Is my antenna too big for my radio?

Wow. I continue to be amazed with the amount of misinformation on this board. For you guys that are seriously interested in understanding CB related stuff, find yourself one of the CB dedicated message boards. These trucker boards continue to spread the same misinformation all the time and it appears it's getting even worse. ####.

 

Some of it is because someone is making money at it ....

 

Well they kicked off one of the most knowledgeable techs we had here over a disagreement that all started over "them" being kind of rude to a new member. So be careful what you say about this place!!!!

 

So you're saying a Predator antenna is going to make that stock Cobra 29 put out 20 miles? That's the point I was trying to get across. Drivers buy them because they look cool and nothing else. Waste of money if I may say.

You are blowing things out of preportion. Members that act normal have nothing to worry about.

 

Thanks. It's no skin off my ##### either way. I've been kicked out of better places .

 

I've talked further than that on a 4.5ft Francis. Depends on terrain and conditions. And yes, the longer the antenna, the better it works. MMs and Predators are usually close to 5ft or better. Drivers also buy them because they are very "broad banded" as well. Not everybody stays in the CB band. Since steel whips mounted in the middle of the roof are not feasible on big trucks, you compromise. All antennas with a coil are a compromise. I do believe the monkey made type antennas have a little more gain than your standard 4 ft Firestick/Francis antenna. So they should get out a little further. However, other than being more "board banded", which is a plus, it is hard to out talk a 5.5ft Francis/Firestick properly mounted. The receive is also reported to be better on Monkey Made or similar antennas so that would be a plus as well.

Look, you know what happened. I can't win this argument because you have all the power, and you have proved you will use it as you see fit, so there is no use in starting it...............what's normal?????

 

Loaded ( shorten ) antennas are not as wide as full size ones anyone who does not beleve this try a 7 foot 75 meter hamstick vers a full 1/4 wave ... IF you get 50 khz on the hamstick your lucky while a 1/4 wave will do 100 khz .....

Same goes for CB or 10 meters a 1/4 wave will win every time ...

 

Wht not just have the folks that tuned the radio do it any one can get a 12 watt dead key out of a 29wx they can tune a cloth hanger to work on it

 

That is what I was thinking

 

The frequency of CB signals is such that you are generally limited to line of sight communication. The exception to this is when the band is 'open' - meaning that conditions in the ionosphere will reflect your signal back down to earth beyond the horizon (colloquially known as 'skip'). So on FLAT terrain, with antennas at 10 feet above the roadway, expect no more than 10-12 miles mobile to mobile communication, regardless of power. This distance will increase as the antenna height increases.

An isotropic antenna (this doesn't actually exist, but it's used for doing the math to create a working antenna) will radiate a signal in all directions. The different antennas that you buy at the truckstop are designed to shape your signal so that less power is radiated straight up and down, and more is radiated out to the sides. Think of looking straight down at your truck from an airplane - your signal will look like a donut, and the antenna will be in the center. 'Better' antennas (ones with higher gain) will make that donut look larger and flatter by redirecting more of your transmit power from the vertical plane to the horizontal plane. 3db of gain amounts to doubling your effective radiated power in the horizontal plane. So a 4 watt CB signal would sound like an 8 watt signal using that antenna.

Radio signals are also polarized. You can install your antenna so that it is vertical or horizontal. A horizontal antenna will lose 50% of the signal that it receives from a vertical antenna. Those guys that go down the road looking cool by pointing their antennas forward at a 45 degree angle? Very poor signal performance.

Very over simplified information, but hopefully it will give you some idea about how and where to install your antenna - and how much range you can and should expect.