CB Coax Antenna Cable Length? (1 Viewer)

[spressomon]

I am running the coax from the CB/2M location to the antenna location. The guy that sold me the coax lead said not to shorten it...and that it wouldn't hurt to coil the excess length. #1) Can I shorten the coax antenna lead by say 5' for a total length of about 7'-8' without significant performance loss? #2) From what I have read leaving the excess (assuming I should not shorten the coax lead) coiled up is not a good idea: So what do you do with the excess length?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Mark W]

Fairly loose oval "bunching" is fine and does not produce the problems that coiling it does.


Mark...

 

[brew8]

Some suppiers think the cable should be cut to a wavelength of the frequency. Unless it's prescribed by the antenna supplier then it dosen't matter, the cable impedence is 50 ohms if it's short or long it's the impedence of the antenna that is important. most of the time the longer cable is used to keep SWR lower because of the poor placement of the antenna or a poor antenna. At 5 watts especially with an AM radio a shorter cable with a well placed high quality antenna will put more RF energy into the air where it belongs. Cheers, Larry

 

[spressomon]

Just found this...

http://www.radiomods.co.nz/coaxlength.html