Military CB Whip Antennas
- Thread starter Iceaxe
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I have. On Military vehicles. They are designed for a 50 watt VHF (30-80Mhz) radio, not a 4 watt CB (~27Mhz). It would be a bad choice for a CB antenna. They also have to be tied down when traveling, as they often strike low hanging electrical and phone lines. They are also heavy and a poor design in my opinion. I think I still have fiberglass slivers in my hands from them. /radiodude
http://www.firestik.com/Catalog/NGP_3-Way.htm
I'm running one of these because I also like the look. Using a side mount and it works great and looks awesome.
I'm running one of these because I also like the look. Using a side mount and it works great and looks awesome.
The military doesn't use CB frequencies (11 meter) but I know the whip antennas you are referring to. You often see them on military hummers. They are usually bent over and tied down so they don't get thrashed by low overhead obstacles.
You can get a similar look by running a 102" stainless whip antenna on a yodaTEQ rear antenna mount with an antenna whip tie down attached to your rain gutter or roof rack.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/yodateq-80-series-antenna-mount-group-buy.661164/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009MZWYY4/?tag=ihco-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DILKM9M/?tag=ihco-20
You can't beat the 1/4 wave antenna on 11m but I honestly rarely use it. My cell phone and 2 meter radio do most of the talking. However I do like the look. I'm out of town for the next couple of weeks or I'd send a picture.
You can get a similar look by running a 102" stainless whip antenna on a yodaTEQ rear antenna mount with an antenna whip tie down attached to your rain gutter or roof rack.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/yodateq-80-series-antenna-mount-group-buy.661164/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009MZWYY4/?tag=ihco-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DILKM9M/?tag=ihco-20
You can't beat the 1/4 wave antenna on 11m but I honestly rarely use it. My cell phone and 2 meter radio do most of the talking. However I do like the look. I'm out of town for the next couple of weeks or I'd send a picture.
The mounts might be good for a CB antenna but the antennas will not be good. Military antennas are designed to optimize the frequencies that the military uses, which means they won't work great for CB or even HAM. CB antennas are designed for CB radios and are far better for you. With that being said, even the military whip antennas suck... if it isn't line of sight you shouldn't really expect much, but then again the power from CB is really only good for line of sight. So unless you snag yourself a PRC-117 then maybe just leave the giant whips on the giant trucks.
Yes. It's a 1/4 wave CB antenna. All things being equal it's the best mobile antenna you could have transmit/receive wise. Not real friendly on some trails, going under overpasses, getting in/out of the garage, or in the drive thru. That's where the tie down comes in handy.
Here's what you need to know about antenna lengths, it's all about resonance. The perfect length for an antenna would be one whole wavelength, length being the frequency in feet. Impractical, since antennas would 20-200 ft long. The reason you have 1/4 length antennas is you still get decent resonance in a shorter antenna. None of this really applies with the weak power of CB radios since you're not trying to transmit hundreds of miles. When you're just trying to talk to the dude on the top of the hill the length doesn't matter as much as if you're trying to bounce an HF wave across an ocean. Best advise I can give is figure out the frequency and then divide by 4, thats how many feet you should have.
Used to have a 102" whip on my FJ55. The mount and coil spring was mounted on the rear quarter panel. I have a tie-down attached to the rain gutter above the driver's door so could let her loose if I needed to.
For stationary operation, a great antenna.
For mobile, not so good. Tied down -- it was a plastic non-conductive tie-down so you could transmit without frying your TXR -- it's not such a good antenna. And generally you wanted it tied down. In addition to the risk of smacking stuff with it, the wind would cause it to arc backwards pretty significantly, which also affects the SWR so not nearly so good as stationary.
Most of those mounts also required drilling a largish hole in the body to mount and clear the connector at the bottom, plus three smaller holes for the mounting screws. They did make bumper mounts, but don't waste your money with one of those strap-ons.
So that's why short, stiff sticks got popular. A good 3' 'glass stick works great with a decent mount. The local truckstop had a big fat flat mount and spring that worked great with mine. I've giot an ARB, so drilled a hole on the top far left side on the extension they add to cover the flare on US model 80s. Let me go right garages, but looks good too
For stationary operation, a great antenna.
For mobile, not so good. Tied down -- it was a plastic non-conductive tie-down so you could transmit without frying your TXR -- it's not such a good antenna. And generally you wanted it tied down. In addition to the risk of smacking stuff with it, the wind would cause it to arc backwards pretty significantly, which also affects the SWR so not nearly so good as stationary.
Most of those mounts also required drilling a largish hole in the body to mount and clear the connector at the bottom, plus three smaller holes for the mounting screws. They did make bumper mounts, but don't waste your money with one of those strap-ons.
So that's why short, stiff sticks got popular. A good 3' 'glass stick works great with a decent mount. The local truckstop had a big fat flat mount and spring that worked great with mine. I've giot an ARB, so drilled a hole on the top far left side on the extension they add to cover the flare on US model 80s. Let me go right garages, but looks good too
I ran a ss whip on my 40 and 60 for years. As mentioned, nothing else works as well. However, as mentioned, there are some drawbacks too. If you are just trying to talk to the rig in front of you, a coat hanger will work. However, a whip and a little extra power, and that thing will "get out".
Would this be used for primarily for looks or functional too?
Back in the day ('70's) we used to mount the full length whips to rear bumper mounts that clamped onto the old chrome bumpers. Then you put the tennis ball around the antenna where it would contact the body when whipping around. Stationary they were great as well as moving at a steady speed, But stopping and turning would make it move so much that your signal would fluctuate. You could always tell when somebody was using one. Back then nothing could beat them, now there are probably better alternatives, I guess.
I was using one half of a Shakespear "co-fazed" twin trucker antenna that consisted of two white fiberglass four foot antennas with a one foot coil at the top. Solid stainless steel core with a copper coil wrapped around it. I had it mounted to a roof rack up nice and high. It worked amazingly well and I still have it..! It's on top of my 80 today sitting more than 12 feet high.
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I was using one half of a Shakespear "co-fazed" twin trucker antenna that consisted of two white fiberglass four foot antennas with a one foot coil at the top. Solid stainless steel core with a copper coil wrapped around it. I had it mounted to a roof rack up nice and high. It worked amazingly well and I still have it..! It's on top of my 80 today sitting more than 12 feet high.
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We use an auto-tunable HF antenna from CODAN on our work trucks. I can call europe-africa-asia on HF from the car.
They look kinda cool, too.
They look kinda cool, too.