coax are rated for a certain wattage maximum. A stock, legal cb only puts out about 4-5 watts. Your Wilson will be fine. look for a low loss coax with 50 ohm impedence like Belden 9258. It is a mini 8 size and flexible for mobile use.

 

Are you considering running a 1000 watt amplifier? For one thing its illegal not to mention the rf radiation you are emitting right beside your head. Not good for your eyes...kinda like a microwave oven. With a stock radio, youdont need to be concerned with the wattage rating of the coax, but a low loss coax will be more efficient, meaning that more of the power that the radio puts out will actually get to the antenna and be radiated as signal. The power that is lost in the coax just simply is converted to heat.

 

ok, the rated pwer on any coax or antenna is the MAXIMUM amount of power that can be applied to the coax or antenna. The antenna will not put out any more power than you are sending to it. A stock radio that has not been peaked, tuned, modifed or otherwise alter will put out about 4 or 5 watts, period. With absolutely no loss your 1000 watt rated Wilson will only put out the same 4 or 5 watts. Antennas or coax can not increase the output power of your radio. They almost always will decrease the effective power output due to inefficiency (loss).
High wattage output can be had by using a radio that has high output finals in it or by using an amplifier. Both of which are illegal by FCC rules.

The MOST important things in considering coax and antennas are impedence and loss factors. The impedence in ohms will be labeled on the coax and on the antenna package or info. Cb radios use 50 ohm coax. This is critical to obtain a low swr. The loss factor of a particular coax can usually be found on the manufacturers website. Info on Belden brand coax is available several places ont he web.

Hope this helps.

 

That all sounds good. The 1000 watt rating on the antenna just means it is built with materials that could handle that much power without overheating. What this means for you and your 4 watts is the antenna is more "beefy" than it need be, but it will sure be a lot stronger and hold up better over time.

You might consider RG58AU cable. The U specifies stranded center conductor. Stranded wire is very slightly inferior in conductivity than a solid conductor, but is more flexible and will hold up to frequent bending longer. If you are going to install your coax in such as way it does not move, either RG58 or RG58AU will be just fine.

Expect 4 miles or less on average. Things vary from day to day and even hour to hour, but that can be part of the fun.

Good luck. You seem to be off to a good start.