Cb setup tips. All help/info welcome

I bet that did look pretty strange going down the road. I see tractors pulling sand wagons today with them mounted on the frame behind the cab and they look tall even from there.

 

Yes, I have to admit that when I saw that tall antenna on that truck, I was thinking oh no. The boss informed me that he changed the antenna over the weekend. I just assumed it was with another 4ft antenna. I felt a little embarrassed driving down the interstate...lol. But non of the truckers said a word about it. Needless to say, it didn't take long to get over that feeling when I noticed the big improvement in performance.

 

I ran a pair of radio shack white fiber glass whip's co-phased off ball mounts on the sides of my sleeper, W900. Worked reall well. Don't forget the tennis balls to keep them off the sleeper. Back in the early 80's. Tried steel whips but they seemed to be very noisy... I think my call sign back them was KXO5209 I think, maybe wrong long time ago. My radio was a 4 channel Johnson White Face, Tube radio. Actually had Channel Elements (crystal).

 

That's interesting on the antennas. Some fellas don't see the benefit of dual antennas on a big truck. I couldn't begin to remember my call sign, just too long ago. Even after I got the call sign, all the locals in the small town I lived in recognized my voice, and called me by my handle of night stalker. So the call sign didn't really matter. Good times though. My first base radio was the Johnson 2 (I think), it was a tube black face radio. I think it had 3 channels in it. Seems like crystals were kind of expensive back then. Of course every crystal radio had channel 9. Eventually I managed as a teenager to save up enough money for a Cobra Cam 89. I was a big time cb'er with my star duster antenna. Ha.

 

I dont see any real benifits of co phased antenna other than your tx and rec pattern..Doesnt increase range or offer more gain..
What ever gains you may get,is it worth the extra cost(original purchase and up keep from hitting low lyeing objects on passenger side)of buying extra,more difficulty tuning???

 

Well they claim that there are 4 benefits to a dual antenna system.

1. The little bit of gain in signal to the front and back of truck and trailer. This allows you to talk a little longer when 2 trucks are traveling in opposite directions. Most drivers aren't worried about how many miles they can talk to someone off to the side of their truck while driving down the road.
2. The second advantage of co-phased antennas is there ability to perform where there is little reflective ground plane for the single antenna to radiate its energy from. Now on these newer trucks, everyone knows that lack of RF ground plane is a big problem. So if a dual antenna system gives you an edge, then I say go for it.
3.The third justification for dual antennas involves situations where some or the entire signal would be blocked if a single antenna was used. For instances, if you were pulling a large trailer. In such cases, having an antenna on both sides of the vehicle prevents signal blockage.
4. This maybe a big factor for some. When you use an amplifier. The amplifier can generate a lot of heat from the RF power it's putting out. The antenna has to deal with this heat. So as the power is being turned into heat, 2 antennas can help dissipate this heat better than one antenna.

 

Well it does increase your distance to the front and rear of the truck. That is where the real gain in your signal is needed. You have two trucks meet at 70 mph going opposite directions, you need to have all the help you can get.
Far as hitting lower branches on passenger side. I had two different brand of fibre glass antennas go bad. One lasted 2 months. So I got smart and bought Hustler FG27S antennas. Easy to tune, very tough and nice looking steel antennas on the old Pete. Lasted several years instead of months. Far as difficult tuning...i think the secret is to tune both antennas as one. After all it is a co-phased system. So if you cut a 1/4 inch off one antenna, you cut the same off the other. I suppose it could be considered more work, but you have to admit most of us drivers could use the exercise. Ha. You do have the extra $$$ due to the cost of the 2nd antenna. I bought these antennas for $22 USD each, including shipping. Not bad. It took 7 years for the passenger antenna to brake off while going across the rough railroad tracks by our shop. As local flat bed driver constantly driving on rough gravel road and railroad tracks, it takes its toll on truck and antennas. My vote is for a steel cb antenna due to the better quality. As far as dual vs single, I think that's a decision the driver need to make.

 

I have actually tested this, by running antennas thru a switch box so most of my testing was on rx. There would be trucks that I could not hear on say the right antenna, and I could hear them very well by switching to the left, or both, and the reverse was also true. The transmit I tested with a Motorola Service Monitor R2001, and found the gain more off the front to the rear kind of in a arrow shape, The trailer would block signal tx and rx. The only real problem with high antennas back then was fluorescent lights.
Balancing performance without excessive height would be Monkey Made antennas, Also Like the Francis 5.5 stick.

 

Also knew a Nightstalker in Burbank, he was our Martino's Pastry Delivery man, serving the local resturants. I think his name was Dick. Drove a Grumann Stepvan...

 

Number 2 is an assumption, no real proof or understanding of what a ground plane is.