antenna help!!

The BEST antenna for your buck is FRANCIS.

 

When The signal is reflected from the top of the truck, on some trucks, the shorter shaft antennas will not pick up some of the signal, thus making a higher SWR

 

Standing Wave Ratio - Power transmitted out/power reflected back =%swr.

 

The 10" shaft is used so that the radiating part of the antenna, is above the reflective metal part of your vehicle.

 

If a Francis in 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 foot length wouldn't work, I would go with the Wilson. If I owned my own truck, I would probably go with a "Monkey Made".
I'm experimenting on a Frieghtliner Cascadia now. Haven't found an ideal solution yet. I am using the mount you can see at the link below. A Francis 5 1/2 foot works pretty good (18ft coax) if you lean it forward. The further you lean it forward the better the SWR, but of course after about 18-20 degrees of lean you start losing efficiency. Evidently as you lean the antenna forward it gets further away from the truck body and mirror, which causes less reflection thus a lower SWR, (like am89 said) I have a Wilson 2000 with a 10" shaft I'm going to try next and see how that works. I tried a Monkey Made with about a 14" shaft and that didn't work out so I don't know if the Wilson will be any better or not. Probably end up going with the 5 1/2 ft Francis leaned forward. Of course if you drive the same truck all the time you could invest in some additional grounding and probably improve things immensely.


http://www.walcottcb.com/cas1-freightliner-cascadia-antenna-mount-p-2062.html

 

The reason is that the plastic ball in the middle of the antenna actually has wire windings in it to make the antenna longer without adding actual height. The longer shaft will get the the ball and majority of the antenna up and above the roof line which makes it work better.

They are what some call a center loaded antenna. Fiberglass antennas usually have most of their windings in the top portion of the antenna which makes them able to perform with a shortler actual length. What some call a top loaded antenna.

But I see you got the 10 inch shaft and all is good so no worries.