Antenna Help

Personally, I would opt for some good/better coax. Then grab a couple of decent antennas.

You'll find mixed reveiws on what kind of antenna to buy. But for the money, two 4 ft Francis can't be beat. You'll have fewer SWR issues also.

Don't shell out $60-$80 each for antennas that don't meet your needs. IE Why buy an antenna capable of handling 5000 watts, if you're running a stock radio.

 

Here is what I did. I bounced around all over the place and stopped in every CB shop I possibly could. Asked the same question.

I have a radio stock antenna's and factory cable. What would you say I needed to actually talk to someone over a mile away and what would it cost.

Two antenna's kept coming up. Monkey and the Wilson 2500 or 5000.

Here is the kicker to all of this. When you decide what kind of antenna you want. Start walking into shops and telling them those are the types of antenna's you have.

I had two that said "those are good antenna's but your model radio only puts out 1500 watts."

I took my radio in and had it tested. I actually do have only 1500 watts. 18 bucks later I have a little more.

So before buying anything. Know that your radio can actually optimize the capabilities. Good coax will make a big difference. Then an antenna setup (dual is better than one) that will complement your radio.

Know your radio's rating then buy for that rating. Save you money then shooting into the dark.

 

Are two really better than one? I know almost nothing about CB's but have always had better luck with one good antenna. Less coax and connections to worry about. Also somebody told me if the two antennas were not tuned the same they would work against each other . I have CB on one side, VHF on the other. When I had the two antennas on the same mirror, even though they were 12" apart the two radios interfered with each other.
Appreciate thoughts on this from those of you who know more than me (probably everybody).

 

I'm assuming you misspelled when you said your radio put out 1200 WATS !do you mean 12 Wat's stock radio will put that kind of power out you'd need a hell of an autonator + some number 2 gage wire for coax i wood think! your coax wood receive so much heat it wood ether catch on fire are melt ,it wood be like hooking up a TV to 220 current .i wood'ent wont to be any where near that .!

 

just use one on each side of your truck . make sure the ground is eather directly hooked to the batery , or open up the fuse box if your not useing a power amp to bost power and conect wher it says possitive batery and negative make sure there 's a good conection and not lose if get's lose will blow the fuse .

 

If your radio is putting out 1500 watts then there's a problem. Not to be just another ham intruding a CB thread, but that type of wattage is quite illegal for CBs, maybe you meant a different number? Because with 1500 watts, I could talk to Australia. Come to think of it, I can't even use 1500 watts at being a technician class HAM, I can only use 1000. (and sorry if I come off a little rude.)

To the original post, I have a little advice. From what I hear, factory stock coax's are normally poor in quality.

As a side note, my dad and I talk between our two houses (12 miles apart) easily with 5 watts (the max wattage for our hand helds). However we can only achieve this with an external antenna on our cars. The rubber duck antenna wouldn't get much further than a FRS.

He and I were using a frequency in the 2m range, (FM). We tried this two weeks before with CBs. Our CBs put out 2 more watts than the handhelds, had about the same height of antenna, and we couldn't get farther than when the hand helds were on the rubber ducks! (This is when I got into ham radios... but left that interest two months ago.)

Hope I offered something to think about. =)